S1: Well, I mentioned before that champagne corks might be popping
S1: at the headquarters of football aka Soccer Victoria. The Premier
S1: has ordered Fed Square to change course. Socceroos and possibly
S1: other games will be shown on the big screen in
S1: a few weeks at Fed Square. Dan Birrell, CEO of
S1: Football Victoria. Good morning.
S2: Good morning. Tom there's a glass of champagne with your
S2: name on it when you're ready to. Thanks for the opportunity.
S1: Did did you directly lobby the Premier on this?
S2: Yeah, absolutely. And I want to probably start from the
S2: outset by thanking Jacinta, um, the Premier, Jacinta Allan, for
S2: overturning this decision. Obviously a short time ago now and
S2: hopefully common sense prevailing. We're very appreciative and thankful for
S2: the state government's support on this so quickly. Um, and yeah,
S2: really excited now by the opportunity to bring community together
S2: in Fed Square. And we've got so many iconic moments
S2: to show for that time.
S1: One of our producers went to one of the Matildas
S1: screenings a couple of years ago, and he was hit
S1: in the back by a lit flare. Can you guarantee
S1: that sort of behaviour won't happen this time around?
S2: I can't guarantee that. That's probably as much on security
S2: and police. What I can say is the time slots
S2: for this year's Socceroos, a very family friendly day. Weekend
S2: motivated time slots, 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.. So I
S2: think it's significantly more unlikely there will be flares, but
S2: I'd also and we're more than happy to play a
S2: key part of this with government security and police presence
S2: to ensure that people are aware of the messaging and
S2: that this is now the opportunity for us as a community.
S2: And let's just not be let's be clear here. It's
S2: not just football that goes to these events at Fed Square.
S2: This brings Melbourne together. There's a lot of people that
S2: I know that go and obviously cause havoc, but let's
S2: let's do it safely.
S1: Well what cause havoc safely?
S2: No. Let's enjoy the experience safely. Not cause havoc safely.
S1: Well, okay. But but unfortunately, flares in soccer. I'm sorry.
S1: I obsess about flares, but it's the main difference between
S1: a a soccer or football crowd and AFL or rugby league,
S1: rugby union, whatever. They seem to go hand in hand.
S1: I mean, what do we do about that?
S2: Yeah, I think it's probably a challenge that we've had
S2: locally as a game as well. And it's something that
S2: I think a lot of deference goes to what European
S2: markets do and what they allow. I concur that I
S2: don't think it's a particularly safe environment to have flares,
S2: and we've been pretty strong with our stance towards that
S2: behaviour at a local level to a state league level
S2: in ensuring that people know that they are unsafe and significant.
S2: You know, risks and dangers emerge when you're throwing flares
S2: and you're behaving like that. I think messaging is important.
S2: I think from a security perspective, we've now implemented bag checks,
S2: wanding and ensuring that people know that ultimately, the people
S2: that are punished for this behavior aren't always the people
S2: that have the flares that goes part of that. But
S2: often the teams involved, or in this instance as well,
S2: the entire Melbourne community would be affected if the behaviour
S2: of a few unfortunate people.
S1: But things like bag checking and that sort of thing,
S1: that works well to say the likes of Aami Park
S1: or Marvel, where you've got gates and people have to
S1: pass through the gates. The problem with Fed Square is
S1: it's essentially open on three out of four sides. Like
S1: you can just wander in. Now, are they going to
S1: like have full on fencing and gates and the ability
S1: to stop people and search them? Because that's not easy
S1: to do at Fed Square?
S2: Yeah. No, agreed. My understanding from a just a message
S2: correspondence a short time ago is that there are security
S2: measures being planned to put in place that would potentially
S2: even just have temporary crowd control barriers to ensure that
S2: it isn't then maximised in terms of the crowd, that
S2: there is a limit. And ultimately that makes it a
S2: little bit easier to hopefully have a safe environment as well.
S2: But I agree with you, Tom. Like flares aren't something
S2: we support. It's certainly a dangerous behavior as well.
S1: I get emails from, uh, what do they call it
S1: with the Melbourne Victory? What's what's the sort of more aggressive.
S1: There's a name for the support. Active active support. That's right.
S1: And they say flares are safe. They're just part of
S1: the atmosphere. And I've always invited them to say righto.
S1: Let's light one and I'm going to hold it on
S1: your forearm for, say, 30s. And then we'll see how
S1: safe you think it is. But they, they seem to
S1: feel that there's absolutely no danger associated with them.
S2: Yeah. I mean, that couldn't be further from the truth.
S2: I mean, I think ultimately flares held in hand or
S2: held without obviously becoming a projectile for the most part,
S2: are relatively safe. That's why they're used from a maritime
S2: perspective too. But they are illegal. That's the reality. I'm
S2: certainly not going to disagree with you there. Um they're illegal.
S2: There are alternatives to that. There's obviously safe smoke, the
S2: gender reveal type smoke. That smoke is for the most part, um, okay.
S2: And potentially a space that could be considered in Fed
S2: Square is, is there a, is there a space there
S2: where safe smoke can be let off the gender reveal stuff?
S2: But again, that becomes a respiratory issue, I think as
S2: a flare, it's a starting point to know.
S1: Alright, well you've had a big win today. Thank you
S1: for your time. Dan Birrell the CEO of Football Victoria. Well,
S1: at least he's against the flares.