How long have you been working at Wembley Stadium?
I’m coming up to three years at Wembley Stadium having started in January 2018. I had worked at a very small number of events prior to this, mainly around the NFL events and very much as a third party as opposed to directly for the stadium.
How would you explain your job to a child?
As the Stadium Safety Officer, it’s my job to make the Stadium as safe a place as we can on an event day for everyone, both for those that come to watch the event or work the event. We do not want anyone to have an accident or be hurt in anyway. We do all we can to make sure they do not by helping to provide a place where people can feel safe and looked after so they can fully enjoy the match or the concert.
Your favourite thing about working at Wembley Stadium?
There are several things that are great about Wembley, from the events (no two events are ever the same and never a truer word has been spoken!), to the fabulous stadium itself but my favourite thing about working at Wembley is the people that work there. It’s great to be a part of that environment where there is such a broad range of skills, ideas, levels of collaboration and professionalism. It’s a true team of people that all have one aim – to host and operate some truly world class events.
Your best memory of Wembley Stadium?
My best memory was the Bon Jovi concert in June 2019. I was a secret Bon Jovi fan and whilst of course working diligently, enjoyed tapping my foot to some of the epic music! As often is the case I will head outside the control room to the observation gantry to have a look at the crowd in the stadium and ‘feel’ the atmosphere, be it football or a concert. It was during this moment that you could see the crowd was having an amazing time, Wembley was full, singing along with the band and you see that what all the hard work from the teams was all about. That snapshot and memory will be with me for a very long time.
Dream Wembley event?
A World Cup Final with England successfully lifting the trophy, closely followed by a Champions League Final with Liverpool lifting the trophy (..…again!).