Are you entering with a stadium ban? FC Groningen threatens to report against ‘investigative journalist’ | Dutch football

On the website, FC Groningen wonders ‘whether the deliberate circumvention of imposed measures serves the public interest and/or can be classified under the category of investigative journalism.’ “FC Groningen makes every effort to keep people out with stadium bans,” the club explains. “The club calls on the journalist to abandon his plan because it does not contribute to solving the problems surrounding the enforcement of stadium bans. By deliberately bringing this person inside, an unwanted signal is sent.”

According to FC Groningen, the journalist may be guilty of a criminal offense. “Ignoring a stadium ban, but also provoking it, is punishable,” said the club, which has already reported the plan to the police and the KNVB.

FC Groningen, which has been relegated from the premier league this season after 23 years, is experiencing a lot of nuisance from supporters this year. For example, the match against NEC was definitively stopped after a linesman was hit by a cup of beer, fans entered the field during the duel with SC Cambuur and defender Jetro Willems received a blow from his own supporter. That minor supporter got at the time a stadium ban of 21 years.