Advertising board incidents at Swansea and Palace probed amid safety concerns

Incidents involving advertising boards at Swansea and Crystal Palace over the weekend are believed to be under review.

Cardiff winger Ollie Tanner suffered a leg injury when a board collapsed onto him amid goal celebrations in his side’s Championship match at their south Wales rivals on Sunday.

In London West Ham players Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen helped a ball boy who was trapped under a board as Hammers supporters celebrated a goal at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

Neither club have so far commented, but the Press Association understands the Premier League has been in contact with Palace over Saturday’s incident and the London club are looking into it.

The league intends to share any learnings with all its clubs once the full facts have been established.

The incident at Swansea is set to be discussed at the next of the EFL’s regular operations meetings. The Football Association is also understood to be liaising with the clubs and leagues concerned.

Safety and security is ultimately the responsibility of clubs.

Pitch perimeter safety

The Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango and the then Sports Minister Stuart Andrew wrote to the FA and the leagues in June 2023 to raise the issue of pitch perimeter safety and urge them to give stronger direction to clubs on it.

That followed a different sort of incident, when Bath’s Alex Fletcher collided with an advertising board in a match in November 2022, suffering serious head injuries. He was able to return to playing with Weston-super-Mare but retired last month aged just 25 after admitting he was still feeling the effects of the injuries he suffered.

Since the letter was sent, the PFA has continued to push for consideration of player safety to be central to rules and guidance on pitch perimeters, and it has also continued to speak to the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) to ensure potential player safety issues are a central part of stadium safety inspections.