Reuters Soccer Blog

Belgrade derby was full of nice not nasty surprises

I attended my first Belgrade derby on Saturday and all the preconceptions I might have had were happily blown away in the brisk Serbian wind.

The fixture is widely regarded as the most fiery and dangerous derby in world football but despite the game almost being a title decider, the sting was taken out of the occasion by Red Star ultras refusing to turn up at Partizan’s stadium.

Religious convictions had told them the game should not be played on Easter Saturday so they boycotted.

So there was no violence whatsoever, but that didn’t stop a huge number of riot police being there.

You wonder how the fans manage to cause trouble with the meanest-looking police unit imaginable. Massive men covered in thick riot gear which has led them to be nicknamed ‘Ninja Turtles’.

I also never realised how close Partizan’s ground was to Red Star’s stadium. There are almost as near as Anfield and Goodison Park.

Partizan’s home was smaller than I imagined, an open bowl with a running track, but the fans still made for a decent atmosphere despite the lack of Red Star supporters. There were a few flares and banners but nothing I had not seen in Italy or Marseille.

Serb violence shows soccer still struggling to stop flares

Italian police and stewards knew Tuesday’s Euro qualifier with Serbia could be a tense affair given the two countries’ problems with hooliganism and the high-profile nature of the match.

Why then were so many Serbian fans able to smuggle in flares and cause an abandonment?

Fans are meant to be searched as they enter a ground but this obviously did not happen sufficiently.

In almost every Serie A league game, at least one fan invariably manages to bring a flare or firecracker into the stadium.

They are not partypoppers, they are highly dangerous weapons which can cause serious injury. Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano narrowly avoided a flare hitting him while another was hurled straight into a group of Italy fans, who luckily escaped harm.

Speaking to people in Genoa last night after all the chaos had calmed down (although it later started again with Serbs fighting police as they were cooped up in the stadium car park), I was informed of some of the devious ways fans get flares through turnstile checks.

Certain flares can be broken up into little pieces and then put back together again with special glue while some fans have been caught with flares hidden inside baguette sandwiches or in the inner lining of trousers where the sewn crease should be.

In Argentina, fans from the same team fight

The English hooligan problem was at its worst outside Britain, when fans went to international matches abroad. Violence in Argentine football, by contrast, has reached a point in recent years where it is rarely even a confrontation between the hardcore fans of rival teams.

Now, factions who support the same team fight each other. At stake is control over a number of money-spinning ventures linked to their clubs.

It might appear paradoxical at first that just when Huracan have produced a stylish attacking team which nearly won the Argentine league title, their hardcore fans should to go war with each other.

Two men died and a number of people were injured in recent fighting in the Buenos Aires barrio of Parque de los Patricios just hours after the team’s 3-0 home win over Arsenal had put them a point clear at the top of the standings. (They then unluckily lost the title decider to Velez Sarsfield.)

Fighting between groups from the same set of fans has nothing to do with on-field performance, except that a more succesful team generates higher crowds and therefore more business for the gangs (control of parking in the area, the sale of food, resale of match tickets and even drugs.)

La Zavaleta, a faction that had been marginalised a few years ago and kept quiet while Huracan languished in the National B championship (second tier), wanted a piece of the action but the powerful Jose C Paz and El Pueblito groups were reluctant to let go and violence ensued.

Mind how you go, sir — a lesson with the South African police

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, World Cup organiser Danny Jordaan and just about everyone else involved in the 2010 finals have been playing down the risk of violence and crime in South Africa and in hundreds of reports over the last five years I have always been prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

That was until last night when I was effectively “mugged” by two uniformed police officers who demanded “pounds or dollars” before they would let me go on my way. In the end I handed over 200 rand (about 15 pounds) — and they showed their “gratitude” in the most astonishing way.

I covered the Spain-New Zealand match for Reuters in Rustenburg on Sunday evening and drove the 120-miles back to my hotel in Sandton City after the game.

I left Rustenburg at midnight, made good time without incident, dropped off my travelling companion at his hotel and was nearing Sandton when I saw a flashing light about 200 metres ahead and realised a policeman was indicating by torchlight for me to stop. I did.

After the usual pleasantries of, “How are you tonight sir,” and a check of my driving licence and passport, they quickly cut to the quick, ordered me out of the car and asked me where I had been and if I had been drinking.

I told them “Rustenburg” and no I hadn’t been drinking as I was driving. Seeing my Confederations Cup accreditation tag around my neck they asked me what I thought of the game which Spain won 5-0.

I thought we might have a plesant discussion about Fernando Torres’ 17-minute hat-trick, but they didn’t seem too bothered about that. They then asked me where I was going.

Should fans be criticised for booing their own team?

Supporters are in the firing line after incidents at this weekend’s World Cup qualifiers.

England fans were criticised by coach Fabio Capello and stand-in captain Rio Ferdinand for booing Ashley Cole after his mistake led to a goal in the 5-1 win over Kazakhstan. 

Wembley supporters have a habit of booing their own team in recent times and Capello was at least grateful they gave his side a reasonably easy ride in a goalless first half.

But with tickets costing a lot in these troubled financial times, do fans have the right to boo if the standard is not up to scratch? (more…)

Do drastic punishments deter hooliganism?

A Serbian soccer fan, tried for attempted murder after assaulting a plain-clothes police officer with a burning flare during a first division game last December, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail.

The verdict has triggered a nationwide debate among the country’s soccer fans over whether Uros Misic, a 20-year old Red Star Belgrade supporter, has been punished too severely or got exactly what he deserved.

Misic’s 20 or so companions in the courtroom threw verbal assaults at the judicial panel and had to be restrained by security while five of them were detained for questioning as the authorities showed a new level of determination to crack down on what the presiding judge called an epidemic.

Some believe the landmark case may be a turning point in Serbia’s desperate fight against soccer violence. Do draconian punishments deter hooligans from their senseless acts or could they make the problem even worse?

Misic’s Red Star comrades displayed banners of support for him in a league match the day after he was sentenced and chanted his name for the full 90 minutes. 

Serbia has been plagued by soccer-related violence in the past 15 years as a series of bloody conflicts tore the former Yugoslavia apart and resulted in what many analysts saw as a decay in moral and social values.

Biometric tickets and retina scans — the future of football?

Sonia Oxley blogged here last week on whether we might see a repeat of the violence which marred the UEFA Cup final last week at the Champions League final in Moscow.

UEFA officials say they don’t expect any trouble, and certainly no retaliatory attacks on Manchester United or Chelsea fans but last week’s rioting on the streets of Manchester and stabbing of a Russian fan raises wider questions about who is to blame, and whether violence can ever be completely kicked out of soccer.

UEFA says it can’t solve the problems without the help of the police and local authorities. The clubs say they cannot be held accountable for the behaviour of all their fans. Politicians say it is a deeper sociological problem. But still the violence goes on.

After AC Milan’s victory over Liverpool in Athens, European soccer’s governing body has stepped up its security measures, notably introducing new modern turnstiles, specialised staff training and more cooperation with local police.

But the common denominator between Athens and Manchester was ticketing. UEFA says it has done just about everything to curb forged tickets or to stop tickets getting into the wrong hands.

But officials say, if the violence continues, they may be forced to introduce biometric entry via fingerprint or eye scan in the future. Has soccer really come to this?

PHOTO: Russian interior servicemen sit in trucks with a soccer poster in the background as they get ready to provide security measures in central Moscow, May 20, 2008.  REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov