Current Affairs Czech FA, police agree deal on stadium security
Czech officials have tried - and tried again - to stamp out football hooliganism, but at last, say observers, a step in the right direction. On Monday, Czech police and the Czech Football Association (ČMFS) signed an agreement shifting responsibility for security to individual clubs. While the police will continue to monitor key games from outside stadiums, they will only move in if a situation gets out of hand.
Police Commissioner Oldřich Martinů (left) and Pavel Mokrý of ČMFS signing the agreement, photo: CTK
Smashed items, broken chairs, material set alight: all too common when
football hooligans clash with police. In the past, critics have argued, too
little has been done. But now, major changes: under a new agreement signed
on Monday between the FA and Czech police, it will primarily be up to clubs
themselves to monitor security when the league resumes action on Sunday.
That, according to many - including the Interior Minister Ivan Langer,
himself a football fan - will lessen the threat of hooliganism at football
matches. New legislation prevents the police from splitting security duties
with private organisers, meaning that individual clubs had little choice
but to expect changes. A little earlier I spoke to journalist Stanislav
Hrabě, who writes for the Czech daily Sport.
“Hooliganism is of course nothing new, it’s a problem we’ve known about for a long time. Under new legislation Czech police will no longer intervene in areas where organisers are responsible. Under the law, the police only have to step in when the law is being broken: when people, or property, are threatened. That means that it was necessary to coordinate new rules: clubs will now have to hire private security and invest in new camera systems.”
Private security should help maintain basic order within stadiums, while
closed-circuit camera systems, to be installed at the latest by July 1
under the agreement, will make it possible for officials (one security
expert and one police officer) to monitor the situation. One area where the
police will continue to operate inside stadium grounds will be through the
use of so-called “spotters” – plains clothes officers – who can be
used to gauge the situation.
“If everything works as described, it should have a positive effect. Spotters - hooliganism specialists - can help, while camera systems can help in creating a database of known transgressors. They could then be banned from visiting stadiums. Those are steps that should be taken by any top flight league and should improve the situation.”
The proposed changes will of course require large investments: according
to Stanislav Hrabě private security alone can cost a club up to 120,000
crowns per match, while camera systems too will come with a costly price
tag of around seven million crowns each. At the same time, the Czech FA has
promised it will help clubs with financing, planning to set aside some 70
to 80 million crowns in loans - which would leave around five million
crowns per club.
