Gary Williams, Global Applications Director at GJD explains that sports grounds across the country are turning to laser technology to reduce vandalism, ticket avoidance and theft.
Sport is big business; in 2025, UK professional sports attendance reached a record 79.4 million.
According to SportsPro, the high attendance rates for live sports contributed an estimated £1.7 billion to the UK economy in 2022.
However, while most supporters across the country supporting their teams or athletes do so in the right spirit, there are those who find ingenious ways to break into grounds.
The issue has become so large that the Unauthorised Entry to Matches Bill was brought to Parliament, passed by the House of Commons in July 2025 and passed its third reading in the House of Lords in January 2026.
Anyone convicted under the new law can face a fine of up to £1,000 and a football banning order of between three and 10 years.
Lord John Mann, a member of the House of Lords and Cardiff City FC fan, said: “There are many ingenious ways in which football fans will attempt to see fixtures when they’re fans.
“At Oxford United last March, I witnessed – although the police did intervene after 10 minutes – the most ingenious of attempts where a van was parked in a public car park adjoining the smallest stand.
“A ladder, more like a window-cleaning device, was hired and in great comfort, two fans began to observe the fixture from on high.
“Such was the angle of the ladder they may well have technically been inside the stadium and I use that as an illustration of the many ways in which the true fan – but one without a ticket – may attend to see a fixture.”
This is just one example of many in which opportunistic fans try to view a game for free.
As bad as the problem of ticketless fans can be, acts of vandalism can be even more expensive and damaging to sports clubs, especially at the grassroots level.
A recent example is the case of arson at non-league football team Macclesfield Town FC where a deliberate fire was set off in two portable toilets within the stadium grounds.
This act of vandalism had a huge financial impact on the club, including replacing the toilets, subsequent damage to the stadium from the fire and the cost of calling out the fire service.
The vandalism also affected the local community, with many nearby residents experiencing noise, closed roads, light pollution and general disturbance to their day to day lives.
If we go further back to December 2025, grassroots football club Barnwood United AFC suffered three acts of vandalism within ten days.
The acts of vandalism not only put pressure on the volunteers at the club to spend their own time repairing the damage but also cost thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Our final example comes from Scottish Premiership team Dundee United FC who required the support of the police after an overnight break-in saw significant damage to the ground and premises.
Many of these cases could have been prevented had an appropriate perimeter protection been installed.
It is against this backdrop that many sports stadiums, especially older, traditional stadiums, have approached British manufacturer, GJD, seeking a different solution to what has traditionally been on offer.
GJD’s proposed solution is the D-TECT Laser. The D-TECT Laser is a laser-based security device which creates virtual curtains and surveillance security zones.
This means the laser can be programmed to protect walls and areas where someone might try to climb over and enter a stadium.
It also means fee-paying fans can walk past the wall without triggering any unwanted alarms on their way to legitimate entrances.
By utilising the D-TECT Laser around sports stadiums, GJD is bringing a reliable technology that is already protecting government buildings, prisons, museums, car dealerships and premises along our local high streets.
The D-TECT Laser has recently been installed at a national cricket ground in a busy city, where regular passers-by frequent the area.
However, due to the traditional nature of the ground, there are low perimeter walls and several shelters along a busy bus route.
This meant the ground was open to abuse from those who wanted to scale the wall to watch a game, or worse, those with intentions of theft, vandalism or other disruptions.
The D-TECT Lasers around the stadium work by sending an alert to the security personnel in the control room, while simultaneously activating Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) CCTV cameras to focus on the identified area and track the movement.
This, in turn, displays a live feed of the activity through the video management software on screen in the control room, so the alert can be tracked and actioned in real time by security personnel.
Any sport with a stadium is at increasing risk from theft and vandalism.
At GJD, we are thrilled that more clubs across sports are turning to GJD for their perimeter security.
In conclusion, as sports attendance continues to rise and stadiums welcome record numbers of fans, clubs are facing increasing challenges from ticketless entry, vandalism and theft.
With new legislation highlighting the scale of the issue, venues are seeking smarter and more effective ways to protect their facilities without disrupting legitimate supporters.
Solutions such as GJD’s D-TECT Laser are helping stadiums strengthen their perimeter security by creating intelligent detection zones that alert security teams in real time.
As stadium security continues to evolve, advanced perimeter protection will play an increasingly important role in safeguarding grounds, supporting communities and protecting the future of live sport.
GJD is a leading designer, UK manufacturer and supplier of professional external detection equipment.
Our product range includes CCTV and lighting controllers, as well as White-Light and Infrared LED illuminators, widely used in the intruder detection and surveillance industry.
With over 40 years of experience in the security sector, GJD has built a strong reputation for quality and innovation.
We take pride in developing advanced solutions that incorporate the latest technologies and modern manufacturing techniques, which help us maintain our trusted position in the market
This article was originally published in the April edition of Security Journal UK. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.
