At last, a Football Law in the Netherlands?

• Author: Coenen, Peter T.M.
• Position: ARTICLES

Introduction

For a long time there has been a discussion about football specific legislation in the Netherlands. It seems like this legislation will finally enter into force before the end of 2009. The proposed legislation is currently awaiting approval from the First Chamber of Parliament in the Netherlands.

The proposed law has come a long way, since its conception as a law specifically and exclusively designed to deal with the problem of football hooliganism. The proposed Football Law is now incorporated into a much broader piece of legislation, designed to deal with a myriad of different public order offences. The proposed law, as initiated by the Dutch cabinet, has been passed by the Second Chamber of Parliament. The Second Chamber however, has added some possibly controversial amendments. Approval of the proposed Football Law by the First Chamber of Parliament is anticipated before the end of 2009.

This paper will provide an in depth look into the proposed Foot-ball Law in the Netherlands. This paper will look at how the Dutch legislature attempts to deal with the problem of football hooliganism. The Netherlands has been able to look at similar legislation in a number of other countries and has been able to learn from the difficulties these countries have encountered with this legislation. The Dutch legislature has come up with a fairly moderate proposed law, which avoids a lot of the draconian measures present in comparable laws in other countries. This paper attempts to give an overview of the Dutch legislation and show how this proposed law fits in the current array of measures to combat football hooliganism in the Netherlands. First, a look will be provided at the history of the proposed Football Law. Secondly, this paper will look at the actual text of the proposed Football Law. Finally, this paper will look at how the proposed Football Law could work within the current framework of measures to deal with football hooliganism in the Netherlands.

Why a Football Law?

"If there would have been a Football Law in the Netherlands, these hooligans would have never been able to attend this game." These are the words of Onno Jacobs, the financial director of Feyenoord Rotterdam. Feyenoord had just played a game in the UEFA Cup tournament in the French city of Nancy against the local team, AS Nancy. Feyenoord had lost the game, and even worse, the fans of the Rotterdam team had rioted before and during the game. The game had to be interrupted for half an hour as fights broke out in the stands and the police had to restrain the hooligans with tear gas. Feyenoord fans had already fought with the police in the city centre before the game.

As a result of the behavior of the fans, Feyenoord was thrown out of the UEFA Cup tournament. In the weeks leading up to the game, the team had been worried that hooligans might use this game as an occasion to misbehave. Approximately 3000 Dutch fans came to Nancy on the day of the game. Feyenoord had sold 1300 tickets to its fans through its official channels to registered fans of Feyenoord. This way Feyenoord ensured they were aware of the identity of these fans. Through this ticketing system, the Rotterdam club hoped to control the tickets and see that they did not end up in the hands of known hooligans.

However, this means also that about 1700 fans were present in Nancy that either did not have a valid ticket for the game or had gotten their tickets for the game through other channels. Feyenoord, even before the game, had received strong indications that known hooligans wanted to travel to Nancy for the game. There had been problems at a number of international games previously and the club was put on notice by UEFA that any more problems would result in a severe penalty. Feyenoord's board therefore urged the supporters to behave in Nancy. Unfortunately this plea could not prevent the outbreak of serious riots at the match against Nancy. In the aftermath of the riots in Nancy, it became clear that at least a number of the hooligans present had stadium bans for the stadiums in the Netherlands.

For the board of Feyenoord, and for a lot of other people it was clear. The time had come for a Football Law. Feyenoord started an action on its website, collecting signatures of supporters of a Football Law. Furthermore, the Rotterdam club put a large advertisement in a national newspaper, asking for a Football Law. The newspaperad was signed by a lot of famous Dutch people, including current Vice Prime Minister Wouter Bos.

The result of these riots and the ensuing media coverage, as happens so often in the aftermath of such a serious incident, was that the subject of a Football Law in the Netherlands came to the top of the agenda again of policymakers in the Netherlands. Onno Jacobs urged the political parties in the Netherlands to act. "In a Football Law, a reporting duty can be implemented. In that case these hooligans would have never been able to travel to Nancy." The theory in this case is that if a hooligan (or a suspected hooligan) who has misbehaved in the past at football games, has to report at the local police station at the time of the games of his favorite club or country, that hooligan cannot be present at those games and therefore cannot cause any more disorder.

On May 9, 2008, the Dutch cabinet approved the long-awaited Football Law. The Football Law was then discussed in the Second Chamber of Parliament. During the discussions in the second Chamber, the Football Law was amended on a couple of important points. The amended Football Law was passed by the Second Chamber of Parliament with a large majority of the votes. The Football Law is currently awaiting approval by the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament. and the First Chamber cannot make amendments to the proposal. A simple majority of the votes in the First Chamber will suffice for the Football Law to become law. The Football Law likely could enter into force before the end of 2009.

The Royal Dutch Football Association's initiative

The KNVB, the Royal Dutch Football Association, had already been working on a Football Law. The KNVB, backed up by the opinion of the general public, felt that the time had come for a Football Law. In February 2007, the KNVB presented a concept for a Football Law. The KNVB had talked about the details of this Football Law with a large number of experts on the subject. The KNVB discussed the concept with academics, politicians, civil servants and legal experts. The KNVB also looked the experiences in England, in which a similar Football Law has been in force for a long time.

The KNVB, while presenting their concept, asserted that a relatively small number of all people that go to football games cause problems at or around football games. Most of these hooligans have prior convictions for criminal acts and are likely to violate the law again. The KNVB, in its draft, concluded that the Football Law should focus on addressing this core group of hooligans. This constitutes a break with the past, when measures addressing the problem of football hooliganism mostly focused on the immediate prevention of disorder in and around the stadium. These measures mostly provided an immediate response to disorder or the threat thereof. However, the KNVB felt it would be better to directly target the hooligans themselves at an earlier stage in the process and thereby possibly prevent riots from breaking out

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