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Anti-football hooliganism laws to be tightened

Stricter new laws on football hooliganism look set to be introduced, including longer bans and stiffer fines for those who ignore them.

A majority of politicians, along with the Dutch football association (KNVB) believe the current law, introduced in September 2010, does not go far enough.

Convicted hooligans can currently be banned from stadiums for up to three months. Parliament wants to increase this ceiling to a year and raise the maximum fine for anyone who defies a ban to €7600.

Richard de Mos, of the Freedom Party (PVV) said a tougher law was needed to tackle the problem of hooliganism.

He said: ‘It will be much stricter. We want troublemakers to be put offside so that football once again becomes the celebration that it should be.”

Gerrit van de Kamp, chairman of the ACP police union, said the law at present was not enforced rigorously enough, partly because town halls, which are responsible for issuing banning orders, were concerned about privacy.

He said: “The law already offers a lot of options, but they are not used often enough. There is a lack of administrative willpower.

“Mayors often find it too intrusive. It may not be good for people’s privacy, but for me there is a much bigger problem, which is that police officers are repeatedly exposed to violence.”

Last month the mayors of the four largest cities in The Netherlands - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht - wrote to justice and security minister Ivo Opstelten saying they were struggling to implement the law.

The KNVB wants to see longer bans introduced and a lower burden of proof for identifying hooligans, allowing them to be taken out of the game more quickly.

Source: NRC: Tweede Kamer en politiebonden roepen op tot effectievere voetbalwet

Photo by Reinier Sierag