“Antwerp fans always test the limits of what is permissible, a minority is constantly talking about it” | Europa League
Yesterday it was restless for a whole day in the center of Antwerp and around the Bosuil, with the riots that broke out during the low point.
“Everyone expected a holiday, but it has turned into a nightmare,” says Peter Goris, chief sport of Gazet van Antwerpen and already receiving follower of Antwerp, in De Wereld Today.
At the police they wash their hands in innocence, they did not see the riots coming. “But then someone has to show me how about 300 fans of Frankfurt can park in a parking lot of a department store and then go undisturbed in a kind of war march to a cafe, without 1 comparison stopping them.”
“But it is not the case that an inadmissible provocation justifies an inadmissible reaction. Throwing a firecracker at a player is criminal.”
Antwerp has had a bad reputation for a long time. “It has ardent supporters. Folk and raw is sometimes said,” says Goris. “They are even proud of being marginal, that’s how they sing.”
“The fans have always tested the limits of what is allowed. It belongs to a big city, has always been in the soul of Antwerp. But that doesn’t mean you can’t justify it.”
“In Belgium has a problem that is more or less under control. I have the impression that the European scene has now become the playground of hooliganism. regulate.”
It must also have been a meeting for chairman-owner Paul Gheysens. “They have told me that he is a special word. He has invested a lot of money in the club and he gets this back. That must hurt.”
Peter Goris expected that the sanction of the European Football Association for Antwerp will not be tender. “A match behind closed doors is inevitable.”
“Antwerp has already faced AZ after the irregularities in the King Baudouin Stadium. This is of a different order. I think the club was also a match without expected supporters.”