Football fans in Norway have taken another major step towards illustrating their commitment to minimising risks and supporting the responsible use related to pyrotechnics in football: they teamed up with producers to develop safety certificates in line with EU standards that would allow the use of specific pyrotechnical devices inside football grounds.
The move followed a development of increasing prohibition of pyrotechnical devices in Norwegian football by some police and fire brigades claiming that the devices weren’t designed for the use inside football stadia. Other than that, the general use of pyrotechnics is generally allowed for supporters under controlled conditions in Norwegian stadia.
The FSE members from the Norwegian Supporters Alliance (NSA) teamed up with a company working with pyrotechnics in Norway. Together with this company, the NSA can now import all commonly used types of pyrotechnical devices accepted by the fans for the use inside stadia: flares, smoke in every colour as well as stroboscope flares but no bangers. The items are no longer classified as emergency signs and can be dedicated to the use inside football stadia, in line with EU standards.
The certificate was approved by Norwegian authorities, and consequently, this allows police and fire departments to approve the usage of these items inside stadia. To put it in the words of the Norwegian FSE members from the NSA: “Pyrotechnics are officially not a crime in Norway!”
In line with the Norwegian model, police and fire authorities still have to approve the use of the above mentioned items in every single stadium for every single match as applied for by the supporters. But thanks to the responsible and tireless engagement of the Norwegian fans to find constructive solutions, the prevention of risk related to the use of pyrotechnics in football has been taken to a new formalised level – by the fans themselves.
Member groups affiliated to the NSA now even have the opportunity to order these specific certified pyrotechnical items via the NSA.