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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JUNE 2022 12 OPINION Panic, horror and chaos: what went wrong at the Champions League final Daniel Silverstone, a professor of criminology and an expert in policing studies, attended the Champion's League final in Par- is and witnessed chaotic scenes. Here, he and Jan Ludvigsen ex- amine what the latest research can tell us about how to tackle an issue that continues to bring foot- ball – and the authorities that po- lice it – into disrepute. I was one of those unlucky Liv- erpool fans, caught up in the middle of the chaos battling to enter the stadium's gate Y at the Stade de France in Paris on Sat- urday. As I left the match, I saw a Liverpool fan who had already been pepper-sprayed chased by a French police officer, despite his colleagues urging him not to. The fan was then hit from behind on the back of his head with a wood- en baton. Panic, horror and chaos. These are just some of the words that have been used to describe the events that occurred during what became a memorable night for all the wrong reasons in the French capital. Security and safety issues continue to trouble football and the world's other biggest sporting events and repeatedly become the key talking point once the fi- nal whistle blows. I went to watch Liverpool take on Real Madrid with my sister, brother and a family friend. Like all Liverpool fans we had been looking forward to the culmina- tion of exciting season. But the excitement soon turned to fear when we realised that we were getting caught up in something that was beyond our control. We were getting crushed outside gate Y, jostling with security to pre- vent them from closing the gate on us. Similar scenes were also reported outside gates X and B. I had flashbacks to Hillsbor- ough, the stadium disaster on April 15 1989 which resulted in the tragic deaths of 97 Liverpool fans. I remember watching dazed fans, numb from shock, on the television. In Paris, I thought history was about to repeat it- self. We all felt a sense of dread. A brief, intense moment that we couldn't breathe and that we might not make it. Somehow, a much anticipated, post-COVID joyous family event had suddenly switched to what felt like a family fight for survival. Luckily – and miraculously – everyone survived that night in Paris. And it was only when we managed to get to our seats that we realised how our experience was not uncommon. In front of us were disgruntled fans who had arrived at 6.30pm and endured two hours of queuing. All around us were empty seats of Liver- pool fans who hadn't made it in. And behind us, the one fan who arrived just before half time. He was pale after being tear-gassed. Paris now needs to be a catalyst for how authorities consider is- sues of security at football events. I have been working as an aca- demic for decades and recently as a director of a Centre of Polic- ing Studies. Ironically, one of my most recent pre-COVID assign- ments was organising – in con- junction with Merseyside Police – the delivery of human rights based training in Liverpool to Qatari police ahead of the World Cup. My colleague Jan – who fol- lowed the final from his home in Liverpool – is a sociologist who actively researches and has pub- lished extensively on the relation- ship between sport mega-events, security and football fans. Mine and Jan's backgrounds therefore enable us to provide reflections on what happened in Paris and, crucially, what needs to be done in the future. Mixed messages Before anyone really knew what was happening in Paris, fans were being blamed. Broadcasters an- nounced that the match, which was due to kick off at 9pm local time, was delayed by 36 minutes. As displayed on the stadium's giant screens, this was, in UE- FA's own words, due to the "late arrival" of fans. Yet, the fact was many Liverpool fans were at the stadium hours before kick-off and reports and footage began emerging on social media show- ing dangerous queues, closed gates near the turnstiles, the use of tear-gas by French police and a general sense of desperation spreading among supporters, families and media reporters out- side the stadium gates. Liverpool FC were quick to an- nounce that the club would re- quest a formal investigation into the causes of the security issues and they have subsequently en- couraged fans to share their ex- periences. UEFA also confirmed that they have commissioned an independent report that will in- vestigate the events surrounding the final. But French authorities have re- mained adamant that the issues were caused by ticketless fans and counterfeit tickets – this claim has been heavily contested. Unusually though, in this digital age, many fans were allocated pa- per tickets. What affect that had on the claims of fake ticketing is, as yet, unclear. France – and Paris specifical- ly – is not a newcomer when it comes to staging large-scale events and internationally signifi- cant football fixtures. In 2016, the city hosted another UEFA event, the European Championship in men's football, while the coun- try was in a state of emergency following a series of terrorist at- tacks in November 2015, includ- ing suicide bombers who struck outside the Stade De France after failing to get past the stadium entry. Sadly, Euro 2016 was also disrupted by violence, disorder and clashes between fans and the police. But this is not just a French problem. There is no doubt that the UK is fighting its own securi- ty battles, as the upsurge in pitch invasions in recent weeks show. And there was also a major secu- rity breach at Wembley Stadium for the Euro 2020 (held in 2021) final, where ticketless fans man- aged to break through the secu- rity barriers and turnstiles and gained access to the stadium. Months later, in January 2022, a crush at the Olembé Stadium in Cameroon during the Africa Cup of Nations tragically resulted in eight deaths. All of which adds to the mounting evidence that the problem of security and safety in football is getting worse. Communication is key Research into football polic- ing suggests that the absence of communication and dialogue be- tween police and crowds are two factors that can contribute to the escalation of disorder. As Jan's research underlines, there must be mutual respect and under- standing between fans and those responsible for security. One of the reasons for this is that the policing of football matches is highly complex – both on the ground on match days, but also in its pre-planning lead up to the fixtures. The policing of fans is also not limited to the stadium rings. Large numbers of ticket- less fans travel to sporting events and choose to attend fan zones or other public viewing events. To account for this, Jan's recently published book shows how ma- jor sporting event security relies much upon the transfer of so- called "best practices" that mi- grate from event to event. These processes are aided by a Europe- an-wide security networks con- sisting of diverse stakeholders, such as law-enforcement, gov- erning bodies, national associa- tions and organised fan networks. Before the final in May, Mer- seyside Police would have pro- vided the French authorities with a "closed briefing" of what and whom to expect along with oth- er risk assessments. They would have also sent a team of "spot- ters" to work with Spanish and French police. According to a former crowd safety and securi- ty adviser at Liverpool's Anfield stadium, this briefing ought to have included an appraisal of the usual problems such as fans with- out tickets, drunken supporters and fake tickets. A joint session between the two French police forces, the Gendermarie and the Compagnies républicaines de sécurité (CRS), with the British police and UEFA would have al- so gone through a complete run through of the event. Information for travelling fans Open-source intelligence work would have shown UEFA and relevant authorities the numbers of fans to be expected as all flights and trains from the UK to Paris were fully booked weeks in ad- vance of the final. So, the author- ities had plenty of time to put in place a communication strategy for arriving fans. This should have included both instruction on how to enter and exit the sta- dium safely and advice that fans should be careful of their per- sonal safety within the local area in the immediate vicinity of the stadium when they were leaving the game. Instead, indications of what awaited – and perhaps what to expect – emerged in the fixture's build up, when it was reported that fans wearing club colours in the area around the Champs Elysees could risk a fine from the French police. So no warnings, no information – just punitive action. Football fans are comprised of a diverse social group, and research shows that many sup- Daniel Silverstone, University of Greenwich, Jan Ludvigsen, Liverpool John Moores University Daniel Silverstone & Jan Ludvigsen