Atlético's group in the Champions League, with the most dangerous ultras: "It's easier to control mine in Madrid"
Enrique Cerezo and Miguel Ángel Gil smiled when Eric Abidal put Atlético de Madrid in pot E of the Champions League group stage draw, last August. Feyenoord was already waiting in the group, and then Lazio and Glasgow Celtic would fall. In terms of sports, they were not bad pairings to forget last year's bad group stage.. The fans were breathing and, however, the Security Coordinator of the Atlético National Police was sighing.
“I always pay attention to the draw to find out what hobbies we have, and this year I thought: 'Uff, the most complicated ones,'” Manuel (not his real name), the security coordinator of the red-and-white team for six years, tells EL MUNDO.. Indeed, the fans of Feyenoord and Lazio are among the worst, but the Atlético Front is not far behind, with two murders in its recent history: that of the realist Aitor Zabaleta, in 1998, and of the sports fan Francisco Javier Romero Taboada, Jimmy, in 2014. “Today, the most violent is that of Feyenoord,” he adds.
Football, children and the perfect movie
The visit of the Dutch ultras, Het Legioen (The Legion), to Madrid a few weeks ago gave a sample of what they can do. In 24 hours, a beating of a young man in the center of Madrid, altercations in the VIP area of the Metropolitano resulted in the arrest of six fans, one a minor, and a draca against members of the Atlético Front. “Dracks were made fashionable by Russian fans,” explains the police official.. They are arranged to adhere to certain rules, usually regarding time and the use or prohibition of certain weapons.
In Rome they do not forget the Dutch's passage in 2015 in a Europa League tie against Roma. The Plaza de España in the Italian capital is still under construction due to the incidents that took place against the police. The balance of the brawl, 23 arrested and a fine of 45,000 euros for eight of them.
“The game of the group that worries me the most is that of Holland,” says the police coordinator once the Dutch have passed through Madrid.. “Two people don't fight if one doesn't want to, and it's always easier for me to control my people here,” he adds.. He is one of the Security Coordinators supported and managed by the National Sports Office (OND), whose main function is the prevention of violence at sporting events.
National Sports Office
There is a Coordinator for each football team up to Primera RFEF and also another for each ACB club and, although they also deal with the rest of the sports, football “occupies 99%” of our work, explains Marcos (not his real name), the head of the OND. “In the 10 years that I have been here, in horse riding, for example, we have only dealt with one incident,” adds the person in charge.
The OND coordinators organize the security and emergency services for each sporting event from the Operational Coordination Unit (UCO) room.. They administer all national and local police units; health services, firefighters and everything related to the proper functioning of the event. “Our responsibility is also that if there is a heart attack in a stand, that person can be treated as soon as possible,” says Marcos.
The attack in the Bataclán room is one of the episodes that produced an immediate compression of security and influenced the functioning of this office and all those that exist at the European level, coordinated among themselves through the National Football Information Point (NFIP).. The worst massacre that occurred on French mainland territory since World War II directly affected, for example, the League classic in 2015.
The Real Madrid-Barcelona match took place just six days after the attacks in the French capital. The party had 1,100 police officers and 1,400 security guards, the largest security deployment in our country to date. “The classic, the Copa del Rey finals, we began to take them as a challenge to improve and face other events such as the Champions final at the Metropolitano or the Libertadores,” explains the head of the OND.
The Libertadores final, a match declared high risk, was organized in record time and was one of the biggest successes for the section. “We spent 15 days in a row working without rest,” reveals Marcos. Preseason for what is coming in 2030: the World Cup will be the biggest challenge in this century for this office.
Javier Romero Taboada, 'Jimmy', in a file photo. EM
The reception of 48 fans and their ultras will be a big problem for the OND. A problem that in Spain is relatively controlled according to the National Police. “Jimmy's death was a turning point,” explains the head of the Office. These events caused changes in the Anti-Violence Commission, in the CSD and in LaLiga, which did not have a Security Department.. Then create it.
“We are in a less violent moment than a few years ago, but there are still ultras and there is still violence”. The speaker is Miquel Ramos, the author of the book Antifascistas in which he dedicates a chapter to football ultras. Ramos places them “diluted” between the entertainment stands and on the outskirts of the stadium. And the National Police does not disagree with him except with Real Madrid: “He confronted them directly. However, there are other clubs that are not capable and of course, in the end what happens to them is that they feed a beast that is increasingly nervous,” they say.
In the last match between Real Madrid and Braga at the Bernabéu, a message from the flan stands (as the ultras of other teams call the Real Madrid Grada Fans) for the Ultras Sur: “Violence out of the stadiums”. This type of stands is what the National Police wants to see spread throughout all the fields in Spain, but not all clubs are for the work, because they are afraid of losing support in the stands.
We have seen the example recently with Los Biris, the Sevilla ultras, having the possibility of speaking with the captains and the coach about the bad situation of the team. “The ultras sell access and it is very attractive for the youngest,” they say from the OND. Precisely, they also warn of the renovation in the ultra stands and the difficulty of controlling increasingly unstructured elements because “it is not known who is in charge.”
However, and despite all the problems we may have in Spain, the OND believes that we are better than other European countries and they talk about Germany, France, after the recent and unpleasant incidents with the Olympique de Marseille, and also about Italy. “Here violence has not been reduced, it's just that now the right governs and since many ultras are related to it, there is less talk about it,” explains Diego Mariottini, journalist and writer of several books related to the ultra phenomenon.
A painting by Gabrielle Sandri on a street in Rome. The World
The Italian author knows first-hand about the ultra phenomenon in his country and especially that of the Irriducibili, the ultras of Lazio, supposedly dissolved after the murder in 2019 of their leader, Fabrizio Piscitelli, related to cases of drug trafficking and the mafia.. But, as in Spain, what truly came as a shock to Italian society was the death, in 2007, at the hands of the police of a Lazial fan, Gabrielle Sandri, of whom there are still graffiti in Rome.. “It was an important moment to rethink the way we cheer, but also the relationships with other fans and with the police forces,” analyzes Mariottini.
In Spain the relationship between ultras and the Police is not stormy. The Atlético coordinator says that the radicals usually pay attention to him mainly when traveling. Although there are hobbies that are more complicated than others, and the members of the OND speak of the Sevillian, Asturian and Canary derby as the most complicated matches.. The question is whether this phenomenon will eventually become extinct.. “It is difficult, because that empowerment of belonging to a group does not disappear and they regenerate,” explains the head of the OND, who is always alert.