AQA · A-Level · Physical Education
Course version: 7582 · Version from Sept 2016
Sport and the law: Spectators (safety, hooliganism).
Spectators are protected by law and by event management.
Checked against the AQA 7582 specification (opens in a new tab) on .
- Point 5 of 5
- 4 key terms
Study notes
From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.
The idea
Spectators are protected by law and by event management. Safety duties include risk assessment, stewarding, segregation, capacity limits and crowd control, so that spectators can watch without foreseeable harm. Hooliganism means disorderly, violent or threatening behaviour by people at a fixture, including pitch invasion, missile throwing and fighting. The law responds through public order offences, banning orders, football banning order legislation and club or venue sanctions. Learners should distinguish a safety failure, such as poor crowd flow, from hooligan behaviour, such as deliberate violence, and explain how each is managed: design, policing, stewarding, ticketing and sanctions.
What earns the marks
- Defines spectator safety as the legal and operational duty to protect people attending a fixture from foreseeable harm.
- Identifies safety measures such as risk assessment, capacity limits, segregation, stewarding, policing and controlled entry and exit.
- Defines hooliganism as disorderly, violent or threatening behaviour by spectators, including fighting, missile throwing and pitch invasion.
- Explains legal responses such as public order offences, banning orders and club or venue sanctions.
- Distinguishes an accidental safety failure from deliberate hooligan behaviour and matches each to an appropriate control.
Common mistakes and how to put them right
Treating hooliganism as simply loud support.
Put it right: , hooliganism involves disorderly, violent or threatening conduct, not ordinary enthusiastic cheering.
Assuming safety is only the police's job.
Put it right: , the law, the venue, the club and event staff all share duties for spectator protection.
Confusing a safety hazard with a criminal offence.
Put it right: , a hazard such as poor crowd flow is managed by design and stewarding, while deliberate violence may be a public order offence.
Believing banning orders apply to all sports equally.
Put it right: , banning order powers and their use vary by sport and by the legislation in force.
Exam tips
- Read the stem carefully to decide whether it is testing safety management or hooliganism, then eliminate options that belong to the other category.
- Reject any option that names a control measure without linking it to the risk it reduces.
- Check each option against the legal response: public order offences, banning orders and venue sanctions are the key legal tools.
- Use the process of elimination on distractors that describe normal spectator behaviour as hooliganism.
Try the lesson
The start of the Sport and the law: Spectators (safety, hooliganism). lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.
Have a go first
Under the Occupiers' Liability Act, what legal duty is owed by the organisers of a sporting event to the spectators attending?
Listen
Spectators are protected by law and by event management. Safety duties include risk assessment, stewarding, segregation, capacity limits and crowd control, so that spectators can watch without foreseeable harm. Hooliganism means disorderly, violent or threatening behaviour by people at a fixture, including pitch invasion, missile throwing and fighting. The law responds through public order offences, banning orders, football banning order legislation and club or venue sanctions. Learners should distinguish a safety failure, such as poor crowd flow, from hooligan behaviour, such as deliberate violence, and explain how each is managed: design, policing, stewarding, ticketing and sanctions. A strong answer earns marks for these points. Defines spectator safety as the legal and operational duty to protect people attending a fixture from foreseeable harm. Identifies safety measures such as risk assessment, capacity limits, segregation, stewarding, policing and controlled entry and exit. Defines hooliganism as disorderly, violent or threatening behaviour by spectators, including fighting, missile throwing and pitch invasion. Explains legal responses such as public order offences, banning orders and club or venue sanctions. A common slip: Treating hooliganism as simply loud support. Instead, , hooliganism involves disorderly, violent or threatening conduct, not ordinary enthusiastic cheering. Exam tip: Read the stem carefully to decide whether it is testing safety management or hooliganism, then eliminate options that belong to the other category.
Key words
Say what each word means before you turn the card.
Legal duty to protect spectators
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
Crowd management and venue design
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
Hooliganism and public order
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
Sanctions and banning orders
Try answering aloud or in your head before turning the card.
See every definition
- Legal duty to protect spectators
- The legal and operational duty to protect people attending a fixture from foreseeable harm.
- Crowd management and venue design
- Safety measures such as risk assessment, capacity limits, segregation, stewarding, policing and controlled entry and exit.
- Hooliganism and public order
- Disorderly, violent or threatening behaviour by spectators, including fighting, missile throwing and pitch invasion.
- Sanctions and banning orders
- Legal responses such as public order offences, banning orders and club or venue sanctions.
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