Cricket is no more safe, says IPL security boss Nicholls

Sunday MiD DAY catches up with IPL security head Nicholls to talk on threats to tournament commissioner Lalit Modi and other concerns

Sunday MiD DAY catches up with IPL security head Nicholls to talk on threats to tournament commissioner Lalit Modi and other concerns

The terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore has proved that cricket is no more sacred. When it comes to a big event like the Indian Premier League, the threat is even bigger.

Nicholls Steyn & Associates, the world-renowned agency in charge of the IPL security, surely have their work cut out. Director Robert Nicholls, who formed NSA along with Rori Steyn, has some responsibility to handle. He is aware of the magnitude of the challenge as he has experienced first-hand the security threats in the current age. He was dining at the Taj Mahal hotel when terrorists attacked it last November.u00a0u00a0

Bob Nicholls

NSA are specialists in VIP security. They provide security at the Oscars (last four years) and their partner company in UK has been responsible for Manchester United's security at Old Trafford for the last 15 years.

Steyn was head of Nelson Mandela's protection team while he was the president and Nicholls was security consultant for the SA government on VIP protection.

Nicholls spoke to SUNDAY MiD DAY about the challenge of the IPL security, dealing with the threats to IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.

Excerpts:

What's the challenge of providing security for the IPL?
The main difference was the time factor. For the 2003 World Cup, we started planning in 2000, so it was years of planning. For any event, you require a few months of planning. The short period was the major challenge but the good thing is that we have a network of people with whom we worked for the 2003 World Cup and 2007 World T20. So these guys know exactly what they have to do. Here you are not dealing with one central controlling body like the ICC but each team is owned by high-profile owners. So there are the teams and then the franchise owners.

There are intelligence reports of a security threat to Lalit Modi. What is the level of security provided to him?
I am not going to go into any specific details on that but what I will say is that we have been in contact with the Indian police. They have briefed us. The South African intelligence services have been in contact with the Indian intelligence services and they, in turn, have been in contact with us and appropriate measures have been put in place.

Did the terror attacks in Mumbai give you an idea of the level of security needed for an Indian tournament?
It's not only about India. You have to take it everywhere. That kind of a thing could potentially happen anywhere. There has always been a perception that cricket is sacred and terrorists could never target cricket but terrorists don't think what you and I do. They think differently. You can't just assume that they won't target a cricket match. You've always got to plan for worst-case scenarios but at the same time, you can't get paranoid. The security plan has to be based on proper threat assessments.

So, were you surprised by the attack on the Sri Lankan team?
I was surprised. My understanding is that the security measures provided for the Sri Lankan team were not of a very high level, which is a concern because Pakistan is a high-threat country.

If there had been an attack on a cricket team in Pakistan, one would have believed it would have been a Western team because there is where the threat lay. It is very hard to understand why a Sri Lankan team would be attacked and I don't think there has been a good answer to that yet.