Military to join armed police at London's major sporting events across the summer following Manchester bombing

Armed patrol: Security will be stepped up outside Wembley this weekend
Getty Images

The presence of soldiers in addition to armed police will ensure unprecedented levels of security as the sporting calendar hits its peak in the capital over the coming weeks.

A quarter of a million spectators are expected at Wembley Stadium this weekend for Saturday’s FA Cup Final and two promotion play-off finals, while a further 150,000 will go through the turnstiles at Twickenham for the Aviva Premiership Final and England’s fixture against the Barbarians.

In the wake of Monday’s terror attack in Manchester and the raising of the country’s security alert level to critical, armed military personnel and police firearms officers will be in attendance at major sporting events.

The Metropolitan Police said it was in constant dialogue with sporting bosses across the capital, which is set to host The Derby the weekend after next, cricket’s Champions Trophy, which gets under way at The Kia Oval tomorrow week, and the Women’s Cricket World Cup, starting on June 24.

The Metropolitan Police said: “A full review of the security and policing operations for the weekend’s sporting events — the culmination of the football and rugby seasons at Wembley and Twickenham — is under way. This will include the deployment of extra armed officers.”

The Met is expected to make a further statement on security measures later today but there is no suggestion any major sporting event in London will be cancelled or postponed at this stage.

Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said there would be military personnel at events in the capital “to reassure all Londoners that we are doing everything possible to protect your city”.

Wembley will host Saturday’s FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Chelsea as well as the League Two play-off between Blackpool and Exeter and the Bank Holiday Monday Championship play-off clash of Huddersfield and Reading.

The FA said there would be “an enhanced security operation for all upcoming events” and advised all ticket holders to arrive “as early as possible for security checks and to avoid delays in entering the stadium”.

Similarly, the RFU has advised fans to arrive early for Saturday’s Premiership Final and Sunday’s Barbarians match — and to avoid bringing bags where possible.

Armed police will be outside the stadium at both matches, while the RFU will continue with the additional security arrangements for bag searches and pat downs employed at all entrance points for this year’s Six Nations matches. An RFU spokesman said: “We have been operating enhanced security measures for some time and will continue to do so for both match days this weekend.”

Security at golf’s BMW PGA Championship, which began with a pro-am day at Wentworth this morning, has been given “the highest priority”, according to European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley, with the event in “constant dialogue with the police and security services”.

Meanwhile, Epsom racecourse — scheduled to host the Derby a week on Saturday — will have increased security and firearms officers in and around the venue. But Surrey Police Chief Supt Jerry Westerman stressed it was “not in response to any specific intelligence in relation to the event”.

England begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh at The Oval a week tomorrow, and the ICC said they were continuing “to work with authorities over the coming hours and days, and review our security in line with the threat levels”.

Wimbledon and London 2017 — the Para Athletics World Championships and the IAAF World Championships — are both on the horizon for the capital.

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club said it was working closely with the Met in light of the Manchester attack to “ensure that The Championships are as secure as possible and that our plans are commensurate with the existing threat level in London and the UK”.

It added it would “take any appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the whole Championships”.

Outside of London, the Great CityGames in Manchester will go ahead on Saturday while a decision on Sunday’s Great Manchester Run, in which 30,000 people are expected to compete, had not been taken by the time Standard Sport went to press.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in