New measure to fight hooiganism

Authorities introduce a new measure to fight hooliganism. Hooligans being banned from football stadiums will now also be prevented from going to hockey matches. Despite a raft of anti-hooligan measures, violence in and around Swiss football and hockey stadiums remains a persistent problem.The reciprocal new measure will affect the 974 hooligans—645 football-related and 329 hockey-related—who are currently on the so-called “Hoogan” database, monitored by the Federal Police Office.

Fernando Martins, the head of security at Neuchâtel’s FC Xamax, felt the move was a “good idea”. “Often the problems in football and hockey are created by the same people,” he told swissinfo.ch. Martins said he was preparing for the start of the season on July 17 “with confidence”, in the knowledge that Xamax was a small club that rarely experienced violence inside its new stadium, equipped with modern video surveillance cameras.
“If we spot anyone [violent] they are reported immediately to the police who do their job,” he noted.

But not all Swiss football clubs are as trouble-free as Xamax. Whereas other European countries appear to have nipped the problem in the bud a long time ago, there have been serious incidents at regular intervals in Switzerland, involving many of the top clubs, despite tougher measures introduced by the Swiss Football League in 2006.

Last season was plagued by a number of incidents. In May FC Basel fans rioted at the Letzigrund stadium of main rival FC Zurich and fans of FC Sion and FC Young Boys clashed in the centre of Bern before and after the Swiss Cup Final. In November around 25 people were injured in hooligan violence during a match in Basel between the hometown club and Zurich.