By Andrew Warshaw
March 14 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter wants clubs to crack down harder on flares and firecrackers in stadiums, describing those who let them off as “arsonists”and “pyromaniacs”.
“We don’t need fire and flames in the stands,” Blatter wrote in FIFA’s weekly magazine.
“We drum the dangers of fire into every little child but self-styled, grown-up, so-called football fans still ignite flares and let off acrid smoke bombs generating temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius.
“Where’s the sense in shrouding yourself in a fog and placing others in acute danger? When I encounter these situations I’m overcome by incomprehension. Football cannot be misused and degraded by arsonists.”
Even though flares are supposed to be barred, spectators still manage to sneak them into stadiums but Blatter warned they deter children from attending.
“Football matches are social occasions and a shared community experience, but grossly negligent behaviour like this means they degenerate into a platform for fanatics and pyromaniacs.
“They turn from a fun family day out into a stage for shameless self-promotion by a regrettable minority. I can quite understand parents stopping their kids going to football grounds after seeing this kind of thing on television.”
Blatter says clubs know who the culprits are but don’t take action because of the need to make money.
“Often enough the fear of losing a paying customer is greater than the readiness to act decisively against the unruly element,” he said. “Fan liaison must mean working with the real fans, not covering up for troublemakers.”
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