Overseas experience suggests that after the Rugby World Cup there will be a drought of guards, as a direct result of the new licensing requirements.
This is the very reason why the government saw fit to postpone mandatory licensing of Crowd Controllers (“Bouncers”) until after the World Cup as many current guards will not pass the criminal conviction test, i.e, have no relevant convictions.
It might not say much for the state of play at present, but we can learn from UK and Australia. Our Managing Director, Ron McQuilter traveled to London in February and Australia last April and conducted research on their licencing regimes, the pros and cons and how the market adapted when licensing was first introduced.
We forecast a similar drought as seen overseas, up to 40% perhaps. Therefore, Pubs and Clubs we suggest should start now, by insisting their guards have licences, otherwise they might be faced with none come October and last weeks incident in Auckland City demonstrates the need to have great people on the door.