London 2012 security guards told to smile - SBS
Private security guards manning venues at July and August's London Olympics have been warned against over-zealous behaviour that might alienate sports fans, the firm in charge of training said.
The opening day of a major event can be tense, as the start of the Olympic torch relay demonstrated this week when a police security team escorting the runners grabbed a spectator they thought was trying to reach the torchbearer and pushed him into a hedge.
Mark Hamilton, the man leading G4S's Olympic security team which will operate airport-style searches and screening at venues, said guards were being encouraged to engage with spectators.
"I think it is very relevant not to over-react to situations that arise on the first day - to make sure they are properly assessed and that the communications process is working in the way it should so that the decisions are made at the right time and people act in the right way," the managing director told reporters.
He said guards had to be thorough but it should not be an "onerous experience" for fans.
He suggested guards may have acted over-the-top when stopping photographers taking pictures from a public path of a vehicle checking area in the Olympic Park.
"There's no doubt that's a lesson learnt, not to overly criticise the workforce and the guards involved because they are operating under a regime where hostile reconnaissance is something they have to be aware of," he said.
"How they handle that, and how they manage it and how they report it is obviously something we've learnt a lesson from."
G4S guards can also check vehicles, such as buses, travelling through the Olympic Park in east London.
More than 100,000 people applied for one of the 10,400 temporary jobs in what G4S describes as one of the biggest paid recruitment drives in Britain this century.
G4S will recruit, train and coordinate the guards, in addition to managing 3,300 students and 3,000 volunteers.
As well as screening at entry, guards will be responsible for queue management and protecting the perimeters and equipment.
The London Olympic organising committee (LOCOG) was forced to renegotiate its contract with G4S at the end of last year after the committee more than doubled the number of people needed from an early estimate of 10,000 to 23,700.
The cost went up from 86 million pounds ($135.15 million) to 284 million pounds, leading to criticism in a UK parliamentary spending watchdog report.
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby, editing by Mark Meadows)
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London Welsh turn up the heat on RFU - espnscrum.com
London Welsh chairman Bleddyn Phillips has increased the pressure on the Rugby Football Union by labelling their decision to block their possible promotion to the Premiership as "inequitable, unreasonable and unfair".
The Exiles were dealt the hammer blow on the eve of their 37-21 victory over Cornish Pirates in the first leg of the Championship final on Wednesday night that put them on course for the second tier title. The Richmond-based club had hoped that an aggregate victory following next week's return clash at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford would lead to their promotion to the top flight but as things stand they will not make the step up and Newcastle Falcons, who finished bottom of the Premiership, will be safe.
The RFU, who are yet to offer clarification of their decision, ruled that London Welsh's application failed on a number of counts with the primary issue the fact that the club did not hold primacy of tenure at the 12,500-capacity Kassam Stadium that they intend to make their home should they be promoted. However, London Welsh insist they have an agreement in place with Oxford United FC, the owners of the stadium, that would give them the freedom to meet the crucial 'minimum standards criteria'.
The Daily Telegraph reports that London Welsh will launch an appeal - despite the fact they are yet to receive the full details of the RFU's decision - and Phillips, also a partner with the law firm Clifford Chance, has also hinted that the club may take legal action. "If we win our match against the Cornish Pirates in Oxford next week, given the fact that we have a legally-binding agreement to use a top-notch stadium and that other clubs appear to be allowed to groundshare with other Football Association clubs, to my mind I would think it highly inequitable, unreasonable and unfair if we are told that we can't go up," Phillips told the newspaper.
"That would to my mind, and I think to other impartial observers, appear harsh. I would hope that if we can demonstrate that we have a legally-binding agreement to use a top rugby venue, that would be enough to persuade the RFU that they should allow us entry to the top flight.
"We have had a lot of support from neutral and impartial observers. Our best hope however is to persuade the RFU, if we win, that it is in the interests of the game and in the interests of the spirit of the game that London Welsh should be allowed to go up rather than have this legal argument, which nobody really wants, but if necessary we will follow up."
His sentiments were echoed by former Wales and British & Irish Lions international John Taylor, who is also the club's managing director. "This is a massive issue; it's about the professional game in England," said Taylor. "You cannot have a situation where the movement between the Premiership Rugby and the Championship is suddenly prohibited, it just doesn't work on any level. I don't really see how the RFU can be happy with that."
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