The case in summary:
Expand/minimize fact box
- Around 15 people have been identified after throwing flares at the Fredrikstad stadium during the match between FFK and Sarpsborg-08 last weekend.
- Several of those involved are young boys aged 13-15.
- Sarpsborg-08 is considering creating greater physical distance between younger and older supporters to prevent similar incidents.
- Several spectators were injured in connection with the flare throwing. A number of people have been told that they have been observed throwing flares, and that the reaction is to ban them.
- The leader of the supporters’ club Fossefallet supports the safe use of flares, but believes that unreasonable use should be punished with exclusion.
The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by NRK’s journalists before publication.
– Uka has mostly agreed to look through video material.
General manager in Sarpsborg 08, Raymond Fjeld, has had his hands full for the past week.
Up to 25 people were involved in unwanted incidents in the local match between Fredrikstad Fotballklubb and Sarpsborg 08. Around 15 of them can be linked to incidents with flares, where flares were thrown from the away field onto the pitch.
– We had two incidents where flares were thrown from supporters directly at the stands of Fredrikstad. That is, directly towards people.
Raymond Fjeld says that flare throwers will be banned from matches.
Photo: Ingrid M Langvik / NRK
Several of those involved are young boys aged 13-15.
– If there is a flare-up, which often happens in Norwegian stadiums, then young people should keep a good distance from it, so that they do not become part of it or get injured. We are looking at the possibility of having a slightly greater physical distance between the younger and older supporters, says Fjeld.
Several injured
The flares have been selected using images from the surveillance cameras at Fredrikstad Stadium.
– It’s completely impossible for us to manage to take everyone, it’s not possible. Because the camera quality and what we have received from evidence is not good enough to do. But we make contact with those whom we have been able to identify with certainty, says Fjeld.
According to the police, several spectators were injured in connection with the flare throwing.
Received notice of ban
A number of people have been told that they have been observed throwing flares, and that the reaction is to ban them.
One of them posted a message on a Facebook group that he was banned. He calls himself “wrongly accused”. He also posted a screenshot of the message he received from the club.
Photo: Screenshot from a Facebook group
He writes in a message to NRK that he does not want to make any comment, but emphasizes that “I have a good dialogue with the club”.
Supports the safe use of flares
The leader of the supporters’ club Fossefallet, Merethe Sandtangen, also boasts about the dialogue with the club.
– First I have to say that this kind of behavior has no place at home. Everyone knows not to throw flares. You just don’t do that.
Merethe Sandtangen supports the safe use of flares, and believes that unreasonable use should be punished with exclusion.
Photo: Private
At the same time, she says that both she personally and Fossefallet want pyro during matches.
– We are pro pyro. We are so happy that there is a process to legalize pyro at matches. But if there is a flare-up, it must happen with responsible people over the age of 18. It must be sound, it must take place from a good distance, and it must not compromise safety.
She agrees that such behavior should be met with exclusion.
– But then you have to be 100 percent sure.
– We do not want such behavior
In the first place, those involved were banned from the match between Sarpsborg 08 and YMCA on Sunday. Beyond that, penalties and reactions have not yet been determined.
Fjeld adds that they have a good collaboration with both the supporters’ club Fossefallet and the supporters’ group MXVI in the case.
– We all agree that we do not want such behavior as we experienced in Fredrikstad, concludes Fjeld.
NRK has tried to get in touch with the supporters’ club MXVI, but they have not answered our inquiries.
Published 22/04/2024, at 12.43