Why can’t football get the hooligans under control? Six questions and answers

The blood seeped through the short blond hair of Davy Klaassen on Wednesday evening during the Classic between Feyenoord and Ajax in the cup tournament. The Ajax midfielder was hit by an object, probably a lighter, that was thrown onto the field from the crowd. He eventually had to be changed because he was dizzy. The match was stopped for half an hour.

The person suspected of throwing it, a 32-year-old man, has been arrested. He was interrogated on Thursday, according to police. A person who set off fireworks at the beginning of the match – which also caused the match to come to a standstill – was also arrested. The police announced on Thursday that a total of 22 people were arrested after the match.

1 What was the response to the lighter incident?

From FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and the KNVB football association to Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD) and from Feyenoord coach Arne Slot to the supporters’ association FSV De Feijenoorder: everyone is ashamed of the incident. Feyenoord will keep part of the stands empty against AS Roma next week, a match in the Europa League, the club announced on Thursday. The government wants to talk to the KNVB, clubs, municipalities and the police about football violence. “If you continue like this, you will go to a setting where home supporters cannot go,” warns Yesilgöz.

The KNVB did not wait for that. On Thursday evening, the Football Association announced far-reaching measures. From now on, a match will be temporarily stopped immediately if something is thrown onto the field. If it happens again after an interruption, the referee will permanently stop the match. If a player or referee is hit by an object thrown from the stands, as happened to Davy Klaassen, the match will be immediately and permanently stopped. This also happens when a visitor enters the field and attacks a player or official. These are strict measures that can have a lot of influence, because throwing (plastic) beer cups on the field is a standing practice in stadiums.

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2 How common is fan violence?

Matches are regularly stopped because, for example, fireworks are thrown onto the field. Relatively new is that players have also been personally attacked lately. For example, a PSV fan attacked goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic of Seville during a European match and FC Groningen defender Jetro Willems was beaten by a member of their own supporters.

Both the number of stadium bans and the number of investigations into disorder have increased significantly over the past five years. Last season, 1,258 stadium bans were imposed – almost twice as many as usual in the previous ten years. In that season, the KNVB prosecutor initiated a preliminary investigation into football violence almost 180 times – about three times as many as in the previous seasons, excluding corona years. The figures are striking because before the corona pandemic, the number of incidents and police deployment in stadiums actually decreased.

The police previously acknowledged that new groups of (young) hooligans have emerged during the pandemic, who are not well known, neither by the clubs nor by the police. It is not known how many police have been deployed this season. However, it is still the intention that clubs themselves provide security in the stadium, outside of which it is the police’s turn. For this reason, the police advocate banning away fans more often at Eredivisie matches. In Leeuwarden, mayor Sybrand Buma decided to apply this for the rest of the season.

3 We have strict legislation, don’t we?

In 2010, the Measures to Combat Football Hooliganism and Serious Nuisance Act (MBVEO Act) was introduced. This gave mayors, public prosecutors and judges powers to intervene in, among other things, nuisance surrounding football matches. For example, mayors could impose an area ban and a reporting obligation. However, the implementation of the law left much to be desired. The reporting obligation in the event of stadium bans is a measure restricting freedom and not a measure depriving freedom of liberty. Supporters with a stadium ban cannot therefore be held in a police station for long. Moreover, the measure is often not imposed at all due to police capacity problems and because mayors do not know how to use the law properly.

A pilot with a digital reporting obligation took place at various professional football organizations in the years before a change in the law in 2015. Supporters had to use an app to prove that they were not in the stadium during their club’s match. Despite satisfaction among the participants and the KNVB, the digital reporting obligation ended up on the shelf. After football riots in 2021, then Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus (CDA) wanted to make the digital reporting obligation possible. However, according to the current Minister of Justice Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD), there is not yet an app that meets all legal and technological requirements.

It can happen that people with a stadium ban still enter the stadium, as was the case with the PSV supporter who attacked the Seville goalkeeper. He had obtained a ticket through a friend and after his offense received another stadium ban, this time for 40 years. He also received a prison sentence of three months, one of which was conditional.

4 Why doesn’t frisking work well?

Stewards and security guards who randomly search supporters at the entrance to stadiums may only carry out a so-called ‘private law, superficial security search’ (POV). Searching clothing or directly on the body is not allowed. Because supporters often carry fireworks with them under their clothing (for example in their underpants), they still regularly enter the stadium. Police standby teams can be deployed to ‘risk areas’, or if the stewards and security guards are overworked, but in practice the existing police deployment often proves to be insufficient for this. Since 2018, all fireworks violations in stadiums have been dealt with through criminal law and all offenders who are caught are subject to a national stadium ban.

5 How do clubs try to control their fans?

Clubs hire stewards and security guards and regularly consult with supporter groups, including through specially appointed ‘supporters liaison officers’. They also take fans’ ideas to consultations with the mayor, police and Public Prosecution Service. Some clubs do suffer from intimidation by their own fans, which can complicate strict action.

6 In England it would have been possible to curb hooligans. Is that right?

Self-proclaimed inventor of football, widely regarded as the birthplace of it hooliganism: England. In the 1980s, England had a huge problem with football hooliganism. Since the early 1990s, strict security measures have been taken – also to tackle hooligans.

A Football Act was introduced with strict penalties (which on paper is milder than the Dutch). Seating was also made mandatory, close camera surveillance was introduced and alcohol was banned in the stands. There are no restrictions for away fans.

Things got much better for a long time after that with football hooligans in England. However, the problem has not completely disappeared. Misconduct has also flared up in the English football leagues after the corona pandemic, according to figures from the national football unit from January 2022. In half a football season after the pandemic, more than eight hundred people were arrested, an increase of 47 percent and the highest number since the data was recorded. tracked (as of 2015-2016). In England too, objects are thrown onto the pitch and every now and then a fan attacks a player – as recently as January, when the Arsenal goalkeeper was attacked by a supporter of rival Tottenham Hotspur.

This article was updated on Thursday evening, after the KNVB football association announced new measures against football hooliganism.

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