One of the 'problems' at Didcot last Saturday appeared to be the lack of stewards BN has been told.
For a game that was expected to attract 800 or so spectators, the vast majority following Hereford, it would seem appropriate to have enough stewards to cope.
Didcot's chairman claims he thought there were about 15 stewards at the game. However a glance through videos and stills doesn't seem to back up that claim.
One particular place where stewards should be positioned is by the tunnel. There were two when the referee led the teams out.
However when Hereford manager Peter Beadle was sent to the stands it looks as though there was one steward by the tunnel.
Later when trouble erupted after Hereford's second goal two Didcot stewards came across the pitch, the steward in blue was from CB Protection, who cover games at Edgar Street.
After that when players were heading to the tunnel, it's difficult to see how many stewards were there. Four in this picture and two are these are the same two as in the previous picture.
The rules are quite interesting. These are from the FA ground grading notes and would apply to Didcot.
1.11 Safe Walkway
There must be a safe, unimpeded passage for players and match officials between the dressing
rooms and the pitch.
The use of protection designed products such as permanent structures or retractable tunnels to
separate spectators and players/officials is recommended.
The design of the safe walkway will inevitably differ from ground to ground and it will rarely guarantee the safe passage of players and match officials unless supplemented by stewards. A club should implement procedures appropriate to the particular structure and be ready to respond to on the field situations which might affect spectator behaviour.
and
2.1 Standing spectators are not allowed in or near a seated spectator stand where they can obstruct
views.
Areas where no spectators are permitted to stand must be clearly marked with yellow hatched
markings.
The question arises why weren't the barriers in place before Didcot players wanted to leave the pitch? And why were spectators allowed in the yellow hatched areas?
Was it because Didcot did not employ enough stewards?