Do you still feel safe on the sports fields?

The football lower house is also repeatedly confronted with violent attacks: in the 1b game of Schalchen in the 2nd class south-west against St. Pantaleon a few weeks ago, a home referee attacked a guest kicker with his flag and so on caused a commotion.

There were wild scenes again last weekend: Actually, after the top game in the 2nd class middle on Saturday between the second ATSV St. Martin/Tr. and the fourth Askö Kirchberg-Thening (2:2) the sporting performance should be in the foreground. After the final whistle, there was not only mutual provocation and insults, there were even punches: both a spectator and a player from the home side beat the guest kickers. In the end, even the police had to move in: Because the visiting club Kirchberg-Thening no longer felt safe, the executive was informed, who came with three cars and made sure the guests drove home safely.

What can you do?

Even before the start of the spring season, the Upper Austrian football association presented a catalog of measures after a number of incidents in the youth field, but also escalations in the lower house with verbal and physical violence against referees. The following points were on the agenda: Since the start of the second half of the season, eight instead of five stewards have to be provided for competition games in the first and second classes. In the case of youth games, the home club must also provide a matchday manager who acts as a contact person for referees and opponents.

“We can’t solve this problem alone, we need the whole of society for that,” emphasized OÖFV President Gerhard Götschhofer at the time. “We don’t want to swing the penalty club, incidents have to be assessed individually. You can’t lump everything together, you need a sure instinct. The question is: How did a situation come about?” Postscript: “Football is not the perpetrator, but the victim.”

At the moment, the problems don’t seem to have been properly addressed. It is difficult – and probably not a new problem, as OÖN sports editor Raphael Watzinger writes in the lower house kick-off. And yet the question arises: Do you still feel safe on the local sports fields? Vote: