By PAUL-ANDRE WALKER, Staff ReporterSECURITY WILL BE at the forefront of the Inter Schools Sports Association (ISSA) agenda for tomorrow's start of this year's Victoria Mutual Building Society Boys and Girls Athletics Championships at the National Stadium.
The yearly practice of getting into the Stadium without paying the requisite entrance fee will be a 'no, no' this year as security measures have been put in place to safeguard against delinquents. The problems of overcrowding at the gates and indiscipline in the bleachers has also been addressed with a view to making Boys' and Girls' Champs a safe environment once again.
Firstly, no person will be allowed into sections B1, B2 and B3 without a valid ticket for the event, this means, in essence, that no person will be allowed on the ring road that surrounds the stadium without a ticket.
The problem of overcrowding at the gates has been dealt with by ensuring that no more than 2,500 persons enter through a given gate. This will be achieved by placing on each ticket the gate number that patrons are supposed to enter the stadium through, regardless of where they intend to seat themselves.
The safety of the patrons inside the stadium will be ensured by having strong police presence inside the bleachers to prevent the problem of indiscipline and ensure that nobody seats themselves in the isles.
It is the hope that the stringent security measures will mean that the 105 schools that have entered the championships - separating into 85 boys' teams and 89 girls' teams - will have a good crowd on hand and to that end pre-sold tickets sales are going well.
"The sales are going fairly well, people have been coming into the office and getting their tickets and we expect this to improve come tomorrow (today)," said ISSA competitions officer George Forbes.
