In today’s world, sports stadiums usually host one of the most crowded human gatherings. The presence of fans in sports competitions, including football, has negative consequences in addition to its positive effects. The phenomenon of vandalism is one of the negative functions of the presence of spectators in stadiums. In the field of football, due to the relatively high number of spectators, a suitable field is provided for the emergence and emergence of vandalistic behaviors.
Vandalism in the word means destroying and destroying, and in the term it means the uncontrolled destruction of valuable cultural objects and works or public property. This behavior is a kind of abnormality or social deviation that comes from some pressures, adversities, discriminations or failures.
The focus of the upcoming article is on those vandalistic behaviors that occur in connection with football matches (inside or outside the sports grounds). The large presence of fanatical spectators in the stadium environment, along with the attractions it creates in a sports match, also brings potential risks. For example, inconsistencies in the process of holding matches, inadvertent and sometimes influential mistakes of the referee in the course of the match, etc., will all lead to the risk of unbridled emotions and emotions of the fans. In most cases, it can be seen that the fans show their feelings in the form of slogans, throwing objects, chaos, obscenity, destroying the stadium, tearing down seats or harming others, etc. Most of these behaviors are spontaneous, but some of them are premeditated.
What are the causes of vandalism in football?
Regarding the causes of vandalism among football spectators, various opinions were expressed. It seems that such behaviors are mainly caused by factors such as refereeing mistakes, unnecessary prejudices, personality disorders, provocation of players and coaches, failure of the favorite club to achieve the desired result, dissatisfaction with the amenities of the sports complex, provocations and media fringes. Or even imitating the behavior of spectators from other countries.
In addition to all the mentioned factors, the performance of the police stationed in the stadiums is also effective in controlling or preventing the occurrence of such behaviors. Sometimes dissatisfaction with the political-social atmosphere ruling the society also causes such behaviors; In this way, the spectators use the space of the stadiums and show their dissatisfaction and protest towards the political-social situation ruling the society in the form of violent behavior.
There are many historical examples of vandalism in the world of football. For example, the match between Persepolis and Pas teams in 1360, which resulted in very high physical damages, or the match between Iran and North Korea in the 2003 Asian Nations Cup qualifiers are examples of that.
In the match between Iran and North Korea, one of the players of the Korean team was injured due to the throwing of homemade grenades. This caused a ban and a heavy fine for Iranian football. Another example was related to the match between El-Hali and Al-Masri teams from the Egyptian League competition series that took place in 2012. In this game, 74 spectators were killed or injured, and three days of public mourning were announced in Egypt.
Now, after clarifying the concept of vandalism and its occurrences in the world of football, we are looking for an answer to the question whether judicial and quasi-judicial institutions are able to use all their capacities in dealing with such behaviors? Are the disciplinary laws of the Football Federation and the criminal laws of Iran, the answer to all the challenges that arise in relation to this phenomenon, or are there gaps in them?
To answer this question, we first examine the disciplinary regulations of the Iranian Football Federation and then go to the Islamic Penal Code to learn about the provisions of the above regulations regarding vandalism (in the world of football). After knowing the provisions of the aforementioned laws, it is possible to answer the question of whether the legal provisions are sufficient to deal with vandalistic behaviors or they are void.
Article 86 of the disciplinary regulations of the Football Federation is written under the title “Competition order and security”. The three clauses stipulated in this article clearly indicate that the clubs are responsible for any actions and behaviors of their spectators (inside and outside the stadium and before, during or after the match); Even if they prove that they were not at fault or negligent in the process of holding or organizing the competitions. In this article, a series of vandalistic and violent behaviors are mentioned. Behaviors such as spectators entering the field, throwing objects, setting off fireworks or igniting any other object or throwing incendiary materials, using lasers or similar devices, making a movement or chanting or anything else that contains a message against the spirit of sports. (such as political or racist or offensive or provocative slogans, etc.), disruption of the opening or closing ceremony of the competition, use of any object of the winner, are subject to the article and subject to fines or other punishments as the case may be It is stipulated in the mentioned regulations.
It seems that the above behaviors are listed in the second paragraph of Article 16 of the 2019 FIFA Disciplinary Regulations. Article 16 considers examples of vandalistic behavior to include the following:
- Invading or attempting to invade the playing field
- Throwing objects
- Lighting incendiary materials or anything else
- Using lasers or similar electronic things
- Using gestures, words, objects or any other means to convey a message that is inappropriate for a sporting event, especially messages that are political, ideological, religious or offensive in nature.
- damage
- Disruption of national anthems
- Any other irregularity observed in the stadium or its surroundings.
Article 86 does not limit the responsibility to natural persons (spectators) and extends it to legal persons (clubs); Because it declares that regardless of the personal responsibility of the violent spectators, their clubs will be responsible and should bear the punishment stipulated in the article. This is while being responsible for recognizing the clubs in an absolute way is a kind of injustice against them. It is possible that the fans of different teams will abuse these regulations and in the guise of fans of the rival team, they will engage in destructive and riotous behavior in order to face the condemnation and exclusion of the clubs that are considered rivals of their favorite teams. It would be better to extend the responsibility of the spectators to the clubs in a situation where the perpetrators are not identified; Not that this responsibility is created absolutely for the clubs. Since in Iran, spectators are not asked for identification documents when entering stadiums, and the way spectators sit on the seats does not follow a specific rule, the possibility of identifying them when violent behavior occurs is excluded in most cases. Therefore, the responsibility will fall on the clubs.
The big gap in Article 86 is related to the punishment prescribed in it. One of the punishments of this article (in addition to a fine) is the ban from hosting or the ban from the presence of spectators in stadiums (for one or more specific games). It is clear that in today’s world, the performance of many athletes and footballers is influenced by the presence of spectators; In such a way that many football players try to show their best performance under the influence of the atmosphere of the stadium. The atmosphere of the stadiums has undeniable effects to weaken the performance of the players of the rival team. Since the privilege of hosting and having fans is very important for a club, especially popular clubs, depriving them of such a privilege requires special measures and expediency. Therefore, resorting to such disciplinary punishment to deal with violent behavior is not very common in Iran.
This factor has caused the disciplinary committee to fine only the clubs in most cases and not be able to use all its capacities (including denying the right to host). In many cases, it can be seen that if the disciplinary committee decides to ban a club from the presence of spectators in its home stadium, it will be suspended. Also, experience shows that simply fining a club due to the violent behavior of its spectators does not have the necessary deterrence and does not prevent the repetition of similar behaviors.
Since the behavior of the spectators sometimes applies to one of the criminal titles prescribed in the criminal laws, the question arises whether the rules of criminal law and the provisions of the penal law are applied in such cases?
It seems that paragraph (c) of Article 158 of the Islamic Penal Code, which stipulates: “Sports operations and accidents resulting from them, provided that the cause of the accidents is not a violation of the regulations related to that sport and these regulations are also contrary to Sharia standards. If it is not, it is not punishable.”, it does not apply to the violent behavior of spectators and the immunity and exemption provided in this article cannot be used for such behavior. The appearance of the article shows that the legislator means the actions and behaviors of the athletes and not the spectators. Therefore, the violent acts and actions of sports spectators (even if such behaviors occur in the stadiums themselves and during a sports match) should be investigated and prosecuted based on the generality of criminal law and penal law.
As we mentioned before, the rule is that actions such as conflict, intentional assault, destruction of public property or other people’s property, and other behaviors that are considered crimes by spectators are governed by criminal laws; But in practice and in many cases, this does not happen, and the hands of judicial authorities are tied to apply criminal rules and sentences.
According to statistics from numerous national and international researches, the majority of spectators who commit violent and vandalistic acts are low-income, young and old (83.9% of these people are 25 years old or younger) ), are unemployed (26.3% of these people are unemployed) and poorly educated (75.8% of the perpetrators have a diploma or lower), so criminal law and judicial authorities are not free to convict such people. Many courts, where offenders and perpetrators of violent behavior in stadiums are identified (identifying these people by themselves is very difficult and in most cases impossible), deal with them because of their young age, circumstances, social status and life situation. They deal with tolerance.
Such a thing has caused judicial authorities, like quasi-judicial authorities, to be unable to use all their capacities and unable to eradicate vandalism. Examining the lawsuit files in the field of football shows that in most cases where the behavior of the spectators can be applied to one of the criminal titles, the lawsuit is investigated in the disciplinary committee and is closed there and there is less evidence of the intervention and entry of institutions. We are judicial in such cases.
What measures can be taken to prevent vandalism in football?
Since it is difficult and sometimes useless to deal with vandalistic behavior in football due to the previously mentioned cases (both at the level of judicial authorities and quasi-judicial authorities), the best way is to use preventive policies.
In addition to all the mentioned factors, the performance of the police stationed in the stadiums is also effective in controlling or preventing the occurrence of such behaviors. Sometimes dissatisfaction with the political-social atmosphere ruling the society also causes such behaviors; In this way, the spectators use the space of the stadiums and show their dissatisfaction and protest towards the political-social situation ruling the society in the form of violent behavior.
There are many historical examples of vandalism in the world of football. For example, the match between Persepolis and Pas teams in 1360, which resulted in very high physical damages, or the match between Iran and North Korea in the 2003 Asian Nations Cup qualifiers are examples of that.
In the match between Iran and North Korea, one of the players of the Korean team was injured due to the throwing of homemade grenades. This caused a ban and a heavy fine for Iranian football. Another example was related to the match between El-Hali and Al-Masri teams from the Egyptian League competition series that took place in 2012. In this game, 74 spectators were killed or injured, and three days of public mourning were announced in Egypt.
Now, after clarifying the concept of vandalism and its occurrences in the world of football, we are looking for an answer to the question whether judicial and quasi-judicial institutions are able to use all their capacities in dealing with such behaviors? Are the disciplinary laws of the Football Federation and the criminal laws of Iran, the answer to all the challenges that arise in relation to this phenomenon, or are there gaps in them?
To answer this question, we first examine the disciplinary regulations of the Iranian Football Federation and then go to the Islamic Penal Code to learn about the provisions of the above regulations regarding vandalism (in the world of football). After knowing the provisions of the aforementioned laws, it is possible to answer the question of whether the legal provisions are sufficient to deal with vandalistic behaviors or they are void.
Article 86 of the Disciplinary Regulations of the Football Federation
This article is written under the title “Competition order and security”. The three clauses stipulated in this article clearly indicate that the clubs are responsible for any actions and behaviors of their spectators (inside and outside the stadium and before, during or after the match); Even if they prove that they were not at fault or negligent in the process of holding or organizing the competitions. In this article, a series of vandalistic and violent behaviors are mentioned. Behaviors such as spectators entering the field, throwing objects, setting off fireworks or igniting any other object or throwing incendiary materials, using lasers or similar devices, making a movement or chanting or anything else that contains a message against the spirit of sports. (such as political or racist or offensive or provocative slogans, etc.), disruption of the opening or closing ceremony of the competition, use of any object of the winner, are subject to the article and subject to fines or other punishments as the case may be It is stipulated in the mentioned regulations.
It seems that the above behaviors are listed in the second paragraph of Article 16 of the 2019 FIFA Disciplinary Regulations. Article 16 considers examples of vandalistic behavior to include the following:
- Invading or attempting to invade the playing field
- Throwing objects
- Lighting incendiary materials or anything else
- Using lasers or similar electronic things
- Using gestures, words, objects or any other means to convey a message that is inappropriate for a sporting event, especially messages that are political, ideological, religious or offensive in nature.
- damage
- Disruption of national anthems
- Any other irregularity observed in the stadium or its surroundings.
Article 86 does not limit the responsibility to natural persons (spectators) and extends it to legal persons (clubs); Because it declares that regardless of the personal responsibility of the violent spectators, their clubs will be responsible and should bear the punishment stipulated in the article. This is while being responsible for recognizing the clubs in an absolute way is a kind of injustice against them. It is possible that the fans of different teams will abuse these regulations and in the guise of fans of the rival team, they will engage in destructive and riotous behavior in order to face the condemnation and exclusion of the clubs that are considered rivals of their favorite teams. It would be better to extend the responsibility of the spectators to the clubs in a situation where the perpetrators are not identified; Not that this responsibility is created absolutely for the clubs. Since in Iran, spectators are not asked for identification documents when entering stadiums, and the way spectators sit on the seats does not follow a specific rule, the possibility of identifying them when violent behavior occurs is excluded in most cases. Therefore, the responsibility will fall on the clubs.
The big gap in Article 86 is related to the punishment prescribed in it. One of the punishments of this article (in addition to a fine) is the ban from hosting or the ban from the presence of spectators in stadiums (for one or more specific games). It is clear that in today’s world, the performance of many athletes and footballers is influenced by the presence of spectators; In such a way that many football players try to show their best performance under the influence of the atmosphere of the stadium. The atmosphere of the stadiums has undeniable effects to weaken the performance of the players of the rival team. Since the privilege of hosting and having fans is very important for a club, especially popular clubs, depriving them of such a privilege requires special measures and expediency. Therefore, resorting to such disciplinary punishment to deal with violent behavior is not very common in Iran.
This factor has caused the disciplinary committee to fine only the clubs in most cases and not be able to use all its capacities (including denying the right to host). In many cases, it can be seen that if the disciplinary committee decides to ban a club from the presence of spectators in its home stadium, it will be suspended. Also, experience shows that simply fining a club due to the violent behavior of its spectators does not have the necessary deterrence and does not prevent the repetition of similar behaviors.
Since the behavior of the spectators sometimes applies to one of the criminal titles prescribed in the criminal laws, the question arises whether the rules of criminal law and the provisions of the penal law are applied in such cases?
It seems that paragraph (c) of Article 158 of the Islamic Penal Code, which stipulates: “Sports operations and accidents resulting from them, provided that the cause of the accidents is not a violation of the regulations related to that sport and these regulations are also contrary to Sharia standards. If it is not, it is not punishable.”, it does not apply to the violent behavior of spectators and the immunity and exemption provided in this article cannot be used for such behavior. The appearance of the article shows that the legislator means the actions and behaviors of the athletes and not the spectators. Therefore, the violent acts and actions of sports spectators (even if such behaviors occur in the stadiums themselves and during a sports match) should be investigated and prosecuted based on the generality of criminal law and penal law.
As we mentioned before, the rule is that actions such as conflict, intentional assault, destruction of public property or other people’s property, and other behaviors that are considered crimes by spectators are governed by criminal laws; But in practice and in many cases, this does not happen, and the hands of judicial authorities are tied to apply criminal rules and sentences.
According to statistics from numerous national and international researches, the majority of spectators who commit violent and vandalistic acts are low-income, young and old (83.9% of these people are 25 years old or younger) ), are unemployed (26.3% of these people are unemployed) and poorly educated (75.8% of the perpetrators have a diploma or lower), so criminal law and judicial authorities are not free to convict such people. Many courts, where offenders and perpetrators of violent behavior in stadiums are identified (identifying these people by themselves is very difficult and in most cases impossible), deal with them because of their young age, circumstances, social status and life situation. They deal with tolerance.
Such a thing has caused judicial authorities, like quasi-judicial authorities, to be unable to use all their capacities and unable to eradicate vandalism. Examining the lawsuit files in the field of football shows that in most cases where the behavior of the spectators can be applied to one of the criminal titles, the lawsuit is investigated in the disciplinary committee and is closed there and there is less evidence of the intervention and entry of institutions. We are judicial in such cases.
What measures can be taken to prevent vandalism in football?
Since it is difficult and sometimes useless to deal with vandalistic behaviors in football due to the previously mentioned cases, the best way is to use preventive policies, but nevertheless, such behaviors cannot be prevented.
Therefore, if you encounter the phenomenon of vandalism in your sports field, the best thing to do is to follow up through the judicial authorities so that this issue can be resolved through the law. Dadista law firm is one of the law firms that also works in solving sports legal issues. Dadista has used the best clients and legal experts in the field of sports to solve the problems of your loved ones.