Supporters at Everton’s new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium were ushered out after 65 minutes due to a planned evacuation during the second test event. It comes after a Liverpool fan played a historic role in the first.
The Blues are saying goodbye to Goodison Park, their home since 1892, with a move set for May. Another historic moment unfolded last month when 10,000 fans had their initial encounter with the $1 billion arena – after reports of flooding – and this sentiment continued as over 25,000 supporters witnessed Everton’s under-21s edge out a B team from Bolton Wanderers this Sunday.
The score was 1-0 in favor of Everton thanks to Kingsford Boayke’s effort early into the second half when the evacuation call was made. Everton Stadium expressed the procedure on X, the former Twitter platform: “The Operation Everton Stadium controlled evacuation has commenced. Please leave the stadium via your nearest exit and follow any instructions from stewards.”
The rationale behind this decision, which is crucial for Everton to secure a safety license for the 52,888-capacity venue, was warned earlier in the week on the club’s official website: “An evacuation exercise will be performed at Everton’s new stadium as part of the test event schedule that will enable the Club to obtain a safety licence for the 52,888-capacity waterfront venue.
“The 25,000-plus supporters attending the stadium’s second test event – a friendly between the Blues’ Under-21s and Bolton Wanderers ‘B’ on Sunday 23 March – are to be asked to exit the stadium during the second half, before the full-time whistle.
“The process will allow the emergency services and local authorities to monitor a large-scale evacuation from the Bramley-Moore Dock site and supporters attending the event are being asked to play their part in making the exercise a success.
“The planned evacuation will signal the end of the match and supporters will not be allowed to return to the stadium. Attendees will be safely guided out of the stadium and will not be required to muster or congregate. Instead, once out of the stadium, fans will be encouraged to leave as they would if they were leaving after a game.
(Image: @Max_Carlyle/X)
(Image: @GiuliaBould/X)
“The Club is working with transport authorities to ensure local services are timed to manage the flow of people away from Bramley-Moore Dock as they exit the stadium.”
Alix Waldron, the director of New Stadium Development at Everton, added: “Being able to demonstrate the evacuation routes and processes that have been put in place for Everton Stadium is an important part of us obtaining the required safety certificate and licence.
“It will allow us to demonstrate as well as understand how supporters exit the stadium and we are asking fans to play an important role in supporting us by taking it as seriously as if it were a real emergency. That means supporters staying in their seats until the evacuation protocols begin and exiting the stadium in a calm, considerate manner, paying attention to instructions from stewards and being respectful of others also trying to leave the area.
“We hope that this will be the only time we ever need to evacuate the stadium but we are asking everyone to help us in this vital exercise so that we can look forward to opening the stadium to more than 52,000 people from this summer.”
