The SGSA is the UK Government’s advisor on safety at sports grounds and a world leader in safety.
We provide independent, expert advice, based on three decades of experience in making football in England and Wales a safe and enjoyable experience for spectators. We use our experience to advise and support other sports and related industries in the UK and internationally.
Put simply, our purpose is to ensure sports grounds are safe for everyone.
Our expert team of Inspectors provide support and advice based on their collective knowledge of areas including engineering, policing, emergency planning and facilities management. They support individual clubs and grounds, sports bodies, governments, architects and engineers to minimise risk and help deliver safe events for all.
Our regulatory role is to:
• issue licences to the 90 Premier League and English Football League grounds, along with Wembley and the Principality Stadium to allow them to permit spectators to watch matches;and
• oversee local authorities in their duties to sports grounds safety and safety certification.
We provide safety advice and support to other sports both in the UK and internationally. We support in areas including:
• Strategic advice, including diagnosing physical infrastructure and safety management risks to existing, new and refurbished stadiums.
• Proactive action planning to enable sports bodies/grounds to develop and enhance spectator safety.
• Educating to plan and prepare for challenging scenarios through the provision of training and scenario planning programmes
Safety Standards
• We set safety standards through our internationally-recognised best practice guidance, including the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide), which is used to build and develop sports grounds around the world.
• The SGSA is funded by the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport
The Board of the SGSA is currently made up of 7 board members and the chair. There are 4 relatively new board members, 3 board members in their second terms and the chair who is in his first term but was previously a board member for 9 years. The board has a selection of individuals with various relevant skills including CEO’s of local authorities, a former Chief Constable, a former head of the Government’s Statistical Service, a stadium and sports event architect, a former professional footballer, an operations director for motor racing and a venue operator.
Why the SGSA is supporting Boardroom Apprentice
The SGSA as a whole, not just its Board, are committed to supporting the government’s work to ensure public bodies reflect all of society. We envisage that the scheme plays a vital role in giving individuals with potential but not necessarily the experience a great opportunity to learn and perhaps test themselves in what is likely to be a ‘new world’ for them’. Our role at the SGSA is to help provide this experience. We are a small but greatly respected organisation and this gives us the opportunity to learn and provide a new viewpoint. Our current board members provide a wealth of experience that they are happy to share. Some are new and have no public sector board experience but come from senior positions in the private sector. For example, Martin Epsom is not only a local authority CEO and has a great ALB experience with the HSE and now the SGSA. Also, Bradley Pritchard, like Martin, is a new board member. Bradley is a former professional football and entrepreneurial in promoting well-being, particularly in young people, but importantly for the SGSA, Bradley is a great voice on the Board in particular leading our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. He benefited from a similar initiative progressing through the government’s Mentoring Programme which has, through Bradley, brought a new dimension to the board and its thinking.
Location of Board and Committee Meetings
10 South Colonnade, London, E14 4PU
Frequency and timing of board/committee meetings
Bi-monthly with Change Board meetings in the alternative months
Date of Board Meetings (January 2024 – December 2024)
TBC – normally 3rd week of alternate months starting in January
Committee of the Boards and meeting dates (January 2024 – December 2024)
Risk and Audit Committee
Change Board – TBC
