One thing we didn't blog about from Saturday night's rugby was a late-in-the-match pitch invasion by two rather bewildered looking (and fully clothed) women. As you will see in the pictures above, from a Stuff story, one of them was crash-tackled by a Red Badge Security guard.
We would be the first to agree that the women were breaking the law, and the stadium's conditions of entry by being on the field. However, we reckon the guard's physical response was over the top. As you can see from the first picture, the woman had effectively surrendered when the guard was still several metres away. But he wasn't stopping for anyone! We hope that he is disciplined by his employer for what we reckon was excessive force in the circumstances.
We reckon that this disproportionate response might have had its genesis in embarrasment. The showed up major deficiencies in security. There were guards stationed at roughly 15m intervals around the perimeter of the ground, supposedly watching the crowd for signs of trouble. No guards apparently saw these women wander down the aisle from their seats, down the steps, and onto the playing enclosure. The "chase" did not start until the tackled woman was climbing over the electronic advertising hoardings. Had this woman been a streaker, we would have said that the security guards were caught with their pants down!
The "pitch invasion" was a relatively innocent and innocuous incident. The reaction of the guard was anything but. We may be old-fashioned, but we reckon the TV adverts are dead right - men assaulting women is NOT OK - ever!
8 comments:
Definite late tackle, I thought. Penalty, ref. OFF!!
A red card for Red Badge perchance Rob?
Too right. He ought to face assault charges.
I disagree.
She took the risk when she went on the field. She and she alone could have prevented the crunch.
I have no sympathy for idiots.
If she had been a he of large stature the guard would be a hero.
Are we asking guards to exercise discretion, investigate before acting, seek advice from crown law,etc. Or are we saying to them "keep people off the pitch" Full Stop?
She entered the field knowing full well what she'd risk. No sympathy, definitely no assault, just security doing their job.
Totally with Pique Oil on this one.
If she had streaked properly, of course, then that would be different.
The law on security guards is fairly clear, they are allowed to use reasonable force to remove trespassers from the private property they have been assigned to look after. This was clearly an example of force well in excess of reasonable, I was surprised she even managed to get up from a tackle like that, considering he was probably twice her weight.
I think while many people are happy to see someone like that get the bash, it is still against the law, and possibly not the first time that security guards have well over reacted at the cake tin (bugger me if i can name the games though). The guard should be prosecuted to send a warning to the others to sort their act out.
Has everyone forgotten what happened to Monica Seles? Fans are not allowed on the pitch. End of story. You want to go on? Deal with the consequences.
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