The events of 11 July 2021 (Euro 2020 Final Disorder), when thousands of ticketless supporters sought to force their way into Wembley Stadium and created significant levels of disorder in and around the ground, were subject of an Independent Review undertaken by Baroness Casey.
The review set out to understand what happened and determine lessons so that there can be no repeat in the future.The remit of this review was to look at the events of the day and the FA’s role in managing them, alongside its event delivery partners.
Jason Moseley MoRServ Operations Director (Investigations) was appointed as the independent specialist investigator for the review and was responsible for the review and assessment of the CCTV evidence.
The Review:
Interviewed FA and Wembley staff, from stewards to the chief executive Interviewed stakeholders representing key delivery partners, including the police and other emergency services, council staff and government officials
Analysed substantial documentary evidence relating to the preparation and delivery of the final, including over four thousand hours of CCTV footage
Completed a survey of more than 7,700 ticket holders at the final
Commissioned independent reports from experts and academics relating to crowd safety, football-related disorder and legislation, and social media
Summary of key findings
The key findings of the Review are as follows:
The behaviour of a large minority of England supporters was not just disgraceful, it recklessly endangered lives
There were a series of crowd ‘near misses’ which could have led to significant injuries or even death
Planning and preparation for Euro Sunday was hampered by a set of unique conditions, including the ongoing need to manage the Covid-19 pandemic, which combined to create a ‘perfect storm’
Many of the events that unfolded were foreseeable, and, while there were many mitigating factors, there was a collective failure to plan for the worst-case scenario
A loss of experienced stewards because of the pandemic left Wembley’s stewarding operation vulnerable when confronted with the most aggressive and disorderly crowd Wembley had ever seen
The absence of a fan zone or fan zones denied the police and other agencies a key crowd management tool and was potentially a very significant factor.
There was insufficient enforcement of the ban on consuming alcohol on public transport in London
The policing of the final did not sufficiently mitigate the risk of ticketless fans with officers deployed too late in the day
There are a lack of enforcement mechanisms available to respond to and deter the kind of behaviour witnessed at Euro Sunday
Planning of the final did not match the ‘occasion’ that was Euro Sunday
