Minister Van Weel intervenes: football matches from now on definitively abandoned much more quickly
Football matches in the Netherlands will now be abandoned immediately and definitively if supporters throw or fire fireworks onto the pitch or towards other stands. The competition board has added the measure to the protocol, the Ministry of Justice and Security said after talks with, among others, the KNVB and the police.
That significantly tightens the rules around fireworks incidents. Matches could previously be suspended temporarily and later resumed, but that will no longer happen in those situations.
"No longer stopped, no longer taking a further look, no: abandoned. Everyone goes home," said Justice Minister David van Weel after the cabinet meeting. The VVD minister wants supporters to have a much clearer and more predictable understanding of the consequences of misconduct in stadiums.
Van Weel also wants to avoid any debate over how the rules are applied. “So that people know: intimidation or threats will not get you out of this here. This is simply what it is.”
The new measure must also stop individual mayors or club directors from influencing a decision to resume a match after such an incident. If fireworks are thrown or fired onto the pitch or towards other stands, the match will now be abandoned on the spot.
Meanwhile, the KNVB are working on 'additional measures against fireworks in stadiums'. For now, the association are not saying exactly what those measures will involve, while the organisations involved are also examining which “technological possibilities” can be used against misconduct around matches.
Last month, major unrest broke out during the match between SC Cambuur and Feyenoord. The game was interrupted after Feyenoord hooligans set off a large amount of fireworks, injuring seven Cambuur supporters, but it was ultimately not abandoned definitively.
Last weekend, though, FC Utrecht against Go Ahead Eagles did reach that point. The match was definitively abandoned after home supporters first threw fireworks onto the pitch and, after the restart, more objects ended up on the field of play, this time cups.
