In 1998, French policeman Daniel Nivel was nearly beaten to death by German hooligans. He still suffers from the consequences of the act of violence today. We spoke to a fan liaison about how the fan scene has evolved since then.
25 years ago today, during the World Cup in France, French police officer Daniel Nivel was attacked by German hooligans in the city of Lens and almost beaten to death. Nivel was in a coma for weeks, suffered irreparable brain damage and is still paralyzed on one side to this day.
Fan supervisor Michael Gabriel was already working in the fan projects coordination office and was also in Lens when the attack happened. We spoke to him and asked him how violence among football fans had evolved since the incident.
Michael Gabriel, Head of the Fan Projects Coordination Office at the German Sports Youth
How do you remember the day of the attack on Daniel Nivel?
Gabriel: Very depressing. At that time I was active with the mobile fan embassy for the German fans traveling with me. That’s when we realized that the atmosphere had already intensified the evening before. We estimated that around 600 hooligans were present, including many from the right-wing spectrum.
Did you hear anything about the attack?
Gabriel: Not directly. The information did not come as quickly as one would get it today. But we quickly realized that something very bad must have happened. It was very depressing when the dimensions of this raid became clear.
Daniel Nivel was almost beaten to death by German hooligans, he is still paralyzed on one side and has suffered irreparable brain damage. What effect did this violent attack have on the German hooligans scene?
Gabriel: For the majority of the hooligan scene, it was clear that they had gone too far. The scene was in a transitional phase at the time anyway. The heyday of hooliganism was in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the mid-1990s, a new fan movement emerged with the Ultras, which attracted much more attention, especially among young people. For the Ultras, the focus was on the atmosphere in the stadium – keywords choreographies, Bengal fire. They were something of a counter-model to the hooligans.
Last year there were riots by fans at the Conference League game between OGC Nice and 1. FC Köln. There were several lawsuits against people from the Cologne fan scene. A trial begins today against a man who appears to have killed a Nice fan with a combat kick. A photo of the scene proves that. Is the willingness to use violence among German hooligans as high as it was 25 years ago?
Gabriel: In the 2000s and 2010s, the Ultras were the dominant fan culture in Germany, and they are to this day. Violence therefore played a rather subordinate role in and around the stadiums. There have always been hooligans, but their clashes took place away from the stadiums.
In addition to Cologne’s game in Nice, there were also Eintracht Frankfurt’s games in Marseille and Borussia Dortmund’s game against Copenhagen in the past season, where violence typical of hooliganism became more visible again. The nature of violence has also changed. Researchers say it has become more professional, and there are also overlaps with the ultra scenes. The new generation of hooligans train in martial arts studios and do not use substances that impair alertness or responsiveness. They act very professionally from a martial arts perspective. It was different in the 1980s and early 1990s, when trips away from home other aspects played a role in addition to possible arguments, for example alcohol was drunk.
However, the professionalization of violence also means that the conflicts have become more intense and there is a higher risk of serious injuries.
How has the fan culture also changed as a result of the work on the fan projects that you oversee with the coordination office?
Gabriel: The fan culture has clearly developed in a positive way. The fan projects play an enormous part in this because they support the creative and responsible forces in the fan scenes. There is now a very high degree of organization in the fan scenes, fans are recognized partners in conversation. And there are countless football fans who are committed to a positive fan culture and against right-wing extremism and racism, homophobia, sexism or anti-Semitism.
The work of the fan projects also had a structural effect. Bundesliga clubs are now obliged to employ at least three full-time fan representatives and to engage in ongoing dialogue with fans. When the relationship between clubs and fans works, fans are more willing to take on responsibility.
The interview was conducted by Christina Höwelhans.
