What do football, covid and face recognition software have in common?
Now that the football season has ended and the Euros are upon us, we can reflect on how the post-COVID world easing of restrictions, predominantly within the sporting arena, affects behaviours and ultimately security.
Despite the ever-fluctuating ‘R’ number, the return to live sports (albeit with the predicted restrictions) has continued both in a positive and negative way; from the BBC reporting the novel ‘masks and millinery’ of last week’s Royal Ascot through to, the more worryingly, events seen post Euro2020 matches.
We were all saddened to see the behaviour in Leicester Square after the England v Scotland match. With the restricted number of seats available, an estimated 20,000 people, without tickets, descended on London - despite official pleas to stay away. Fans and revellers congregated at landmarks and bars in the capital, and security (both Covid-related and behaviourally) once again became the key issue.
Social and behavioural psychologists are already studying and attempting to predict post-pandemic behaviours. We know that a wide population will have experienced stress, uncertainty, fear or even trauma since the beginning of the pandemic, and we know that such stressors can lead to challenging behaviours. And whilst a phased return to full capacity within stadiums, ready for the next football season, is a positive, there is a real risk that the pent up ‘energy’ from the pandemic will see a release of more ‘undesirable’ and ‘problematic’ behaviour. This has already been witnessed by some of the crowd’s response to footballers taking their symbolic, pre-match stance against racism.
Currently, it’s impossible to predict the issues that will face post-pandemic environments, such as stadiums, but this timely break in the football calendar is giving clubs and stadium management teams the chance to consider how they will prepare for these challenges ahead. We see this period of time, within football, and sport as a whole, as the prime opportunity for clubs to test security resilience and utilise the current facial recognition technology advancements, to improve data, metrics, monitoring and ultimately, response and safety.
At tFRC we are already working with premiership football clubs and organisations to install and utilise our latest technologies and developments in FR – not only enabling them to be ready and prepared to identify and respond to threats swiftly – but also providing the reassurance and safe environments that fans and teams will rely upon as we return - ultimately protecting the integrity and spirit of the game we love.
If you would like to understand how we could work together with you organisation please contact info@thefacerecognitioncompany.com