Practical experiences in preventing violence at sporting events

Abstract

The paper first discusses the characteristics of the current forms of violence at sporting events, especially football games, as well as the factors that lead to the manifestation of violence. Then, the author explains the possibilities of improving social measures in preventing violence at sporting events, in addition to existing measures of situational prevention. In the field of social prevention it is especially emphasized the importance of cooperation between fans and sports clubs and the role of other entities whose activities are important or can be important in the field of social prevention. Traditionally, police and private security sector services have an important role in preventing violence at sports events. However, origin of violence lies mostly outside sports and sporting events are often places for manifestation of violence, which requires measures of social prevention of an equal, if not greater, extent. It can be realistically expected that social prevention measures achieve long-term effects in reducing violence at sporting events. Also, exclusive or dominant situational prevention measures can have short-term impact on reducing this kind of violence.