It took several weeks for the largest fan associations to formulate their actions in relation to the law signed by the President of the Russian Federation on the introduction of the so-called personalized card for attending competitions, known as Fan ID. The instigator was the Spartak Phratry, which announced that all fan associations associated with Spartak would boycott football matches until the moment when the repressive law was repealed. The statement was immediately supported in Rostov and St. Petersburg, but it is still not very clear how wide the coverage will be and how much the protesters will have the determination to withstand a kind of ultimatum to the bitter end.
Any government does not like ultimatums, and ours especially. I have no doubt that no one at the top is going to turn back, even if the protest is quite massive and somewhat reasonable. All people connected with the authorities in one way or another in Russian sports and football only say that they will explain the provisions and advantages of the new law in the dialogue mode, and the statement of the Fratria and similar ones are caused only by a misunderstanding and unwillingness of certain representatives of the football community to delve into the essence of the problem. What claims can be made to a document that was successfully applied at the 2017 Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup? Don't arena visitors want to feel comfortable and safe, much like they did in the summer of 2018? According to the developers, the law will protect arenas from football hooligans and will become an important step towards increasing the culture of sickness.
This, like any law associated with any restrictions, is just a surface layer. Because the officially announced goal usually hides more serious and much less euphonious things that it is better not to discuss before the adoption of the law, and after the adoption it will be too late to discuss.
The essence of the innovation is simple: let only trustworthy citizens with a “fan ID” in their hands.
There are clear reasons why it may not be issued or withdrawn, which happened when visiting Euro matches last summer in St. Petersburg, no. Rather, they are in the part that concerns citizens who are prohibited from visiting stadiums by a court decision. But in terms of prohibitions imposed by law enforcement agencies, there is complete fog and opacity.
The fans, of course, were offended, first of all, for themselves: they create an atmosphere, support their favorite club by all permitted (mostly) means, they already do not hide their personal data when buying season tickets, and an additional barrier is created for them in the form of the notorious «passport» .
The most astute, however, immediately felt that the threat was much more serious: a series of refusals to issue a Fan ID unambiguously hinted, and in some cases directly said that
repressive measures can be applied to any person who is blacklisted.
The reason can be anything — from participation in an unsanctioned rally to a statement on social networks that did not suit the law enforcement officers. At the same time, it is almost impossible to get an exact answer about the reason for the refusal. That is why the Phratria's statement contained a very symptomatic warning to those who do not associate themselves with the fans at all and even, perhaps, cannot stand them:
From the statement of the Spartak Phratria
“The system will not stop — having got rid of the fans, having cleared the active sectors from the “objectionable”, its mechanism will ruthlessly start in a new direction. The law, aimed at providing a “comfortable and safe environment for football”, not only destroys the essence of fanaticism and its emotions, but also cynically, without explanation and in violation of the presumption of innocence, will deal with anyone who does not fit into the rules dictated by it — ordinary fans, visitors to family sectors and VIP-lodges.
As for the lies, the guys, of course, have had enough — it would be interesting for me to look at a businessman who will be denied a “passport” on the basis of, say, an old and petty criminal record. However, the problems of this kind of visitors, who bring more money to the clubs than all the fans put together, are of little interest to me. There are simpler and more obvious things that cause bewilderment. The practice, according to which normative legal acts are developed after the adoption of the law, is, alas, a common thing for our legislators.
Explain why a document is needed at all that cuts off violators of law and order, given the law on fans, hundreds of TV cameras in each licensed arena, hundreds of “cosmonauts” and the virtual absence of serious incidents in the stands in the last 7-8 years, and even during the ongoing pandemic, logically impossible. But if this really applies to all “suspicious persons” who are potentially ready to swear obscenely in the stands or plot something bad, and there is also a clause on intent in the law, then yes, of course, the current freshly baked document fits perfectly into the general trend of “dragging and don't let it in».
A visitor at the new Fan ID distribution center on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. Photo: RIA Novosti
It is clear that those 51 people on whom the protocol was drawn up after the November match between CSKA and Zenit will not receive a “fan ID” — as, perhaps, those who were simply kept in the cold after a performance with fireworks on the fan stand, and then just rewritten. I suppose the unwitting participants in that recent story themselves did not have a great desire to break through a Fan ID for themselves. Like those people who looked at football from time to time — for example, while on a business trip. They don’t need to bother with getting a “passport”:
Russian football is not so attractive that millions of people were eager to see it with their own eyes. It's just those who want to be cut off who are torn:
very different, but they love football or at least the atmosphere in the stands, especially the fan stands. You may or may not like her, but sifting through the fan ranks in this way is not the smartest idea with far-reaching consequences. Perhaps in the near future, applause will be allowed in the stands only on a general command, and only holders of a special “loyalty passport” will be able to visit public places.