They can also be partly explained by the fact that the fans were largely banned from the stadiums for more than two years because of the pandemic. What was missed was the special stadium experience and celebrating together, also with the players. These withdrawal symptoms, as far as kitchen psychology is allowed, are now all the more exuberantly eradicated in the stadiums.
Serious injuries at Schalke – “Disaster prevented”
However, the considerable safety risks that came to light last weekend when a large number of fans streamed into the interior – uncontrolled – must give food for thought. And when fans climb over fences or jump into a concrete ditch from a not inconsiderable height to get onto the field, as happened in Schalke on Saturday. According to reports from reporters on site, a threatening situation arose in the meantime because spectators were crowded together at the bottom of the grandstand by fans moving up.
the Police Gelsenkirchen spoke in a statement on Monday of 18 injured, including nine seriously injured. According to the police, the injuries occurred immediately after the end of the game when several thousand fans pushed from the spectator stands onto the arena’s lawn. Worse was only prevented by the intervention of numerous police forces, said head of operations Peter Both: “This space storm could have ended in a catastrophe.”
DFB starts investigations
The DFB announced on Monday that the control committee had started investigations into the incidents in Cologne and Gelsenkirchen. The clubs have to make statements and probably expect the consequences. Fortuna Düsseldorf, for example, received a fine of 150,000 euros and a partial exclusion of fans in 2012 after the chaotic conditions in the relegation, when a large number of fans streamed onto the pitch during the game.
Club safety concepts in focus
The clubs are basically responsible for security in the stadium, which also includes protecting the playing field. Their safety concepts are therefore now increasingly coming into focus. Because scenes like in Gelsenkirchen, Frankfurt or Cologne raise the question of whether the security services commissioned by the clubs have enough staff in the stadium to keep larger crowds of fans in the stands. Or whether they are adequately trained at all, also about existing escape routes, in order to react appropriately to possible panic situations.