By Jaroslaw Adamowski
November 11 – Poland’s Ekstraklasa is aiming to introduce a number of modifications into the country’s mass events safety bill. The operator of the top tier of Poland’s professional football league outlined the proposed changes in a document entitled Safe Ekstraklasa: shutting down the stadiums, shutting down the opportunities.
Ekstraklasa aims to introduce the following modifications into the bill: allowing clubs to install standing places at their stadiums; mitigating the penalties for using pyrotechnics at stadiums; as well as facilitating obtaining club supporter cards which are obligatory for entering stadiums and cannot be purchased online.
“To lure new spectators, it is necessary to facilitate access to stadiums. Unfortunately, in Poland it is easier to buy a plane ticket than a ticket for a T-Mobile Esktraklasa football match,” the document says.
In addition to this, Ekstraklasa is also intensifying its efforts to promote a more positive image of Poland’s football fans. In 2012, as much as 99.83% spectators of Esktraklasa matches did not commit any criminal offenses, according to figures released by the company. In addition to this, in the 2012/2013 season, the number of incidents considered as dangerous decreased by 2.5%.
“Significant unlawful behaviours took place at only six out of 240 matches,” the document points out.
In the first six months of 2013, some 602 spectators were arrested in Poland for unlawful behaviour at football stadiums. This represents a 49% decrease over the same period a year earlier, according to Esktraklasa.
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