Swiss police criticise football authorities’ stance on hooligans

Violence last weekend during a Super League match between Servette FC and FC Zurich has reignited tensions. KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / SALVATORE DI NOLFI

The Swiss Federation of Police Officers (SFPU) is fed up with violence between fans and has called on the Swiss Football League (SFL) to take more responsibility.  

Clashes last weekend during a match between Servette FC and FC Zurich reignited tensions. The repeated violence is particularly tiring for police officers, who are also unhappy about the SFL’s opposition to preventative measures announced last month.  

The measures, set to be introduced next season, are based on the idea of increasingly severe penalties for repeated instances of violence. However, the plans have been criticised by the SFL, which describes them as “counterproductive”.

+ Hooliganism: Swiss authorities gamble on tough approach

Max Hofmann, general secretary of the police union, told Swiss public radio, RTS, that officers are “sick and tired of putting our health at risk for this.”

The law enforcement representative listed clear objectives: “to get back to the negotiation table, accept the measures that have been proposed, and give this new model a chance to find its way so that we can reduce this violence, which is unacceptable”. 

Collective punishment

The SFL is in favour of the principle of individual punishment. However, the plan devised by the cantons involves collective penalties as a means to de-escalate violence and “prevent injuries or fatalities”, in the words of Fréderic Favre, a member of the Valais cantonal government.  

As a result of these measures, clubs and supporters’ groups will be in the crosshairs of authorities, which is problematic for the SFL.

“The model is inefficient, unilateral and disproportionate,” said SFL spokesperson Philippe Guggisberg. “It does not focus on preventing future acts of violence because it is purely repressive.” 

Swiss football authorities have no intention of lumping all supporters together and instead advocate strengthening and developing existing measures against offenders, starting with stadium bans, area bans and reporting requirements to the police. 

Heated debates to come  

Discussions between the footballing world and authorities are not over yet. In a press release following the disturbances at the match between Servette and Zurich, the police officers’ union expressed surprise that neither club had condemned the violence, even though the Geneva club expressed regret.

And tensions are likely to increase in the days ahead. On Friday, the Conference of Cantonal Justice and Police Directors is expected to announce the start of a process of drawing up the legal basis for the introduction of individually named tickets. The aim of these will be to identify and deter violent supporters, but they also enjoy far from unanimous support.

In particular, the cost of introducing such a ticketing system poses a problem, as do the constraints that would arise from monitoring and storing the data involved.

Adapted from French by DeepL/kp,dos 

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].