Woman who saw man fall at Wembley in 2021 questions whether lessons were learned

Glasgow Times

a day ago

Stephanie Good, 39, said she watched a man fall from the stands during a Euros football match between England and Croatia in 2021.
The man, named as Jon, reportedly survived but suffered two broken ankles and femur and a fractured pelvis just before kick-off.
Mrs Good said she was shocked to discover another incident had happened at the arena, when a man in his 40s died after falling from a height during the Oasis reunion concert on Saturday.
She told the PA news agency: 'When this happened the other day, I thought: 'That's so similar to what happened when we were there and it's four years ago'.
'It makes me wonder, were lessons learned?
'No-one really knows what came out of their investigation into the guy who fell at the football and whether there's anything more they could have done.
'It felt like it wasn't being taken all that seriously.'
Describing the 2021 incident, Mrs Good said the man 'fell from the upper tier and landed in the stairwell between rows of seats'.
'Me and my group were at the end of that row, so he landed right next to us,' she said.
'We didn't realise he'd fallen until he landed, we heard this almighty bang, and looked around, and he was rolling down the steps and then landed against the wall at the bottom of the steps.'
Mrs Good added: 'I think he was trying to attach a flag on to the front of the stand or something, and he'd somehow managed to fall straight over.
'The thing that really stood out for us was the inadequacy of the emergency response – nobody seemed to know what to do.
'They didn't seem well-trained in terms of how to respond to a really big emergency.
Stephanie Good, 39, witnessed a man falling from an upper level at Wembley Stadium in London four years ago (Stephanie Good/PA)
'Their stewards were kind of paralysed a little bit by fear, or they just weren't well-trained and didn't know how to call for paramedics.
'It was us who were sort of shouting at them that they needed to get some paramedics.
'The first person on the scene wasn't a stadium paramedic or St John Ambulance. It was an off-duty firefighter who had seen the guy fall and ran down to just try and offer some help.
'When the paramedics turned up, they put sheets around him to give him medical treatment. And then a bunch of people, who I assume were stadium management, turned up – stereotypical men in suits.
'Initially, there was no-one really helping, so it was left to fans to keep people away from him and try and get some help.'
Mrs Good, an NHS manager who lives in east London, said staff moved people to other seats but did not ask for witness statements.
She added: 'They didn't seek any input from people who'd seen the incident or the aftermath of it. They didn't seem interested in speaking to anybody about it.
'I was a bit concerned, because I felt that the emergency response was really lacking.'
Mrs Good said she then tried to get in touch with the stadium to give feedback, but was unable to do so and did not receive a response to a message on social media.
A spokesperson for Wembley Stadium said: 'Wembley Stadium operates to a very high health and safety standard, fully meeting legal requirements for the safety of spectators and staff, and is certified to and compliant with the ISO 45001 standard.
'We work very closely and collaboratively with all relevant event delivery stakeholders – including event owners, local authorities, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and the police – to deliver events to high standards of safety, security and service for everyone attending or working in the venue.'
A physiotherapist who first helped the man following his fall said he was never contacted by Wembley stewards after the incident – which he found 'pretty poor'.
Paul Hunter, 53, from Croydon, London, said Jon was lucky to be alive when he found him.
He told PA: 'When I came around the corner and saw him lying on the floor, before I looked at his face, I thought: 'He's got to be dead. He has to be dead falling from there.'
'And then to see him conscious and breathing, it was incredible.'
Mr Hunter was reminded of the fall when he read about the news the Oasis fan had died.
He said: 'I can't remember exactly where we were, but it looked pretty identical in terms of the location.'
Mr Hunter said he heard shouting – which he found strange as the game had not yet started and the arena was not at full capacity – and then calls that someone had fallen.
As a former professional football physiotherapist trained in dealing with trauma, he decided to help.
Mr Hunter said he saw the man lying on his back and realised how far he had fallen, which he guessed to be about 10ft.
He saw he had significant injuries and helped the first responders to stabilise the man.
Mr Hunter said: 'The stewards took my name and number down, but I never heard anything from Wembley, which I thought was pretty poor, really.
'I did phone up Wembley the week after, to say that I helped out, and just wanted to get an update on how the guy was. I never heard anything.'
He said he would have expected to have heard from the stadium following the incident.
Mr Hunter said: 'The stewards around knew what I'd done, and (I was first) on the scene. I thought someone would have contacted me.'
He thinks Wembley should consider making changes to the stands and include additional safety features.
Mr Hunter said: 'To have one accident's unfortunate, I can understand that. But now someone's died from it.'