WEBVTT - 'Common sense is prevailing': Jacinta Allan overturn Fed Square soccer viewing ban 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.199 Well, I mentioned before that champagne corks might be popping 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:07.080 at the headquarters of football aka Soccer Victoria. The Premier 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.680 has ordered Fed Square to change course. Socceroos and possibly 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:12.960 other games will be shown on the big screen in 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.320 a few weeks at Fed Square. Dan Birrell, CEO of 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:17.800 Football Victoria. Good morning. 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:20.599 Good morning. Tom there's a glass of champagne with your 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:22.680 name on it when you're ready to. Thanks for the opportunity. 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:25.560 Did did you directly lobby the Premier on this? 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:27.960 Yeah, absolutely. And I want to probably start from the 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.480 outset by thanking Jacinta, um, the Premier, Jacinta Allan, for 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:34.280 overturning this decision. Obviously a short time ago now and 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.760 hopefully common sense prevailing. We're very appreciative and thankful for 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:42.240 the state government's support on this so quickly. Um, and yeah, 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.120 really excited now by the opportunity to bring community together 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.400 in Fed Square. And we've got so many iconic moments 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:48.320 to show for that time. 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.159 One of our producers went to one of the Matildas 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:53.400 screenings a couple of years ago, and he was hit 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:56.840 in the back by a lit flare. Can you guarantee 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.320 that sort of behaviour won't happen this time around? 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:03.280 I can't guarantee that. That's probably as much on security 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.800 and police. What I can say is the time slots 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.720 for this year's Socceroos, a very family friendly day. Weekend 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.790 motivated time slots, 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.. So I 0:01:12.790 --> 0:01:16.230 think it's significantly more unlikely there will be flares, but 0:01:16.230 --> 0:01:18.509 I'd also and we're more than happy to play a 0:01:18.550 --> 0:01:22.429 key part of this with government security and police presence 0:01:22.590 --> 0:01:24.590 to ensure that people are aware of the messaging and 0:01:24.590 --> 0:01:27.390 that this is now the opportunity for us as a community. 0:01:27.390 --> 0:01:29.070 And let's just not be let's be clear here. It's 0:01:29.069 --> 0:01:31.750 not just football that goes to these events at Fed Square. 0:01:31.750 --> 0:01:34.190 This brings Melbourne together. There's a lot of people that 0:01:34.190 --> 0:01:37.229 I know that go and obviously cause havoc, but let's 0:01:37.230 --> 0:01:38.190 let's do it safely. 0:01:38.670 --> 0:01:40.310 Well what cause havoc safely? 0:01:41.030 --> 0:01:45.590 No. Let's enjoy the experience safely. Not cause havoc safely. 0:01:45.750 --> 0:01:49.910 Well, okay. But but unfortunately, flares in soccer. I'm sorry. 0:01:49.910 --> 0:01:52.750 I obsess about flares, but it's the main difference between 0:01:52.750 --> 0:01:56.150 a a soccer or football crowd and AFL or rugby league, 0:01:56.150 --> 0:01:59.190 rugby union, whatever. They seem to go hand in hand. 0:01:59.230 --> 0:02:01.030 I mean, what do we do about that? 0:02:01.870 --> 0:02:04.990 Yeah, I think it's probably a challenge that we've had 0:02:04.990 --> 0:02:07.310 locally as a game as well. And it's something that 0:02:07.310 --> 0:02:09.750 I think a lot of deference goes to what European 0:02:09.750 --> 0:02:12.470 markets do and what they allow. I concur that I 0:02:12.470 --> 0:02:15.070 don't think it's a particularly safe environment to have flares, 0:02:15.070 --> 0:02:18.030 and we've been pretty strong with our stance towards that 0:02:18.030 --> 0:02:20.769 behaviour at a local level to a state league level 0:02:20.770 --> 0:02:23.850 in ensuring that people know that they are unsafe and significant. 0:02:23.889 --> 0:02:27.050 You know, risks and dangers emerge when you're throwing flares 0:02:27.050 --> 0:02:30.169 and you're behaving like that. I think messaging is important. 0:02:30.530 --> 0:02:34.450 I think from a security perspective, we've now implemented bag checks, 0:02:34.490 --> 0:02:37.650 wanding and ensuring that people know that ultimately, the people 0:02:37.650 --> 0:02:40.810 that are punished for this behavior aren't always the people 0:02:40.810 --> 0:02:43.210 that have the flares that goes part of that. But 0:02:43.210 --> 0:02:45.930 often the teams involved, or in this instance as well, 0:02:45.930 --> 0:02:49.010 the entire Melbourne community would be affected if the behaviour 0:02:49.010 --> 0:02:50.410 of a few unfortunate people. 0:02:50.610 --> 0:02:53.410 But things like bag checking and that sort of thing, 0:02:53.450 --> 0:02:55.410 that works well to say the likes of Aami Park 0:02:55.410 --> 0:02:57.370 or Marvel, where you've got gates and people have to 0:02:57.370 --> 0:02:59.730 pass through the gates. The problem with Fed Square is 0:02:59.730 --> 0:03:02.210 it's essentially open on three out of four sides. Like 0:03:02.210 --> 0:03:04.050 you can just wander in. Now, are they going to 0:03:04.090 --> 0:03:06.850 like have full on fencing and gates and the ability 0:03:06.850 --> 0:03:09.130 to stop people and search them? Because that's not easy 0:03:09.130 --> 0:03:10.329 to do at Fed Square? 0:03:10.690 --> 0:03:14.010 Yeah. No, agreed. My understanding from a just a message 0:03:14.010 --> 0:03:16.250 correspondence a short time ago is that there are security 0:03:16.250 --> 0:03:19.090 measures being planned to put in place that would potentially 0:03:19.090 --> 0:03:22.890 even just have temporary crowd control barriers to ensure that 0:03:22.930 --> 0:03:25.210 it isn't then maximised in terms of the crowd, that 0:03:25.210 --> 0:03:28.290 there is a limit. And ultimately that makes it a 0:03:28.290 --> 0:03:31.120 little bit easier to hopefully have a safe environment as well. 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.360 But I agree with you, Tom. Like flares aren't something 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.040 we support. It's certainly a dangerous behavior as well. 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:39.160 I get emails from, uh, what do they call it 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.680 with the Melbourne Victory? What's what's the sort of more aggressive. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.360 There's a name for the support. Active active support. That's right. 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.600 And they say flares are safe. They're just part of 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:48.760 the atmosphere. And I've always invited them to say righto. 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:50.440 Let's light one and I'm going to hold it on 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.080 your forearm for, say, 30s. And then we'll see how 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.880 safe you think it is. But they, they seem to 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.760 feel that there's absolutely no danger associated with them. 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.760 Yeah. I mean, that couldn't be further from the truth. 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.360 I mean, I think ultimately flares held in hand or 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.280 held without obviously becoming a projectile for the most part, 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.320 are relatively safe. That's why they're used from a maritime 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.480 perspective too. But they are illegal. That's the reality. I'm 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.320 certainly not going to disagree with you there. Um they're illegal. 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.040 There are alternatives to that. There's obviously safe smoke, the 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.120 gender reveal type smoke. That smoke is for the most part, um, okay. 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.039 And potentially a space that could be considered in Fed 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:27.960 Square is, is there a, is there a space there 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:29.960 where safe smoke can be let off the gender reveal stuff? 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.640 But again, that becomes a respiratory issue, I think as 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:34.159 a flare, it's a starting point to know. 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:35.800 Alright, well you've had a big win today. Thank you 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.360 for your time. Dan Birrell the CEO of Football Victoria. Well, 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:39.680 at least he's against the flares.