THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014 SPORTS Hooliganism still haunts European game LONDON: The violent death of a fan on the In one recent case Spartak Moscow and mean knife attacks on an opposing fans’ pelled flare launched from the Partizan end away from grounds. opening weekend of the Swedish season Shinnik Yaroslavl were fined and ordered to buttocks. that flew across the pitch above the players’ As with many other countries, trouble on Sunday was a sharp reminder that while play matches behind closed doors follow- GREECE heads and into the visiting supporters’ sec- still occurs further away from grounds riots in Europe’s stadiums are largely a thing ing violence at a cup match where Nazi Greece is undoubtedly one of European tion. while there are still regular problems in of the past, hooliganism has not been eradi- banners were unfurled. football’s violence blackspots and has a che- many lower league games, often unreport- cated. In 2010, several thousand youths rioted quered track record of incidents including TURKEY ed as they take place away from the media Modern policing and stewarding, and outside the Kremlin, clashing with police pitch invasions, stabbings and attacks on Turkey is no stranger to soccer violence spotlight. Generally, however, most widespread use of CCTV, has meant that and attacking passers-by who they took for police. with numerous incidents occurring this sea- grounds are now considered safe destina- most stadiums are largely trouble-free envi- non-Russians, after the death of an ethnic Fighting involving organised fan clubs is son. A major Istanbul derby between tions and colour-draped fans of opposing ronments on the inside and few now have Russian soccer fan was blamed on a man commonplace. The main culprits are the tra- Besiktas and Galatasaray was halted and later teams can usually be seen travelling along- the need for fenced segregation. from the North Caucasus. ditional big clubs, Olympiakos Piraeus, cancelled in September when fans invaded side each other to the game - unthinkable However, as the appalling events in President Vladimir Putin, seeking to Panathinaikos, AEK Athens and PAOK the pitch, with police using teargas to dis- 20 years ago. Sweden, when a Djurgarden fan in his 40s appease soccer fans and soothe the worst Salonika, and, like in Italy, it is common for perse the crowd. died after being assaulted on his way to a outbreak of ethnic violence in Moscow in the ‘ultras’ factions around those teams to Galatasaray were awarded the match and FRANCE game in Helsingborg show, associated vio- post-Soviet history, met with football clash both inside and outside of stadiums Besiktas were ordered to play four home There is a difference between ‘ultras’ and lence is still rife in many places. Below we enthusiasts and laid flowers at the grave of before and after matches. games with only women and children in the hooligans in France. Ultras are known for examine the current hooligan situation the dead supporter, Yegor Sviridov. Many There is an emerging trend for hooligans stands. their fanatical support and use of flares, but around Europe: observers, however, say that his death and to target sports other than soccer, such as One fan died and another was critically they are usually not out for violence. much of the violence is related to ethnic handball, volleyball and water polo where injured when they were stabbed at a protest While hooliganism is on the decline in SCANDINAVIA tensions rather than football. there is usually a limited police presence. staged by Fenerbahce fans in July against France, the problem has not been fully The death of father of four Stefan All of those clubs listed have been pun- UEFA’s decision to ban the club from crushed, with Paris St Germain and Isaksson has thrust the hooligan problem ITALY ished with heavy fines and have been European competition. Olympique Lyon two of the clubs where back into the spotlight in Sweden. Italy is famous for its ‘ultras’, groups of forced to play matches behind closed doors A similar incident occurred last May when trouble has been known to flare up, espe- According to police reports he was struck hardcore fans who are frequently behind in recent seasons as part of an attempted Galatasaray fans stabbed to death a teenager cially around European games. PSG imple- on the head with a blunt instrument before the stadium violence which has dogged all crackdown from the government, the Greek wearing a Fenerbahce shirt at a bus stop mented the ‘Plan Leproux’ (Robin Leproux, being kicked and beaten as he made his levels of the country’s football since the FA and the Super League. after an end-of-season derby in Istanbul. former PSG president) in 2010 to eradicate way to see his side take on Helsingborg. 1970s. The Turkish football federation replaced all fans groups at the club, which had a big The game went ahead as planned, but The death of policeman Filippo Raciti BALKANS their policy of punishing teams with stadium impact on disrupting hooliganism. was abandoned when his fellow fans invad- during the fighting that followed the Football hooliganism was non-existent supporter bans in 2011, choosing instead to ed the pitch having received reports that he Catania-Palermo derby of February 2007 led under communist rule in the former allow women and children to attend. GERMANY had died in hospital from his injuries. authorities to introduce a number of hard- Yugoslavia but the country’s bloody break- In March Trabzonspor’s match against Germany has seen cases of hooliganism line measures. up in the 1990s let the genie out of the bot- Fenerbahce was abandoned in the first half drop from their height in the 1980s but NORWAY These included blanket bans on away tle, as it went hand in hand with political after Fenerbahce players were pelted with matches are still marred by clashes, usually Home of the Nobel peace prize — is fan travel, banning orders handed out by strife, ethnic tensions and economic depres- objects thrown onto the pitch by home fans. outside the stadium or in the city. much calmer than its Nordic neighbors, the police rather than the courts and an ID sion. Supporters also clashed with police in the Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 fans with few violent incidents or organised bat- card scheme which has targeted normal Serbia and Croatia came to the fore, streets of Trabzon following the match and keep police busy whenever the two Ruhr tles taking place. fans and hooligans alike. especially the former as the Belgrade derby Trabzonspor were later punished with a six- valley sides meet and extensive clashes Some major flare-ups still occur, howev- between bitter city foes Red Star and game “no fans” ban. between the two sides occurred as recently RUSSIA er, with Rome derbies blighted by stabbings Partizan became a fixture with a history of as October 2012, when some 200 fans in Soccer hooliganism has been on the rise and clashes with police, while this season’s regular crowd trouble, producing several ENGLAND total were detained. The league’s (DFL) in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in match between Bologna and Hellas Verona fatalities down the years. England, which suffered so badly with biggest day-to-day problem however is the 1991. “Firms”, are now attached to all of the was the scene of fighting between rival Violence rarely occurs near the heavily- hooliganism in the 1970s and 80s that the use of flares inside stadiums, including in country’s major clubs and fights between fans. policed stadiums, but brawls, in which fans problem was sometimes described as “the that derby where Dortmund fans lit dozens hooligans and scuffles with police are a reg- Violence is not limited solely to stadi- fight each other with iron bars, baseball bats English disease”, has largely put its house in and threw them into the Schalke tribunes, ular phenomenon in the Russian leagues, ums, but also the surrounding areas and and whatever else they can find, are regular- order. delaying the start of the game. either starting spontaneously at stadiums or motorway service stations as fans criss-cross ly sighted in Belgrade’s outskirts and even in A concentrated clamp-down by police, Dortmund boss Hans-Joachim Watzke as pre-agreed battles in remote sites. the country in large organised groups. the city’s central residential areas on match involving detailed intelligence operations, has pledged to crack down on his own Violence is often accompanied by national- Ultras use knives, but rarely to inflict seri- days. An horrific incident occurred in 1999, helped identify many of the regular trou- ultras and Dortmund were sanctioned for ist or racist slogans and symbols. ous harm, and talk about “light stabbing” to when a Red Star fan was killed by a pro- ble-makers and banning orders kept them their fans’ behavior. —Reuters Barca get transfer ban for breaching rules on minors BERNE: Barcelona have been given a transfer ban for two consecutive windows and fined 450,000 Swiss francs ($509,400) for breaching rules on the international transfer of foreign under-18 players, FIFA said yesterday. The Spanish federation (RFEF) was fined 500,000 Swiss francs after soccer’s world govern- ing body found it had also breached rules on the transfer of minors, FIFA added in a statement. FRANCE: Juventus Turin’s players take part in a training session on the eve of The decision by FIFA’s disciplinary committee the UEFA Europa League quarter-final football match between Olympique means the Spanish champions will be barred from Lyon and Juventus.