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There are problems in life for which there is no solution. Sometimes it helps to accept that first. And then you can get started with it.
And that brings us to fan violence in football.
Things are very busy these days as fan sectors are being closed across the country. In Zurich, in Bern, in Lausanne, in Lucerne. Outbreaks of violence in the weeks and months beforehand are the cause of this. Bern fans vandalized a bus in Zurich and threatened the driver. Zurich fans skirmished with police at Altstetten train station. Almost a year ago, fans in Basel attacked security service personnel, with serious consequences.
Curves have been closed again and again for months. And the fans are still there. Both at YB and in Zurich, supporters simply bought tickets for other sectors, even providing their clubs with additional income. This thumbs your nose at the approval authorities and makes them look ridiculous.
During the FCZ home match against Lausanne, the entire south bend with thousands of spectators was closed due to 100 vandals. Does it make sense?
How would we solve it in traffic?
Let’s imagine the following example from road traffic. A small town in the Mittelland, residential area, zone from the 1930s. Cars often drive too fast, some even significantly too fast. One day a child is hit by a car. Residents are furious, the media report, and politicians are coming under pressure. Now the authorities are taking action. The road is closed. Too dangerous.
From now on everyone has to take a detour, but the adjacent area now has twice as much traffic. Of course, some people drive too fast there too.
No point, you might say. Simply: this is the logic followed in Swiss football. A group of fans misbehave – a much larger group is punished by having to stay out even though they have done nothing wrong.
Of course we would not close the road in the 30 zone. We regularly carried out flash checks. If you drive too fast, you pay. Anyone who drives 70 km/h in a 30 zone will lose their driving license for 24 months thanks to the speed law. Sounds good.
The fight against fan violence remains difficult
How we can apply this concept to football: If you mess up, you should be punished. That’s what the police are for. Identify, catch and punish perpetrators. It’s annoying, it’s hard, it’s not fun for anyone. But that’s how our constitutional state works.
Violence is not possible. If FCZ fans in the city of Zurich break up a tram with GC supporters, that is criminal, idiotic, uncivilized, and that applies to attacks everywhere.
Which brings us to the role of the Ultras. The organized fans are currently receiving a lot of support from the rest of the football fans. It has been proven that this always happens when punishments are imposed that are perceived as disproportionate.
But anyone who assumes that the Ultras are simply the good guys with the fun choreos is making it too easy for themselves. For example, the organized fans managed not to get involved at all when the discussion about the cascade model started. Weak.
Instead, people indulge in actions such as the announcement of a joint fan demonstration in Bern, which keeps the police pointlessly on their toes. Or with the idea of last weekend, where they protested against what they saw as escalated official measures under the motto ‘shifted perception – shifted curves’. This last action can certainly be interpreted as a demonstration of power.
Too often, people in the scene have difficulty publicly distancing themselves from violence. Although, and this is important, the vast majority of the cornergoers are peaceful, even if the scenes are not composed of a united, like-minded mass of fans. This is a disservice to those who support fan issues in clubs and the league. The self-cleaning power of the curve is often invoked and people arrange matters among themselves.
Who should intervene?
Of course this doesn’t always work. How should that work? Should a family man standing in the standing area behind the goal simply give the fare to a group of thugs? Paradox: This is exactly what the licensing authorities seem to be demanding at the moment. There is no other explanation for the bend closures, which affect thousands of bystanders.
At the same time, some outbreaks of violence are simply accepted in fan circles because they are ‘just part of the football experience’. It is difficult.
A final thought: where football plays an important social role, there is fan violence. From South America to North Africa to Europe. Personalized tickets, corner closures, dialogue and prevention to the point of abandonment: there are many approaches. The violence has not disappeared anywhere. Not even in England, where the Premier League is largely quiet, but business is flourishing in the lower leagues.
That doesn’t make it any better. But why should it be different in Switzerland?
The fact is: the fan sectors are closed, there are still quarrels and those you want to exclude are still there – at this time they behave peacefully in the stadium. In addition, the cantonal departments of justice and police, clubs and leagues disagree on how to proceed. We’re at a dead end. Some things don’t have a simple, one-size-fits-all solution. Just meticulous and detailed work. This means: The dialogue, which unglamorously prevents some outbreaks of violence in the background, must be continued. And anyone who commits a crime deserves to be punished. There is no other way. It’s time we accept that.
|
team
|
SP
|
T.D
|
PT
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
 BSC Young Boys
|
22
|
28
|
47
|
|
|
2
|
 Napkin FC
|
22
|
13
|
41
|
|
|
3
|
 FC St. Gallen
|
22
|
7
|
36
|
|
|
4
|
 FC Lucerne
|
22
|
-1
|
34
|
|
|
5
|
 FC Zurich
|
22
|
10
|
33
|
|
|
6
|
 FC Lugano
|
22
|
5
|
33
|
|
|
7
|
 FC Winterthur
|
22
|
-6
|
29
|
|
|
8th
|
 Yverdon Sports FC
|
22
|
-15
|
27
|
|
|
9
|
 Grasshopper Club Zurich
|
22
|
0
|
25
|
|
|
10
|
 FC Basel
|
22
|
-8th
|
25
|
|
|
11
|
 FC Lausanne Sport
|
22
|
-8th
|
21
|
|
|
12
|
 FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy
|
22
|
-25
|
14
|
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
