July 25th, 2025

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Safety mythbusters: Tottenham bans banners

Supporters of Tottenham Hotspur Football club were left empty handed – and we’re not talking about silverware – when they had banners taken off them by club stewards at a recent game against Stoke City.

Many of the banners, according to a Telegraph report, were populated with messages calling for the club’s chairman, Daniel Levy, to be ousted in light of a poor run of form.

“There were claims on social media that fans had ‘Levy Out’ banners taken off them by club stewards at the game,” the newspaper article read.

The reason? Health and safety. “Anybody wishing to take a banner inside White Hart Lane,” the Telegraph report continues, “must get the prior approval of the club for health and safety reasons.”

So, was the club on or offside in its health and safety protestations?

Health and Safety Executive Mythbusters Panel

Like a world-class referee, the Health and Safety Executive’s Mythbusters Panel made a quick and decisive decision.

The panel found: “The club does have a rule in place that requires all banners (not just those about an unpopular ‘chairman’!) to be notified in advance and this is for fire safety reasons.

“Given the challenges of crowd management at football matches this is an entirely reasonable rule to have in place.”

Back of the net.