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This massive growth in the stadium sector has come about because people are now starting to focus more and more on their leisure time. What with football being the national sport and receiving huge amounts of exposure both on television and within the wider media, it's little surprise that most stadium expansion has been seen here.

Middlesborough, Southampton, Bolton Wanderers and Sunderland are all Barclaycard Premiership clubs that have relocated to magnificent new homes in recent years, while West Ham United and Chelsea's grounds are but two to have reaped the rewards of major 'facelifts'.

The sheer numbers of people involved in watching, organising and policing events of all kinds including sport, concerts and corporate entertainment spectacles within a given stadium mean that the job of ensuring everyone's safety and security is huge – in particular if stewards, event co-ordinators or the police are expected to be all-seeing and all-knowing in order to identify potential risks. Of course, CCTV and related intelligent surveillance systems present the obvious solution to this dilemma of how to be everywhere at once, as well as neutralising prejudices and combating the forgetfulness of individuals.

High profile, big investment
The importance of security for both players and spectators at football matches has increased dramatically in recent times as a direct result of the high profile and investment which the sport (and its participants) now enjoys. Not to mention the number and frequency of matches, and the unenviable and infamous record of 'supporter' violence before, during and after games.

Indeed, the rapid advances in technology for those security systems installed in many stadiums can be seen as an indirect consequence of football hooliganism.

Security solutions for stadiums have changed so much over the years for both football matches and other sporting and cultural events. In the 1970s, the police would surround away team fans on horseback or on foot, and physically herd them from the local railway station to the ground. Any trouble would normally originate courtesy of ill-organised mobs of youths.

By the time the 1980s came around, in the eyes of both the police service and the national media those ill-organised mobs had transformed themselves into highly organised forces, many of the main protagonists being involved in other acts of criminality (credit card fraud, theft and drug abuse, for instance) as well as hooliganism. At the time, the police became increasingly reliant on intelligence gathered from undercover operations that would infiltrate the hooligan gangs.

During the 1990s, policing began to become less confrontational, and an ever-increasing use was made of stewards employed by the football clubs themselves to prevent illegal entry to the stadiums, separate opposing fans and to help in enforcing any exclusion orders. Advances in technology also led to other changes that increasingly came to influence security measures in stadiums, but it must be said that other (much sadder) factors have also played their part.

After the fire tragedy at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium in 1985, followed by the Hillsborough disaster in April 1989 when overcrowding at the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday's ground led to several untimely deaths, recommendations were made – following thorough investigations – with a view to ensuring that such events never happen again.

Two such recommendations were all-seater stadiums, as proposed by the Lord Justice Taylor Report, and the installation of CCTV in stadiums across the country. In this way, crowd densities and behaviour could be constantly monitored, and any potentially dangerous and/or violent situations spotted and dealt with immediately.

The role of new technology
Today, technology plays an important role in linking CCTV to other security solutions. Products such as hand-held video cameras, used by the police to gather intelligence and monitor the efficacy of crowd control, as well as the 'photophone' system – which allows the police to exchange photographs of known or suspected hooligans from CCTV and other sources via telephone and computer links – are much like the modern intelligent systems now on the market.

A camera may focus on an individual who, at that particular point in time, is unidentified and the data is not personal. If, however, you can use other information to identify that person – for example by cross-referencing their seat number with a l

Further security solutions making use of today's modern surveillance systems include the 'Hoolivan'. Launched in 1985, this high-tech example of vehicular machinery enables the police to maintain radio contact with officers both inside and outside the stadium while being linked to the CCTV cameras in and around the ground. There's also the 'Spotter System', a digital monitoring system operated by one police liaison officer at each ground and used to identify and monitor hooligans. Mobile CCTV is another security option that has come to prominence of late, one that is much-favoured by the West Midlands Police.

The big question is: "Could all of this surveillance represent a step too far?" According to the Claudia Roth Report and comments made by the European Parliament, there's great concern over the restrictions placed on the free movement of football supporters (not to say any event attendees). Indeed, the Claudia Roth Report criticises the police databases and new information exchange networks, commenting that they have led to the arrest and expulsion of innocent people and stating that any information exchanged between member states "must be carried out in the compliance with the criteria laid down by the Council of Europe for the protection of data of a personal nature".

In the UK, the passing into law of the Data Protection Act went some way towards regulating those organisations who hold and use personal data, but for the most part CCTV was largely unregulated until 1988, when UK legislation had to take into account the requirements of the European Directive on Data Protection.

To complicate matters still further, there's a very fine line between what is classified as being personal data and what isn't. The Data Protection Act tries to clarify this point by using a football match as an example. A camera may focus on an individual who, at that particular point in time, is unidentified and the data is not personal. If, however, you can use other information to identify that person – for example by cross-referencing their seat number with a list of season ticket holders – then that system is classified as recording personal data and needs to be registered as such.

The Data Protection Act also states that the public must be made aware that they're being filmed, and appropriately-sized signs should be placed in and around the area where CCTV cameras are located. This is true except in the case of covert filming for the purposes of a criminal investigation, though a stadium's security management team must ensure that any cameras installed to record criminal activity or accidents must not overlook private residences.

Health and Safety: a priority
It's clear, then, that there are many regulations and issues to be addressed when installing and operating surveillance solutions for football stadiums. For the stadium security and safety manager, it's of the utmost importance to strike a balance between the obvious benefits that advances in IT create for society, and the need for respecting the privacy of individuals.

As one of 24 signatories to the European Convention on Spectator Violence and Misbehaviour at Sporting Events (1985), the UK Government has been forced into taking more responsibility for not just security but also safety at football grounds. It is very much the given stadium manager's responsibility to ensure public safety as well as that of members of staff, contracted stewards and the catering team, for example. Furthermore, a safety certificate must be issued by the relevant local authority under the terms of the Safety at Sports Grounds Act 1975, otherwise no event or match can take place.

In addition, strict ground regulations and conditions of entry must be clearly displayed at all entrance points such that the spectators can see and read them clearly. Even though spectators have paid to come and watch the match, once inside the stadium they are deemed by law to be on private property. In the interests of both safety and comfort they are only allowed to remain on the premises if they abide by those regulations.

Over recent years, crowd control within stadiums has been the hot topic when it comes to Health and Safety, highlighted so tragically in 1989 with the Hillsborough disaster and the subsequent Lord Justice Taylor Report of 1990 (itself the ninth such report into crowd safety in the UK).

How to establish the facts
If an incident takes place in the stadium, how should you go about establishing the true facts in your capacity as a security director? The eyes and ears of the police and stewards can only see and hear so much, while individual prejudices and/or misinterpretations must never be forgotten.

To this end, intelligent surveillance systems and CCTV have an important role to play in the stadium environment – for security and deterrence and to offer total impartiality in any circumstances.