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greeneyed
Don Furner
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More eyes on Dogs supporters

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More eyes on Dogs supporters
Chris Wilson
Thursday, 6 April 2006

The Canberra Raiders have responded to the Bulldogs' history of crowd violence by increasing security and police presence for Sunday's NRL match at Canberra Stadium.

ACT Policing intelligence has predicted a trouble-free event, but Raiders chief executive Simon Hawkins said the Canberra Stadium would be adequately staffed in case of crowd misbehaviour.

"We're prepared, but we're not expecting any problems," Hawkins said.

There will be eight extra staff - four private security guards and four police officers - at Canberra Stadium on Sunday.

Canberra Stadium management would not release official numbers, but The Canberra Times understands 12-16 police officers and about 30 private security staff are employed during a regular Raiders home game, depending on the expected crowd figure.

NSW Police Minister Carl Scully has committed extra police at Bulldogs games for the remainder of the NRL season after crowd violence during the March 17 match between the Bulldogs and Wests Tigers at Telstra Stadium.

There were about 150 officers - including riot police - at the Bulldogs' last match, against the Knights at Newcastle two weeks ago, attended by more than 25,000 fans. Scully described the crowd behaviour at that match as "exemplary".

Raiders general manager Don Furner believed about 14,000 would attend Sunday's match.

Security measures for Sunday's match were decided at a meeting between ACT Police, the Canberra Raiders and Canberra Stadium management late last month.

"ACT Policing has conducted extensive security intelligence assessments in consultation with NSW Police, the operators of Canberra Stadium and contracted private security, and are planning for a trouble-free event," an ACT Police spokeswoman said. "ACT Policing will deploy extra resources to the stadium and surrounds during the event, including members of the Specialist Response and Security Team, and will not tolerate anti-social behaviour."

Canberra Stadium chief executive Neil Guthrie said ticketing agents had been advised to try to separate travelling Bulldogs supporters from Raiders fans.

"They'll be put at opposite parts of the ground and I think that's the sensible thing to do," Guthrie said.

NRL Chief Operating Officer Graham Annesley said the Bulldogs would also contribute to enforcing crowd behaviour.

"When the Bulldogs go on the road, they always take private security who sit with their fans. That's not a new initiative, it's something they've been doing for a while," Annesley said.

"To be honest, games on the road have never been seen with the same degree of risk as Sydney games."

Raiders general manager Don Furner said the extra security was only a precautionary measure.

Furner said security numbers were reviewed for every Raiders home game. He expected the Bulldogs to draw a bigger crowd than Canberra's previous home games this season, against the Newcastle Knights and Penrith Panthers.

"The Bulldogs are a good drawcard so we're expecting a big crowd, so for that reason we'll have more security as well," Furner said.

He was confident several factors would result in a trouble-free event.

He said the fact Bulldogs fans had to travel to Canberra would lower the risk of violence.

"It's on a Sunday afternoon, it isn't in Sydney and we are not a traditional rival," Furner said. "We spoke to the Bulldogs and they don't predict any trouble coming down here - that's the Bulldogs' words.

"Also the AFP don't have any cause to think there's going to be any trouble on Sunday."

Furner said the club had employed extra security staff for a Bulldogs match in 2002, just after the Sydney team had been stripped of 37 competition points for breaching the salary cap.

"We were playing them the next week and we had also taken their spot in the top-eight, so tensions were high and we had extra staff, but there were no problems," Furner said.

The NRL has warned Bulldogs fans that the club risks losing competition points for crowd misbehaviour.

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail ... m=4&y=2006
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