The wealth of invention is great and organizers, security personnel and police seem to be facing an impossible task.
It is forbidden to light flares and flares in Swedish sports arenas, as well as to shoot firecrackers. Nevertheless, the fires are a common occurrence at big matches in the men’s national league.
On Sunday was held the prestigious derby between Djurgården and Hammarby at the Tele2 arena in Stockholm. When Hammarby defended a 2-0 lead with a quarter of the game remaining, parts of Djurgården’s heel burst – deafening blasts and Bengal fires were then thrown from the stands onto the pitch.
Flares, bang shots and other pyrotechnic pieces are not allowed at Allsvenskan matches – yet they occur during most big matches. Photo: Henrik Isaksson/TT
– I want to emphasize that this is the organizer’s responsibility. We can only assist them. We have had a dialogue with the clubs before the season and we have also conducted a dialogue with the supporter groups via our supporter police, said Fredrik Ohlquist, deputy head of police operations, before Monday’s high-risk match between IFK Göteborg and AIK.
After the scandalous scenes at the Tele2 arena, DN has unsuccessfully sought security officers in Djurgården and Hammarby to ask the question of how supporters manage to smuggle so many prohibited, explosive and flammable products into the stands.
Malmö FF’s head of security Peter Narbe has a theory:
– It is our opinion that the general way to bring things in is to smuggle them in the clothes. Preferably on parts of the body where you are not allowed to feel, he says.
We have heard that it has become more common for women to smuggle in pyrotechnics?
– We have also heard of that rumor, but I don’t know how true it is. After all, we have women who work with security as well. That is the way we can relate to this.
“It is our opinion that the general way to bring things in is to smuggle them in the clothes,” says Malmö FF’s head of security Peter Narbe. Photo: Jörgen Jarnberger/Bildbyrån
At the same time, Peter Narbe believes that it is important to ask who and which ones are smuggling the prohibited products into the arenas. The control must be stricter at the entrances to the sections where die-hard supporters and so-called ultras stand, as it is mainly in such sections that there are problems with fire and firecrackers.
The team’s tifo groups, i.e. the supporters who bring out the magnificent banners and pennants that usually frame the big teams’ matches in the Allsvenskan, are sometimes accused of smuggling flares and bangers when they are allowed in before matches to prepare their demonstrations.
These are not baseless accusations. When IFK Göteborg and Gais met in the Swedish Cup 2019, Blåvitt’s supporters had hidden boxes of New Year’s rockets in a storage room even before the arena opened to the public.
Fines or imprisonment for a maximum of six months – that can be the punishment for those who light pyrotechnics during matches without permission. Photo: Petter Arvidson/Bildbyrån
Nevertheless, Malmö’s Peter Narbe believes that such events are exceptions. Mainly, he believes that the smuggling takes place at the entrances. The fact that it is so difficult to stop the pyrotechnics is due to the fact that no body search actually takes place – but only a security search.
– You are not allowed to strip people of their clothes and it is not a body search. We have to comply with the law and then this is called a protective visit.
Are more resources needed for visitations?
– No, it is not a matter of resources. There are legal conditions that limit the visits. It is a limitation in substance which is simply about the possibility of finding something when you are not allowed to squeeze people between the legs.
Facts. Pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics originated in China and India about two thousand years ago. It is the collective name for explosive items that contain pyrotechnic charges.
This could, for example, be about fireworks, emergency flares or bang shots. In a sports context, the most common pyrotechnic piece is so-called Bengal fires, which can be several thousand degrees hot.
Anyone who possesses or uses pyrotechnics without permission from the Police Authority during sporting events can be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment for a maximum of six months.
Sources: NE, the Police
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