A Case Study of Football

 
Hooliganism  in  Belgium
Introduc)on  

The scope of this report is to brief the reader on the Football Hooligan environment in
Belgium and attempt to bring a degree of clarity and understanding to an area of the
sport that is often ignored. Football hooliganism is a highly visible phenomenon, and with
the advent of instant reportage through new media coverage of football-related disorder
and violence is extensive and brutal in its impact. In addition to the effect such activity
has on the game of football, on the players, the coaches, and the fans there are
significant financial implications for those who invest in the sport.

In simple terms football hooliganism involves violent conflict between opposing gangs of supporters,

often it is between certain clubs which may have long-standing rivalries, whether on the domestic or the

European scene. In some instances the clubs may be geographically close, but this is not always the case.

Often when there are episodes of violence between neighbouring clubs, they tend to be extremely violent

and severe in their conduct. In many circumstances where there is a historical rivalry between both clubs

and supporters, such sentiment can lead to the generational involvement in hooliganism.

Hooliganism often crosses national borders with club supporters in different countries coming together to

fight under the one banner. There are many recorded incidences of such occurrences with several groups

(particularly those with right wing tendencies) coming together to engage in violence against a third party.

Again such instances have been recorded in Austria, Sweden and Denmark (Frosdick & Marsh Football

Hooliganism. 2005). While historically much of the associated incidents relating to football hooligans have

taken place within stadia, within the last 15-20 years the vast majority of violent attacks and outbreaks

have taken place before matches. Particularly within the United Kingdom participants often select

locations away from stadia to avoid arrest by the police, but conflict can also erupt spontaneously inside

the stadium or in the surrounding streets. In such cases, shop windows and private property may be

attacked and vandalised. But while there is an emphasis on the destruction of commercial and private

property, often the scourge of football hooliganism is focused on violence against the person.

As with the rest of western society, football hooligans have adapted new methods of organising,

communicating and spreading their own particular ‘message’. By adopting new technologies and 1  
equipment the task of combating hooligans is becoming more and more difficult for law enforcement

personnel. The use of Social Media, often cited as a productive, educational tool for many is also used by
 those who can safely organise violent activities under a veil of on-line invisibility. As a result, new

strategies and tools are being created in order to provide national associations and law enforcement

personnel with the skills they need to help fight the scourge of football hooliganism (Radman 2012).

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Growth of Hooliganism

Hooliganism was especially prevalent in Belgium throughout the 1980s and 1990s, when riots between

supporters of major teams, such as Club Brugge K.V., R.S.C. Anderlecht, Standard Liège, Union Royale

Namur, Beerschot and Royal Antwerp F.C. occurred on a frequent basis.

The Belgian Hooligan Scene finds its roots in the early 1980's with the formation of the first Hooligan

groups at clubs such as Anderlecht, FC Brugge and Antwerp. The rise in the growth of hooligan elements

and groups was in the early years attributed to the advent of European football, however there is historical

evidence to suggest otherwise (Adang 2009). Due to its geographical location the Belgian Hooligan scene

has always been influenced by groups in England, Holland and Germany and as a result of this proximity

there has been a significant amount of contact and confrontation between clubs from Belgium and the UK

and other European countries. Despite the often violent confrontations between opposing factions, many

Belgian ‘Hoolie’ groups have adopted British terms into their organisations often referring to each other

as 'Side’s', 'Firm’s' or ‘Casuals’. The first Belgian hooligan group to be founded is believed to be a group

of Royal Antwerp fans, who became known as ‘X-Side’ following a match against-Aston Villa in 1975. The

accepted genealogy according to X- Side members is that the Antwerp supporters were attacked by a

group of English Hooligans, so they organized in order to defend themselves against future provocation.

Current list of Belgian Hooligan Groups (Policing European Football 2014)

1 - Anderlecht -O-Side/K4 Casuals (ex M4)
2 - FC Brugge -BCF (Brugge Casual Firm) (ex East-Side/Vak-17)
3 - KV Mechelen -S-Side Bulldogs
4 - Standard -Hell-Side
5 - Beerschot -Kielse Hools
6 - RC Genk -Ultras
7 - AA Gent -Rebel-Side/Buffalo Casual Front
8 - Harelbeke -Rat-Side
9 - Eendracht Aalst -Black-Side
10 - Royal Antwerp FC - Antwerp Casuals
11 - Sint-Truiden - Casual Front 3  
12 - Moeskroen -Kop
13 - Beveron -E-Side
 14 - Lokeron -West-Side
15 - Lierse -Wild-Side
16 - Charleroi -Wallons Boys; White Army Charleroi
17 - KV Kortrijk -Red-Side
18 - Lommel -Nort-Side
19 - RWDM -Brussels Boys
20 - Cercle Brugge -Vak-H
21 - Turnhot -T-Side
22 - Verviers -V-Side
23 - Union SG -Yellow-Side
24 -RTFCL -Fast-Side
25 - Hamme -Bier-Side
26 - Namur -WUR-Side/Namur Casual Front
27 - RC Mechelen -Racing Casuals

By the mid 80's incidents at club matches in Belgian were steadily on the rise and becoming more and

more violent, in conjunction with the rise in violence was the lack of adequate police control and

segregation measures. This in turn lead to increasingly violent episodes between rival fans in the stadium,

as well as in the streets – the incidents also spread to the transport infrastructure placing increased

pressure on the underground tube system and above surface railway stations. Unfortunately for many of

those who became victims of hooliganism there was little in the way of an organized police response to

many attacks, more often than not the police either turned up too late to address confrontations or

provided an inadequate response to the threat – this was often the case at highly volatile matches (such as

the Anderlecht vs FC Brugge series)

The turning point in the Belgian response to dealing with criminal and hooligan activity was the tragic

events that took place during the European Cup Final at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. Following

massive external pressure from FIFA and the European Community as a whole the Belgian Government

was forced to take action against the hooligans.

Many of the control structures that we take for granted at matches today came about as a result of the

tragic events in Heysel, segregation was introduced and become standard at all stadiums, police and

security escort patrols for visiting fans from railway stations to the ground were introduced. In addition

4   body searches at turnstiles where implemented. The Belgian authorities also started to adopt similar

tactics to that of the British police. The compiling of information on known hooligans and collection of bio
data combined with the build up of photo libraries of known troublemakers led to more successful

prosecutions.

While the decision to deploy video cameras at matches that focused specifically on the fans met with

some initial resistance, it proved a valuable tool in identifying known hooligans. However, this success was

short-lived and the Belgian Hooligans adopted the methods of their UK counterparts and made the

decision to stop wearing club colours, the advent of the ‘Casuals’ nullified many of the procedures put in

place to combat hooliganism.

International Co-operation

Following the blanket ban on English football clubs as a result of Heysel, there was a vacuum in the

Belgian ‘Hoolie’ world. This was soon filled when groups from Holland and Germany began to influence

groups in Belgium. Despite the differences between various groups, clubs and factions there exists a

communication network between various hooligan elements where they co-operate with each other on

areas of mutual self- interest (primarily relating to evasion of law enforcement personnel). But as a result

of such co-operation many Dutch clubs formed friendships with Belgian Hooligan groups. In general many

of the groups that associated with one and other tended to have a significant right wing support base.

1. FC Brugge & Den Haag

2. Anderlecht & Ajax

3. Antwerp & Feyenoord

4. Standard & Den Bosch

But while there existed a degree of mutual support in some areas, it did not extend to non-violence

between opposing groups when they met on the ground, this was particularly evident when some of the

Belgian gangs started to follow the national side (specifically elements Antwerp X-Side and Standards

Hell-Side) This was demonstrated in real terms when the Belgian Hooligans attacked several hundred

German fans in the immediate vicinity of the ground in Hannover when playing against the German
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national team.
 Belgian Hooligans in Eindhoven

Current Issues
While there have been some advances in policing and organisational control, hooliganism in Belgium is

still a major concern for the football authorities. But recent amendments in Belgian law regarding the

treatment of hooligans and how they can be combated several new procedures have been implemented,

namely giving both stewards and police the authority to intervene in an incident within a five kilometre

radius of any stadium in order to prevent a potential incident from escalating. These powers where

supplemented with the authority to seize fireworks, offensive objects and any other material designed to

inflame or agitate. Some of the points covered in national legislation focused on;

• Banning items that could be used as weapons or missiles in stadia, and searching suspected

hooligans
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• Banning identified hooligans from stadia, either formally via judicial orders, or informally by

denying them admittance on the day

 • Moving to all-seated stadia, which reduces the risk of disorderly crowd movement

• Segregating opposing fans, and fencing enclosures to keep fans away from each other and off the

pitch

• Banning opposing fans from matches and/or ordering specific matches to be played behind

closed doors

• Compiling registers of known hooligans

• Restricting the ability of known hooligans to travel overseas

While the new laws are applicable to anyone over the age of 14, Belgian officials also recognised the fact

the personal culpability must be married with club culpability.  In real terms it meant that the Belgian

football authorities have also been granted permission to ban offending clubs (those who had not

implemented a counter hooligan strategy) from using their home stadiums for up to six months. In

addition to domestic regulation and policy reinforcement, the Belgian FA also moved to further share

hooligan related intelligence with its international partners.

Modus Operandi of Hooligan Groups

This report has focused primarily on the generalities of Belgian Football hooligan groups, but to shift

focus slightly we will now discuss the specifics of violent engagement and how it is organised.

Prior to the advent of mobile phones and the internet, many of those involved in orchestrated violence

relied on ‘word of mouth’ to pass information amongst its members (this was particularly the case with the

‘X Side Casuals’ and the RC Mechelen Racing Casuals. When the security services successfully infiltrated

both groups in the 1990’s they where forced to re-examine their operating procedures and how they

conducted their operations. In his book X-side, Heersers na de wedstrijd ( X-side, Rulers after the game)

Peter Luysterborgh discusses many of the processes that hooligans used to communicate and organize.

However, with the advent of modern technology, groups began to make use of the internet. Initially

during the period 1998 – 2006 there was a heavy emphasis on using internet forums and fan pages to

organize and communicate, such sites provided relative safety from scrutiny and where not monitored to a
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great degree. But with the events of 9-11, there was a change in security approaches internationally on

how the internet was being used by both criminal and terrorist organisations, this had a direct effect on
 organized hooligan groups and how they conducted their affairs. Within Belgium, this led to several

groups moving away from using the internet to communicate to their members and adopting a more

traditional ‘tech free’ operation. This was done by using unregistered mobile phones and disposable sim

cards – this process is still in use, and unless specific actionable intelligence is available to the security

services it is difficult to penetrate. The success of this method is replicated throughout Europe, and also is

in use by several criminal and terrorist organisations. Within each group, the primary cell who are

responsible for ‘driving’ the firm are usually controlled by a group of 10 – 12 persons, usually under the

direction of 1-2 individuals. The logistics of the operation are simple in that the controlling group use

unregistered phones with disposable sim cards to message each other and they in turn group message

their contact list. The only drawback with this process is that it can become ‘routine’ for those involved in

it and they can become complacent in changing cards, within the Irish hooligan scene such complacency

has recently allowed law enforcement personnel interrupt planned hooligan activity. While the passing of

the message to the group via text is important, social media is still being used to spread the group’s core

message and this is evident with almost 67,000 sites dedicated to football violence already identified in

Europe (Policing European Football 2014).

Summary
Football hooliganism generates widespread political and public anxiety in a variety of European and non-

European countries. In spite of the efforts made and resources invested over the past decades, football

hooliganism is still perceived by politicians, policymakers, media and other actors as a disturbing social

problem. The common stereotype of football hooliganism as an exclusively ‘English disease’ no longer

prevails. It has been replaced by a belief that, while in Britain football-related violence may be on the

decline, hooliganism on the Continent is perhaps more serious and less effectively controlled. A study

conducted in 1987 reported ‘serious’ incidents in Belgium (defined as those resulting in large numbers of
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arrests and people seriously injured) at 5% of football matches (8 out of 144 matches), with ‘less serious’

incidents (the term is not defined) at 15% of matches. Four groups of supporters were identified as
causing the most trouble: Anderlecht, Antwerp, Club Brugge and Standard Liege. These supporters were

involved in all of the ‘serious’ incidents and in 4 out of 5 of the ‘less serious’ incidents. When two of these

clubs met, there were always serious incidents (except when matches were played in Brugge, where

drastic security measures had been introduced, including heavy police escorts to, from and during the

match). These four groups caused trouble considerably more often at away-matches than when playing at

home – a pattern which seems to be common in most European countries.

From the early 1980s violence has occurred more often outside the stadium, either before

or after the match, rather than inside the stadium and during the match – again a common pattern

throughout Europe. The list of key troublemakers has now expanded to include Beerschot, Charleroi, and

RWDM, but the basic patterns of disorder remain the same. Football hooliganism is a European wide

phenomenon, while it is being addressed there are still challenges to be met. As with other European

countries Belgian football has a problem with hooligans, the reality is that while policies and structures are

in place addressing the issue, there still remains a significant amount of work to do.

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