The ENABLE two day event called ”Safety and Security Forum” focusing on disseminating knowledge and devloping safety and security practices in in Swedish football, took place in Stockholm last week. The aim was to create a common basic knowledge and provide a platform for a constructive dialouge for football stakeholders in Sweden. Around 100 representatives from the Swedish football league, the Swedish FA, the clubs in Allsvenskan, the fan union and the police force attended the forum.
The agenda included discussions on principles for creating a safe and secure environment in football as well as a presentation by Mats Enquist, CEO for the Swedish football league, emphasizing the value of football in the society and the importance of working together with all stakeholders.
”Football is important to many, and attracts all sorts of visitors. We work for an inclusive and welcoming football. There are a very small number of individuals who create problems and disorder, and it is about them our repressive efforts must be focused – not against the supporters in general or the football clubs. To solve the disturbances the football is exposed to, the cooperation between us, the Swedish FA, the clubs, the fans and the police is absolutely crucial! Enable gives all of us an objective and fact-based basis to assume that work”, says Mats Enquist.
The first day of the forum was devoted to lectures with an international perspective, including representatives from both Denmark and the United Kingdom, telling about the situation and giving good advice and examples fromabroad. The second day featured a national focus and workshops. ENABLE went through the observations of the 2017 season premier between IFK Göteborg and Malmö FF, and all participants seemed satisfied with the days.
”It should be remembered that this was the first occasion we conducted this conference, but we hope we laid the foundation for something to build on. Our goal was to start giving all actors the same basic, theoretical knowledge in their operations. For example, if you understand crowd behavior on the same grounds, all stakeholders, regardless of which side, can analyze similar situations in the same way. Hopefully this will create a more constructive dialogue. We also wanted to contribute to a better understanding for each other. The police, the clubs and the fans need more understanding of each other’s mission, goals and methods. As a third and last goal, we wanted to start building a foundation for a collaboration platform. A collaboration without getting stuck in conflict, but are characterized by a constructive tone”, says Anders Almgren, Project Manager at ENABLE.
