Protection rights for football supporters: learning from the tragedy at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Indonesia

Abstract

PurposeFootball supporters have safety and security guarantees, but protection rights abuses in the Kanjuruhan Indonesia stadium tragedy. This study aims to create a design regulation to protect the protection rights of football supporters in the world.Design/methodology/approachThis is a socio-legal study. The law, cases and conceptual methods are the research methodologies. The process of collecting data uses a literature review. The gathered facts and information are next examined both qualitatively and descriptively.FindingsThe tragedy that occurred at the Kanjuruhan Stadium is the worst tragedy of Indonesian football. The key factor behind the tragedy was the mechanism for securing football matches regulated in the acts and regulations in Indonesia, which were out of sync and contrary to Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) regulations. The Indonesian National Police Regulation (Perkapolri) permits the use of firearms, tear gas and force, whereas this is actually prohibited by the FIFA Stadium Safety and Security Regulation (FSSSR). In this tragedy, protection rights abuses occurred. Then, the Indonesian Sport Act (ISA) 2022 does not yet regulate crucial matters, especially safety and security in sports competitions to protect players, referees, spectators/supporters and other match organizers.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examines various regulations relating to sports, especially football matches with a focus on studies in Indonesia.Practical implicationsThe results of this research help realize protection rights for football supporters and create designs regulation to protect protection rights for football supporters worldwide.Social implicationsThe design regulation recommended in this study is useful for preventing disasters in football and protecting football supporters, players, referees and parties in matches from acts of violence.Originality/valueLearning from the Kanjuruhan tragedy, to prevent this from happening again, the adoption of the FSSSR into Indonesian legislation, created the Safety of Sports Grounds Act and the establishment of the Indonesian Football Policing Unit are recommendations that need to be considered.