Premier League side Everton held a second test event at their new stadium on Bramley-Moore Dock on Sunday and the friendly match saw a controlled evacuation take place
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Updated 16:15, 23 Mar 2025
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Everton come out to Z-Cars for first time in new Bramley Moore Dock Stadium
Fans attending the second test event at Everton's new stadium on Bramley-Moore Dock were forced to leave after 65 minutes in a planned evacuation. The Toffees will leave their beloved home of Goodison Park, where they've played since 1892, in May.
After 10,000 lucky supporters experienced their first taste of the £800million venue last month, Everton's under-21s welcomed a B team from League One side Bolton Wanderers on Sunday, with more than 25,000 fans in attendance. The scoreline was 1-0 to Everton when the evacuation was announced, with young winger Kingsford Boayke netting early in the second half.
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A post from Everton Stadium on X, formerly Twitter, read: "The Operation Everton Stadium controlled evacuation has commenced. Please leave the stadium via your nearest exit and follow any instructions from stewards."
Explaining the decision, which was made to ensure that the club can obtain a safety license for their new stadium, Everton posted on their website earlier this week: "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.
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"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.
"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."
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: In this aerial view fans arrive for the first ever game, a test match, at Bramley Moore Dock, the new home of Everton Football Club on February 17, 2025 in Liverpool, England. The friendly match between the Everton Under-18s and the Wigan Athletic Under-18s marks the first test event for Everton's new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool, with an expected 10,000 supporters in attendance. The stadium was completed late last year, and the first competitive fixture is scheduled to take place in August. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Everton's £800million new stadium is located on Bramley-Moore Dock in Liverpool
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."
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