Our View: Lift the ban, enforce the law – football clubs are not above it

The Justice Minister Marios Hatsiotis, and Cyprus Football Association (CFA) have been at odds after the decision of the latter to allow away fans to attend matches in the new season. Away fans had been banned since last January, after a firecracker hit a player on the head during a match and the minister wanted to keep it in place.

The ban was an overreaction by the government, wanting to be seen taking action, but the CFA went along with it, despite knowing it was not in the interest of the game. A football match with only home fans present is an unreal experience, almost as bad as matches with no fans at all, that was the norm during the pandemic. Rival sets of fans are essential for a proper atmosphere during a match, not to mention that having only home fans is unfair to the visiting team.

Police have written to the CFA reminding them of the conditions stipulated by law regarding policing matches and demanding that these are met by the home club. It cited the 2008 law on the prevention and suppression of violence at sports venues, saying that “non-compliance with the provisions of the law would mean no policing as the safe staging (of the match) would not have been ensured.”

Among other things the police are demanding that stadium owners/administrators, as per the law, must have a valid ‘safety certificate’, issued by the competent authority, for a match to go ahead. This raises the question of whether the law was completely ignored in the past and matches were allowed to be played in stadiums, without the required safety certificate. Were the police implying that provisions of the 2008 law would only now be implemented?

The turning of the screw on the clubs does not end there. The police have demanded that they be informed by August 10, whether the stadiums in which matches will be played have ‘safety certificates,’ and a permit to hold matches. In addition to this, the police carried out inspections of stadiums and sent suggestions for improvements to the owners.

Police would also have to be informed, three days before a match, about the number of stewards the stadium will use for security and if the officer in charge decides the number is inadequate the match, after consultation with the referee, could be called off.

Why have the police only just remembered the provisions of the 2008 law? Is it their and the justice ministry’s way of getting back at the CFA which refuse to keep the away fans ban in place. We never heard the justice ministry or the police talk about stadium safety certificates and the number of stewards in past years. Suddenly the authorities want to implement the law that was ignored for years.

The law must be enforced, because for too long the football clubs have been behaving as if they were above the law – non-payment of their tax and social insurance dues is another example of their law-breaking to which the authorities have systematically turn a blind eye. As for the ban on away fans, its lifting should be non-negotiable.