EU, UEFA agree on strategy to combat violence in sport

The EU, together with the football governing body UEFA, has decided to step up preventive action following recent violent and racist incidents in and around sporting events, which are often found to be the work of organised groups.

“Violence in sport is increasingly organised. It is often a minority of known trouble-makers [often with criminal backgrounds] who are the cause of disruption […] Supporters can and do exploit variations in policing, judicial and stadia safety and security arrangements,” said Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini at a conference considering the case for an EU strategy to combat violence in sport on 28-29 November 2007.

During the conference, delegates from the member states discussed ways to build a structured dialogue between law enforcement agencies, judicial authorities and sport organisations and agreed on a new strategy against violence in sport. 

The actions foreseen are grouped under four main pillars: cooperation, a multidisciplinary approach, responsibility and real commitment and local action. Planned measures vary from partnerships between the political, policing and sporting communities to fan coaching and educational activities, analysis of threats and a best practice guide for prosecutors.

Commissioner Frattini said that the EU executive is committed to establishing an EU-wide training curriculum for those involved in policing sports events and making better use of the European Police Office’s (EUROPOL) ‘crime threat assessment’ capacity and ability to identify potential hooligans early. Frattini also argued that “in extreme cases”, a European ban on known hooligans should be made possible to prevent these indivuduals from “exploting free movement to export violence”.

He also said that the Commission would “further explore the viability of Joint Police Reaction Teams to control large scale sporting events in Europe.” The idea of a European police force for sport was launched earlier this year by UEFA President Michel Platini, who was happy to see that “slowly my idea has taken off”. 

The Commissioner in charge of education and youth, Ján Figel, highlighted the need to prevent violence both in professional sport and amateur competitions. “Amateur sport is the base for professional sport, and often involves children. If we wish to break the cycle of violence in sport, we must start with young people,” he said.

The conference is one of the first actions announced in the action plan accompanying the EU White Paper on Sport, adopted in July 2007. A conference on money-laundering, match-fixing, illegal betting and other criminal phenomena in sport will take place in 2008.

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