Misconduct at football matches remains a problem. At the match between SC Heerenveen and FC Groningen on Sunday 22 January, only half of the away section could be filled. Should we stop watching football matches altogether? This is the opinion of the DVHN Youth Panel.
There is a lot of fuss about misconduct at football matches. At the match between SC Heerenveen and FC Groningen on Sunday 22 January, Heerenveen mayor Tjeerd van der Zwan allowed only half of the section to be filled. Groningen supporters were furious: they did not come at all.
Has the time come to stop watching football matches altogether?
Amber Wolbers (17)
“The banning of supporters from away games only seems to me to be a relocation of the problem. Of course this could make for a calmer atmosphere during the matches, but the conflicts after the matches only get more heated because of this.
The people who actually come to argue are certainly willing to travel for this, even if they can’t watch the game in the stands. The conflict is somehow sought outside the stadium, even when there is a ban on supporters of the opposing team.
More security seems to me to be a more appropriate solution to ensure that the public can continue to visit matches.
The aggressive behavior of (some) supporters is so normalized that it is passed on from generation to generation. A campaign by the government, or better yet the football clubs themselves, might be a good way to get a message across to the youth. Showing the damage caused by fan violence, to people and property, always comes in well, I think.
I have no doubt that much has been done in recent years to stop misconduct at football matches. I don’t think a complete ban on the audience will help. The passion people feel for football is something positive and often certainly nice to see, but only if this can be expressed in a positive way, and that needs to be worked on together.”
Sarah Kooij (17)
“Destruction, discriminatory slogans and aggression towards agents, it all still happens at football matches. This behavior means that the public is increasingly not welcome in the stadiums. Sc Heerenveen-FC Groningen, Willem II-NAC, Roda JC-Heracles and Ajax-PSV are just a few of the matches where the audience of the opposing team is (or was) not allowed in the stadium.
Many football supporters don’t like this because ‘supporters make the football’, and although this is partly true, I personally don’t think such measures are that crazy. If there is a pattern of rioting, vandalism or other forms of disrespect at certain matches, it makes sense that something is done to prevent it.
Whether completely stopping public service is the best solution is another matter. There are plenty of clubs and matches where there are hardly any problems, it would be a shame to deprive these clubs and supporters of their away matches as well.
The responsibility should lie with the clubs or even the association. They must be able to make a preventive assessment of the risk of a match getting out of hand. If they feel that this risk is too great and they therefore want to keep the public away, that must be respected. Although the best solution would be for everyone to behave normally, but that is apparently easier said than done.”
Eva Paapst (13)
“I am not into football at all. I’ve never watched a game on TV, let alone been to a game. I do think it is important that there are enough supporters from both teams. This also means from the away team.
There is then an atmosphere of struggle, but there is nothing wrong with that. Both sides of the supporters ‘support’ their team, and if this only happens on one side, it quickly becomes a boring game.
I understand that at Sc Herenveen-FC Groningen the mayor tried to reduce violence and crowds, but it actually had the opposite effect. Many supporters became very angry and disappointed. And if we completely stop with the audience at competitions, the atmosphere will also be much less fun.
FC Groningen had to exclude supporters because too many tickets had been sold and they could not enter the stadium due to the message from the mayor of Heerenveen. This caused a lot of unrest among the supporters, who then decided to protest in Heerenveen. This creates more crowds and can sometimes fuel violence.
In short, I think that this may be possible once, but should certainly not happen more often. So we shouldn’t stop with away audiences at competitions. The public creates extra tension in the match and many people enjoy that.”