DIVIDED BY TEAM COLOURS, UNITED FOR THE CAUSE!Is the notorious “modern football” a safe and secure event? Is it a threat to fan culture(s)? Is it really a welcoming place for all people? What are you willing to pay for a ticket to watch your team play in the stadium these days? Would football need billionaire investors if fans were more involved in running their clubs? Are you ready to follow your national team play a European Championship Tournament all over Europe?
In times of economical crisis, football clubs need their supporters more than ever. The loyalty of fans to their clubs is what regular businesses would be longing to have and satisfy as a customer base.
In football, however, measures like bubble matches, intimate body searches upon entry, kombi tickets, fan ID cards, new regulation and legislation aiming to tackle an alleged comeback of hooliganism, ever increasing ticket prices, fierce sanctions for fan banners meant to celebrate rivalries…. When your chocolate bar or change is seen firstly as missile, when media or political shit storms target fans collectively as a problem for the actions of a tiny minority, equal ultras with hooligans, equal pyro with violence – then resultant restrictions posed to these very fans reach levels suggesting that watching football automatically makes you a potentially dangerous person.
Likewise, racism and violence on and off the pitch committed by a small minority but resulting in police repression for all fans, particularly at away matches, or match-fixing, corruption and economic exploitation of clubs via billionaire investors do the rest to making some fan think sometimes, others more and more often:
How far can loyalty of supporters go and at what cost?
What can we all do together, to tackle the problems that there are and (re)vive the stands, as fans?
We want to discuss these questions at our 6th European Football Fans’ Congress (EFFC) around Frietjes, Graachten and…naturally the Coffee Shops and the Amsterdam Arena, home to the fans of Ajax Amsterdam and – very often – also to the Dutch national team supporters who are both co-hosts of this year’s EFFC!
Workshops and panels this year will be organized with prominent speakers around themes such as sanctions, travel restrictions, bubble matches, small leagues, fans’ dialogue with football associations, national team supporters, EURO2020 and fan ownership. And we’ll provide a platform for open European network meetings of fan lawyers, fan researchers, Supporter Liaison Officers, fan campaigns on ticketing and the FSE Divisions on Fans’ Embassies and Anti-Discrimination. And as usual but with a different local flair to it each time, this will all be framed by a fun programme of football, pubs, drinks, barbecues, fan chants and boats….
So, we hope you’re looking forward to coming over, engrave the date in your diaries, book your bus, train or flight and register, we want to have you with us! Thanks to its location in the center of Europe as major transport hub, there is so many ways to get to Amsterdam, even with next to no money!
All fans are invited to participate, you don’t have to be a member to come – all you need to do is to proactively support the [FSE core principles].
Please note that you can only take part in our European Fans’ Congress if you are registered for the event. REGISTER NOW!
Deadline for registrations is 30 June 2013! We won’t be able to take on registrations after this date.
Looking forward to seeing you in Amsterdam!
