The Poles are coming! Fan behaviour and police tactics around the World Cup match Germany vs. Poland (Dortmund, 14 June 2006)

Abstract

This study examines how Dortmund police dealt with the dilemma of providing for both a ‘time to make friends’ and security at the high-risk game between Germany and Poland during the World Cup 2006. It was expected that the application of a friendly but firm low profile approach would establish positive group relations and marginalize disorderly behaviour. Data collection was carried out in real time on policing strategy and tactics and fan psychology, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Specifically, the study compares two incidents that occurred in the city centre on match day, resulting in more than 400 arrests. Findings suggest that a successful event is not only related to the absence of disorder but a matter of facilitating legitimate behaviour, while a concentration on risk fans bears the danger of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. The role of preventive arrests and media reports are also discussed.

Acknowledgements

We'd like to express our thanks to all the fans that visited the World Cup in Germany and especially to the fans from Poland and Germany that contributed substantially to this work. Data collection was made possible through cooperation with Professor Thomas Feltes, Chair of Criminology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum and in particular by the students from the Masters course ‘Criminology and Police Science’ at the same institution. Michael Stiels-Glenn, Stefan Prinz, Kathrin Krämer, Kathrin Böhling and Ludwig Hermeler, who were with us on this day in Dortmund as well as Chief-Superintendents Kenneth Scott, then Strathclyde Police in Glasgow and Chief-Superintendent Wim van Oorschot from the Netherlands Police Academy were equally helpful. Further students involved in the data gathering at the other venues during the WC included Andrea Wiesener, Andreas Weidenbörner, Birgit Winkelsett, Detlev Schürmann, Dominique Best, Frank Mitschker, Jens Broderius, Jürgen Kleene, Kavita Solunke, Ludwig Hermeler, Manfred Schroeder, Michaela Franke, Mirjam Wille, Norbert Hebborn, Oliver Bossert, Petra Schmittner, Reinhard Mokros, Sandra Giesemann and Sara Schmitz. Similarly teachers and students from the Netherlands Police Academy: Eric Bervoets, Lonneke de Bis, Marc Douma, Tanja van Dintheren, Theo Bakker, Femina Hoekstra, Frank Scheffer, Jeroen Wolff and Robin Stellaart gave invaluable assistance. We are grateful for the open cooperation with NRW police; in particular we give thanks to the local police force in Dortmund, especially to LDP Uwe Thieme and LPD Michael Kuchenbecker. We would like to thank Professor Klaus Boehnke and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this essay.

Notes

¹ Wolfgang Hettfleisch, ‘Invasion des Frohsinns’. Frankfurter Rundschau, April 10, 2006.

² Markus Wehner, ‘Die Polen kommen!’ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, April 8, 2006.

³ Nicole Biewald, and Thomas Lebie, ‘Polen-Hools wollen WM kaputtschlagen’. Berliner Kurier. http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-kurier/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2006/0411/report/0001/index.html.

⁴ ‘Aufrüsten gegen Hooligans’. Focus Online. http://www.focus.de/sport/fussball/wm2006/wm-2006_aid_109490.html.

⁵ IFC, ‘Report on Euro 2004: A report on the FA's role in off-field initiatives and services provided for supporters’. The Independent Football Commission. http://www.theifc.co.uk/publications/documents/Euro2004Report.pdf.

⁶ Adang and Cuvelier, Policing Euro 2000.

⁷ McPhail, Schweingruber and McCarthy, ‘Protest Policing in the United States’.

⁸ Reicher, ‘“The Battle of Westminster”’; Stott and Reicher, ‘How Conflict Escalates.

⁹ Drury and Reicher, ‘Collective Action’.

¹⁰ Reicher, ‘“The Battle of Westminster”’; Stott and Reicher, ‘How Conflict Escalates’; Drury and Reicher, ‘The Intergroup Dynamics’; Drury and Reicher. ‘Explaining Enduring Empowerment’.

¹¹ Stott and Reicher, ‘How Conflict Escalates’; Stott and Drury, ‘Crowds, Context and Identity’; Stott, Hutchison and Drury, ‘“Hooligans” Abroad?’.

¹² PSP, ‘Níveis Intervenção Policial’ (confidential document of the Portuguese Security Police, Home Office, Lisbon, 2003); Clifford Stott and Otto Adang, ‘Crowd Dynamics, Policing and “Hooliganism” at Euro2004’. Economic and Social Research Council. http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/ViewAwardPage.aspx?AwardId = 3336.

¹³ Stott et al. , ‘Variability’; Stott et al., ‘Tackling Football Hooliganism’.

¹⁴ IFC, ‘Report on Euro 2004’.

¹⁵ Kuchenbecker, ‘Concrete Examples’.

¹⁶ Hau, ‘Communication’, 4.

¹⁷ Yin, Case Study Research, 13.

¹⁸ Stake, The Art of Case Study Research.

¹⁹ Yin, Case Study Research.

²⁰ Baxter and Jack, ‘Qualitative Case Study Methodology’; Stott et al., ‘Variability’. Common misunderstandings about case study research are discussed by Flyvbjerg in ‘Five Misunderstandings’.

²¹ An analysis of all 10 games is provided by Schreiber and Adang, ‘Fictions, Facts’.

²² Adang and Cuvelier, Policing Euro 2000.

²³ Stott and Adang, ‘Crowd Dynamics’; Stott et al. , ‘Tackling Football Hooliganism’.

²⁴ Stott and Adang, ‘Crowd Dynamics’; Stott et al., ‘Variability’.

²⁵ Kuchenbecker, ‘World Championships 2006’.

²⁶ Stott et al., ‘Variability’; Drury and Reicher, ‘Collective Action’.

²⁷ Boyatzis, Transforming Qualitative Information; Kellehear, The Unobtrusive Researcher.

²⁸ Reid, Flowers and Larkin, ‘Exploring Lived Experience’; Smith and Osborn, ‘Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis’.

²⁹ Florin, ‘Security Measures’.

³⁰ Hau, ‘Communication’; Kuchenbecker, ‘World Championships 2006’.

³¹ Preventive custody is allowed in Germany and often used by police forces as a means of crowd control at public order events.

³² Kuchenbecker, ‘World Championships 2006’.

³³ Polizei Dortmund, ‘6. WM-Tag in Dortmund’.

³⁴ According to a press release from Dortmund police this containment concerned a group of 148 people,ibid.

³⁵ According to a press release from Dortmund police this containment concerned a group of 148 people

³⁶ Stott and Adang, ‘Crowd Dynamics’.

³⁷ ‘Hooligan Riots Overshadow Germany-Poland Match, Over 300 Arrested’. Islamic Republic News Agency. http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0606157539121653.htm (site now discontinued); ‘300 Held Over World Cup Violence’. Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml = /news/2006/06/15/ucup.xml (site now discontinued).

³⁸ The account is based on an analysis of 17 newspaper articles and internet reports from Germany (11), Austria, the UK (2), the USA (2) and Iran.

³⁹ The quote was taken from Frank Menke, ‘In Dortmund lernte ich die Angst kennen’. Ard. http://www.ard-sportblog.de/archives/2006/06/in_dortmund_ler_1.html#kommentar5343-link. It was translated into English by the first author.

⁴⁰ Hau, ‘Communication’, abstract.

⁴¹ Keil, ‘Dortmund’.