Zawaya

Prevention is better than cure

By: Mohamed Foily Samba

I still remember the terrible images that marked the European Club Champions’ Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus of Turin on Wednesday May 29th, 1985 at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium. This European football tragedy, followed by many others, illustrates the danger of violence in stadiums, which, unfortunately, causes death and desolation to innocent people whose mere objective is to share their passion.

From my experience, having attended many sports events of global scale, I sincerely believe that in order to address this “social phenomenon”, we must go beyond sports stadiums and open up to the outside world, and try to understand these people. Who are they? Why do they act this way? It is crucial to define the personality pattern of those who bring violence to a place where it is totally banned. A football or basketball game must be concluded with a handshake between opponents and supporters, whatever the result. As a matter of fact, the first thing that coaches do at the end of a game, whether their team was defeated or victorious, is to congratulate their opponent. This gesture aims at setting a good example because that is the spirit of sport.

Besides this very important psychological aspect in preventing violence, there are necessary security measures that should be implemented to avoid violence.

Stadiums, where violence usually occurs, must be designed in a way that prevents flooding from turning into a tragedy. It’s for this very reason that the English have removed barbed wire from their stadiums in order to prevent jostles that often incite violence. The design of entrance gates must allow a better flow for the audience.

As for sports clubs and federations, they should teach “best practices” to fans, and convey to them the values of sport which are based on respect, friendship and brotherhood. People who are in charge of these organizations must create national prevention cells, and supporters’ associations in order to strengthen the promotion of violence prevention in stadiums. By increasing the involvement of fans, who are directly concerned by this phenomenon, they become more responsible and effective in facing the minorities who go to the stadiums to spread violence rather than to attend the game. Those are usually called hooligans.

And for a more effective violence prevention, people who have committed violence before should be banned from accessing stadiums. For this purpose, a means of control must be implemented in all countries to keep an eye on these people. Of course, such a measure is not easy to implement for Africa, which still lacks sophisticated means of surveillance, but Europe and the Americas, which are the scenes of the greatest violence in stadiums, can definitely afford them.

We should also strengthen the contractual obligations of various partners, by developing local security contracts signed with clubs, and establishing a code of ethics that fans should respect at the risk of being exposed to outright revocation.

Besides this, there are technical measures to deter those who want to engage in violence.

First of all, we should strengthen the role of individuals who partly ensure the safety of stadiums under the authority and control of police forces, then generalize video surveillance, establish secure portals, spread the use of nets to avoid throwing objects towards the field, prohibit alcohol sales, and undergo systematic inspections.

Finally, we should also decrease passion towards sport because some violent acts are often due to a misinterpretation by an overzealous sports journalist, whose tongue or pen go off track. And unfortunately, this is often the case in Africa.

These are, in my humble opinion, some measures that can help control violence in stadiums, which has unfortunately become a regrettable “social phenomenon” that should be addressed. Isn’t prevention better than a cure?