The R&A says they have confidence in their “robust” plans to deal with any potential protests that may target the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, but admit it’s a “challenging” task.
Two of the biggest British sporting events have recently been delayed by protesters, with both the Grand National and World Snooker Championship attacked and successfully brought to a halt.
There were 118 people arrested at the Grand National after getting onto the track at Aintree, before the World Snooker Championship was stopped when one protester threw orange powder over one of the tables.
Organisers at Aintree knew there was a protest planned but could still not prevent the attack, while even a smaller venue like the Crucible Theatre was unable to prevent their prestige event from being stopped.
And with 260,000 golf fans expected to attend The Open at Hoylake from July 20-23, over such a large area, the R&A admit that security will be a big issue.
“Every year security is a big priority for us,” said Mike Woodcock, the director of corporate communications for the R&A. “Every year we are looking to see what the situation is and assess the potential issues.
“It’s certainly challenging but we have dealt with protests before. It’s not new. We are tapped into all of the intelligence. We will do everything we can to try to prevent it.
“We are planning for this year’s championship and if there are any situations we need to adapt to, we will.
“We are pretty confident the arrangements we have are robust. It’s all about the agencies we work with and the advice and guidance that we’re getting and I think we’re getting the best possible advice.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Championships director Rhodri Price said the R&A will actively try to engage with potential protest groups and even provide them with space to stage their protests.
“We’ve seen what’s happened in the last couple of weeks,” said Price. “It’s not something we are reactive to, we are very pro-active. We have all of the contingency planning, a monthly security group, intelligence cells that gather all this information.
“In fact they engage with all the protest groups to try to make sure we can provide for them if they were to attend.
“We’ve had several in the past that we were able to accommodate so that they can get their message across in a controlled environment.”
With the attendance heading to the Wirral this summer set to be an Open record outside of St Andrews, the R&A will be taking every step…
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