REVIEWING GAME DAY SECURITY

Safety first! Both host and visiting bands must join forces with administrators and security personnel to create a positive event experience.

- Frank Dimaria

When fans and marching band members enter a stadium to experience the spectacle of athletic competition, they rarely consider the complicated logistics implemented by security personnel, game day operations staff, and band directors to ensure their safety throughout the day. Until, that is, an incident occurs.

On Aug. 24, 2019, following a game versus the University of Miami, Jay Watkins, director of the University of Florida Marching Band, was injured. According to media reports, Watkins was grabbed from behind and pushed to the ground after attempting to stop a woman from getting through his band’s ranks as it exited Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, to get to the buses.

Less than one month later, University of Iowa marching band members reported that they experienced physical and verbal abuse from Iowa State University fans as the band exited onto a crowded pathway at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa, following the rivalry game on Sept. 14.

News reports reveal that the opposing marching bands were not involved in the incidents and showed empathy and support to the individuals who were hurt.

No matter its size, every academic institution has an emergency action plan that includes public safety at athletic events, says Justin M. Eberly, an Emergency Medical Technician and firefighter with a background in public emergency management and with experience working with marching bands.

Considering recent events in Florida and Iowa, colleges and high schools should review and revise their game day security plans and procedures to keep everyone safe.

“As directors we have to put our kids in safe environments, and we have to advocate for our guests with our own people on our campuses,” says Jeffrey Fuchs, director of university bands at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill.

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