By Samindra Kunti
January 26 – The Dutch FA, the KNVB, and the Dutch parliament want to tighten the application of the ‘football law’ (Law MBVEO). The proposed amendments are aimed at further reducing violence and incidents at Dutch football grounds.
For many years the KNVB has advocated for better regulation of violence and safety in Dutch football. In 2007 that finally resulted in new legislation, the Law MBVEO, But violence at Dutch club football stills persists. Ajax Amsterdam and Rotterdam’s Feyenoord are two clubs with notoriously hardcore fans.
The KNVB is proposing ammendments to the law that will make it much tougher and bring in a broader range of prosecution powers against the perpetrators of violence. The rationale is that troublemakers at grounds should be punished harder and faster. The KNVB wants to rout out violence in Dutch football and improve the experience for fans.
In the past two seasons 66% of stadium bans imposed by the KNVB were for a duration of more than 18 months. These bans were for serious offenses, including public violence, attempted arson and assault. In the 2013/14 season 662 bans were civil, only 18 were criminal.
The KNVB wants a larger share of football-related violence to be criminalised as is already the case in neighboring Belgium and England.
Last week the Dutch parliament endorsed the proposed changes in a debate. The next stage is to make the proposals law.
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