Glenbard-Fremd needed security

My wife and I attended the Glenbard North /Fremd HS playoff game. It was an exciting game not decided until the very end. Both teams played excellent football, something all could enjoy.

Not so good was the crowd control, or lack thereof. As the game ended with Glenbard winning, several hundred students from Glenbard North got on the track and ran around it to taunt the Fremd fans -- for what reason, I'm not sure.

After awhile, plastic bottles started being thrown from the stands and eventually a few policeman tried to get them back to their side of field. When we asked the police why they didn't stop the GBN students, their response was "what do you want me to do, shoot them?"

The problem isn't theirs. Five-to-six policemen simply isn't enough. There was absolutely no security from GBN for crowd control. With several thousand people at a highly emotional event, that's a recipe for a disaster.

If GBN cannot get security people from their ranks, then they really shouldn't host a football game, let alone a semifinal game. This is Crowd Control 101.

I take nothing away from the players. This was a great game. Something both teams later in life will look back on with pride. What happened after, not so much.

Richard Francke

Bartlett