Article 40 Protection of the playing area - Safety and Security

40.01

The match organiser must ensure that players and match officials are protected against the intrusion of spectators into the playing area. This may be accomplished in various ways, including, for example, the use of one or more of the following measures, depending on the individual circumstances:

1. the presence of security personnel in or near the playing area;

2. moats of a sufficient width and depth;

3. a seating configuration which situates front-row spectators at a height above the arena which would render intrusion into the playing area improbable, if not impossible;

4. insurmountable transparent screens or fences, which may either be mounted permanently or affixed in such a way that they may be removed whenever it is felt that their use is not necessary for any particular match.

40.02

Whichever form of protection against intrusion is used, it must incorporate adequate means for spectators to escape into the playing area in an emergency, unless, in the certified opinion of the public authorities, adequate means of emergency evacuation backwards and/or sideways out of the stands exist, which would be sufficient to render the use of the playing area unnecessary for such a purpose.

40.03

The type of protection adopted against intrusion must be approved by the public authorities and must not represent a danger to spectators in the event of panic or an emergency evacuation.