On 27 March 2014 the SLO coordinator at the Football Association of Norway (NFF) Lars Stensby, organised a security seminar in Oslo attended by some 40 security officers and supporter liaison officers from clubs in the top two tiers of Norwegian football. Also invited at the seminar were UEFA SLO Project Coordinator Stuart Dykes and the SLO of Djurgardens IF Lena Gustafson-Wiberg who presented the SLO project in theory, and practice.
This was the third opportunity club officials had to be acquainted to the SLO project, following a security/SLO seminar organised by the NFF in February 2012 and a workshop organised by the Norwegian Professional Football League in September 2012. However, despite the fact that at the first workshop an active SLO (Borussia Dortmund’s Jens Volke) analysed again the practical aspect of his work, the role of the SLO was misunderstood and not fully perceived, till now.
This time, however, things were different: The presentations sparked a lively discussion between Stuart, Lena and the security officers/SLOs in attendance and Lars admitted that the security officers now have a better understanding of the SLO role. For the first time, the SLOs were handed their official NFF accreditation badges for the new season. After the workshop the SLOs met separately in a session led by the NFF licensing department where they were asked to give a summary of their experiences so far, good and bad. Two spokesperson among the SLOs were elected to serve as direct contact points for the NFF, who wanted to know how they can best help the SLOs to perform their role.
In general, it was a positive and successful workshop and all parties involved, the NFF, the security officers and the SLOs came out of it wiser and with a better understanding of the role and its importance to the improvement of the match day experience for all stakeholders.
