Demands are increasing for football to roar against hooligans who create chaos in the stands.
But whoever does so risks serious threats.
– There has been a knife in the door in the middle of the Christmas holiday, says former police chief Fredrik Gårdare.
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Photo: Magnus Lejhall/TT
In the wake of the aborted Stockholm derby between Hammarby and Djurgården, countless critical voices have been raised from a number of different quarters about football’s problems with grandstand chaos and the most hardline supporter groups.
One of these was the sports minister Jakob Forssmed (KD). Among other things, the Government is calling for a cultural change where players and leaders do not tone down or trivialize “dangerous behavior in the stands”.
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In a written statement, Djurgården has indeed condemned the actions of certain supporter groups. But in general, representatives from football’s various associations tend to be careful in how they express themselves.
That’s what Fredrik Gårdare, former head of the police’s action group against criminals in sports, says.
And for several reasons.
– On the one hand, the most enthusiastic supporters generate a lot of income for the association. That particular supporter environment is also heard and raises the mood so that the event becomes more enjoyable, he says.
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Knife in the door at Christmas
A third perspective is that those who speak out risk threats.
– Cartridges in letters. Punctured car tires on the villa driveway. It is advanced stuff they deal with and unfortunately they have always been very successful in scaring the associations.
According to Gårdare, rowdy football matches have been normalized for many years.
– That 350 police officers should work at matches every week during the football season has become a matter of course. It is normalization, exhaustion and resignation that this goes on year in and year out, says Fredrik Gårdare.
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Image: Jessica Gow
Dialogue-based solution
That individual supporters in a studied manner succeed in breaking up matches when the results go against them is a new phenomenon that is now being felt in Sweden, claims Anders Almgren.
He is operations manager at Enable Sweden, an independent organization that collaborates with representatives of football, the supporters and the police for safe football events.
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– It is too early to call it a trend, but it is important to think about whether this is something that is starting to take hold and what can be done to stop it, says Almgren.
He believes in a dialogue-based solution. Where the most hard-line supporter groupings are also included.
– In the debate, it is often portrayed as if the supporters are completely impossible to talk to. But it is not like that. The supporter environment is talkative, as long as you understand how we talk to them, says Anders Almgren.
