Municipalities implementing stricter rules or safer football stadiums
Municipalities are tightening the reigns on professional football clubs to increase safety in football stadiums. More and more cities require clubs to apply for a permit for each match, NOS reports after surveying the 31 Dutch municipalities with professional football clubs.
In the upcoming football season, which starts this weekend, 21 municipalities require football clubs to apply for a permit before playing a match in their stadium. That is five more than last year, according to the broadcaster. Three - Breda, Leeuwarden, and Almere - plan to introduce the permit obligation next year.
Amsterdam, Tilburg, Sittard-Geleen, Deventer, and Maastricht are the only football municipalities that don’t yet have plans to switch to the permit system. They feel they can do enough with the obligation to report matches under the General Local Bye-Law (APV). Amsterdam told NOS that it has every confidence in the professional security organization at Ajax and the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Almost all of the municipalities told NOS that they are implementing stricter conditions or reexamining their current ones after increasing supporters' violence in recent seasons. In the past two seasons, the KNVB imposed 167 sanctions on professional clubs, totaling in nearly 1 million euros in fines for incidents with or by supporters.
The advice to require permits for football matches comes from the action framework for tackling irregularities surrounding professional football - guidelines drawn up by the mayors early this year. With the permit system, the mayors hope to better hold clubs to the conditions for a hospitable, safe, and accessible football environment. If a club doesn’t meet the permit requirements, the municipality can impose fines or even withdraw the license to organize matches at all.
“Anyone who organizes an event in the city must have a permit to do so. You must also see a football match as an event, even if it takes place every two weeks. That is why it is not surprising at all to make it subject to a permit,” Paul Depla, mayor of Breda and member of the Football and Security Group, told NOS. Depla assumes all municipalities will supervise professional football more strictly than before, with the framework's support. “Now there is a clear guideline for when and how you can intervene, and it is no longer a personal consideration.”
