FANS VS. COPS

(a chapter from Vladimir Kozlov's book "Football Fans. The Past and Present of Russian Hooliganism")

There have been clashes with the police since the seventies, when the first set of fans emerged in the USSR. These have continued until the present day. These clashes can intensify, reaching the point of absurdity, like in the nineties - back then it was not only the big matches which saw fights happen between fans and the police. However, these fights could be stopped if the two find a reasonable compromise. In the Soviet era, police officers did not allow fans to bring flags and other items of paraphernalia into the stadium. They saw fans as lawbreakers, people who engage in activities which are 'not allowed'. But that is not the case, they were just like all the other supporters, simply sitting, while some would also wave flags and chant. From the outset, these fans were singled out by the police. They were perceived as 'potential lawbreakers, people who disturbed the peace'.

Andrey Malosolov:
The police often went overboard and were simply absurd, and this led to stadium wars. They were also known as 'seat' wars , when in the mid-nineties pretty much every match started and finished in a fight with the police. There were also large-scale fights even if there was a match going on or not. The fans were not at fault, it was the police who were to blame for the conditions in our stadiums being so inhumane. They banned so many things, basic, simply elementary things, like a flag on a pole. Now that issue has finally been resolved. But how many years did that take? It was only three to four years ago you could take in flags on hollow poles. At some point or other, both fans and the police along with the [Russian riot police] OMON overstepped the mark. Police and OMON officers acted as if they owned the stadium and simply clubbed fans for no reason at all, just for doing something they didn't like. In actual fact, this happened in the eighties too, but fans didn't retaliate. But now they have realised that they can fight with the OMON and the police in the stadium.

Law enforcement officer who asked for his surname to be withheld:
Back then the country was in a transitional state, a dilapidated state, and the law enforcement agencies were unable to control the situation. We didn't have sufficient experience to know how to diffuse these situations when fans started to misbehave on the terraces. We relied on using force to suppress everything. There was no preparatory work back then. The Soviet era came and went and nothing had changed at that point. The law enforcement agencies started to learn how to work from scratch. Information on what happens during football matches in the West became accessible. Fans fight with the police over there, so why don't we show them that we are no fools? But the response from the law enforcement agencies was kind of narrow-minded, primitive: 'huh, you want to show us that you are better than us?' Well, go on then. As a result, we got what we got: all-out fights in stadiums with seats being ripped up and thrown at the police, truncheons being waved about. But to say that fans were the innocent victims of police and OMON violence is incorrect. They themselves, as it happens, started fights with the police in stadiums by, for instance, throwing flares onto the pitch.

Football hooligan, member of one of the CSKA firms:
What was happening in the stadiums at the end of the nineties, at the start of the noughties was to do with the police. There was this real sort of legal lawlessness.

Conflicts between fans and the law enforcement agencies continued all through the nineties. However, towards the end of the decade they resulted in a series of 'stadium wars': fans ripped up chairs, threw them at the police and OMON officers, who would be swinging their truncheons here there and everywhere. The 'stadium wars' reached their peak in 1999. That was when two away trips to Ramenskoye, on the outskirts of Moscow, involved two teams from the capital, both resulting in huge clashes with the police and the OMON. Local team Saturn played Spartak on 19 June 1999, clashes between the Spartak fans and the OMON officers, who were based in the Moscow region, had started before the game. But when Spartak's first goal went in, the fans started to jump and dance around in the stands. That is when the OMON moved in and started a 'clean-up operation'. Fans began to fight back and a huge fight between fans of the red and whites, and the OMON officers kicked off. As a result, one of the stands was seriously damaged: Spartak fans ripped up the plastic chairs from their bases and used them to fight against the OMON officers who were swinging their truncheons with all their might. The match even had to be stopped, the coach of Spartak, Oleg Romantsev, and the club's leading players, Andrey Tikhonov and Ilya Tsymbalar, got involved in the situation. As a result, the fighting stopped and the match was somehow played to a finish. There were 487 broken seats at the Ramenskoye stadium, resulting in approximately 10,000 dollars' worth of damage to the stadium.

The clash in Ramenskoye caused a huge public reaction. All the main television channels covered the story. It was written about in magazines and newspapers. Several programmes and special reports focussing on fan culture were broadcast on television. The overall message of the programmes and articles was reduced down to the fact that football fans are far from angels. However, the OMON had no right to clobber them with their truncheons for little or no reason. Despite having this kind of coverage in the public domain, it still proved impossible to change public opinion and to solve this issue. That was already apparent at the next mass away trip to Ramenskoye involving fans from the capital - this time it was CSKA. Saturn were playing CSKA on the 2 October 1999, and yet again the town on the outskirts of Moscow went down in the criminal history books for football violence. At the half-time break, almost the same situation happened in the away sector as during the Spartak match: a fight between fans and OMON officers. The CSKA president, Shakhrudi Dadakhanov, had to launch himself into the thick of it and attempt to bring the savage OMON officers to their senses.

Andrey Malosolov:
The situation only changed in 2002. Only then were the fans cut some slack - and what did the stands turn into straight away? If before, people were sitting in them ready to break out and fight the police at any time or be beaten up by them, then now they were adorned with huge banners, flags, visual performances, chanting.

Law enforcement officer who asked for his surname to be withheld:
Thank goodness, the law enforcement agencies realised quite quickly that this was not the correct approach in terms of working with fans and that prevention measures were needed, not force. Yes, it's possible to show some force but not engage in an all-out fight. Now we understand that we mustn't provoke fans. If one brings a flare into the stadium, there is no need to climb ten rows, fish him out of the crowd and grab the flare off him. It's clear that will only cause a fight between fans and the police. It's best to let the flare burn away, put it to the side of the pitch and extinguish it.

Ivan Katanaev:
I don't know who was first to start the dialogue, but there was a certain point when everyone understood that this could not continue. When there was a group of fans at a match, anything could have led to a fight with the police. It might have been a big one, or maybe not, but all same there would have been a fight. The police also realised that using force was not going to solve this issue, there needed to be agreement on all sides. So, we entered into negotiations, we compromised with each other. The police removed the OMON from the terraces, the OMON were banned from being in the stands, only in extreme circumstances. The police started to police games in a different way: not provoking, not taking the bait when they were provoked.

Valery 'Sabonis':
We contacted the club, and we tried to get them to start some form of dialogue with the Saint Petersburg Police in order to avoid [large-scale clashes between fans and the police]. We understood that there was provocation coming from fans, when disorder broke out in the stands, and from the police too. Because the police had authority, [it was assumed] there wouldn't be any repercussions, they could behave as they liked, with impunity, like some kind of mob, and they made the most if it. I am not saying that all officers were like that but it only takes one to light the blue touch paper and add fuel to the fire.

Ivan Katanaev:
As of 2003, we've not had one serious fight with the police. There have been misunderstandings, disputes, but nothing serious. And attendances for Russian league matches have started to grow, and to grow at a normal rate. If in 2002-2003 the average attendances for matches in Moscow were around 10,000, then now it's getting closer to 20,000. In the space of three to four years it has practically doubled. This is because people have stopped being afraid of going to the football. As of 2004, fans have started to be included in dialogue, being invited to police meetings. Of course, we are heard, but the question is: are we being listened to? We have told them our position, everything is changing gradually, some common ground has been found.

Valery 'Sabonis':
We met with the Saint Petersburg Police; the first steps were very difficult because they thought that fans were marginal figures who provoke themselves and go to the football just to be hooligans. Then they started to understand that they are dealing with normal people, decent people. Plus, the club management helped, especially [Zenit's president in 1997-2003 Vitaly] Mutko who was personally involved in addressing the sources of conflict. You can't say that it was just the police and OMON officers who were the only guilty parties in the stadium wars. There were situations when fans openly provoked them and they themselves started fights.

Ivan Katanaev:
The contact we now have with the police is more than OK. We have a working relationship. There is a dedicated team we can contact who deal with any issue a fan might have, such as bringing in items of paraphernalia like banners and flags. I can easily phone the relevant people and the issue will be sorted out. One of the very few ongoing, contentious issues between fans and the police is bringing pyrotechnics into the stands. But here, as has become apparent, there is room for compromise.

Translated by Thomas Dixon