Last month, a football match between Argentine club Tigre and Brazilian side Sao Paolo was blighted by allegations of security staff assaulting the Tigre players.
Following a scuffle on the pitch at half-time between the two sides, players claim they were attacked at gun point by security staff and police.
Coach Nestor Gorosito said: "They pulled two guns on us. They ambushed us and one of them pulled out a revolver and put it against (goalkeeper) Damian Albil’s chest. Their security and police also hit us. There were around 20 of them."
With the 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup ahead, fresh safety fears are putting a question mark over spectator and player safety in Brazil.
We spoke to the executive director of the International Centre for Sport Security, Helmut Spahn, to find out how these developments might affect preparations for the tournaments.
IFSEC Global (IG): The story of guns being pulled on Argentine players by security forces in Sao Paolo is certainly chilling. What do you make of it?
Helmut Spahn (HS): Events such as those seen in Sao Paulo highlight the need to share knowledge with emerging sports markets including Brazil and to ensure that incidents like this do not happen again.
At first glance, it appears that the security officers in Sao Paulo were not experienced or skilled enough to handle the environment, resulting in the situation quickly escalating and the subsequent headlines and pictures shocking even the most passionate advocates and observers of South American football.
As many will remember from the 1970s and 1980s, over-zealous police and security were the norm at football matches both at home and abroad.
Nevertheless, looking at the situation today, advances made by the security industry over the last couple of decades have resulted in dramatic improvements to the delivery of security at major sport events.
IG: FIFA is pointing to the FIFA Confederations Cup as being the first event in Brazil that will be mostly staffed by private security forces. After the incident in Sao Paolo should this still be the case?
HS: It’s worth highlighting that security is, first and foremost, a customer service with many sports fans now paying ‘top dollar’ to attend major sporting events.
With ever-improving venues and increasing broadcast and sponsorship fees, the expectation for major event organisers to deliver a safe, secure and welcoming event has undoubtedly increased.
One key component for delivering an effective security concept is successfully deploying a skilled and professional workforce that has the right attitude and will follow procedures in high profile and potentially volatile situations.
Whether that workforce is from the public or private sector, it;s important that skilled security staff are used during such a high profile major event.
IG: There were huge security fears ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but little trouble came to pass. What can Brazil learn from the security operation there?
HS: As FIFA president Sepp Blatter has recently pointed out, the events in Sao Paolo will serve as a warning to Brazil’s World Cup organisers and should be used as a reminder to all major event professionals about the dangers of entrusting positions of responsibility to untrained or inexperienced security staff around high profile major events.
One lesson that local authorities and the organising committee can draw from this incident can be the use of experienced private security during the event alongside appropriate training and education programmes for local authorities and security officers.
During my involvement with the security operations at this summer’s UEFA Euro 2012, the local organising committee – with the help of UEFA – deployed private security inside the stadiums and was supported by the police and local authorities, who secured the outside of the stadiums.
Throughout the tournament, footballing authorities and local Governments in Poland and Ukraine collaborated closely to share knowledge and identify potential risks and developing threats.
Close co-operation between all stakeholders including local Government, the footballing authorities and public and private security organisations is essential to define clear roles and responsibilities in preparation for the event, and to deliver a security concept that accounts for the wider environmental, economic and political landscape.
IG: Security operations at sporting events are usually focused on controlling crowds and protecting players from those crwods, not protecting players from security themselves. Can the players trust the police and security forces or should football associations invest in their own security staff?
HS: Brazil will invest an estimated $900 million in its security forces in a bid to make the 2014 FIFA World Cup “one of the most protected sports events in history”. There are plans to have one police officer for every 50 people attending the tournament’s football matches.
This is a substantial sum of money when you consider South Africa, another country which faces crime issues, set aside a total security budget of $150 million when it hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
With this amount of money being invested for both tournaments, it’s important that footballing authorities and local Governments collaborate closely in their security preparations to ensure international players, coaches, fans and officials feel safe and secure while playing in and/or visiting Brazil.
One thing worth noting is this: while securing stadium venues is crucial, the importance of security planning for fan zones and ‘soft’ venues around the major event is equally essential, but sometimes underestimated.
These ‘soft’ areas include hotels, restaurants and bars which both locals and international tourists can visit. These venues represent an enticing opportunity for criminal activity, such as pick-pocketing and robbery, given that they attract a large number of people to a specific place.
In addition to tournament venues, it’s important that major event organisers take into account and prepare security for these ‘soft venues’ as these facilities will play as important a part in the success of the tournament as will the quality and security of the sporting venues and stadia.