Football for Equality

From the 2nd meeting of the FSE Consultation Group on Supporters Charters.

From the 2nd meeting of the FSE Consultation Group on Supporters Charters.

On a sunny but cold day in Hamburg, it was again time to get together. On 11-12 February the working group for the FSE Handbook on Supporters Charters met to discuss the first draft and amend controversial points, if necessary.

The first highly successful meeting  took place in the Millerntor Stadium backi in September 2012, home of the FC St. Pauli. This time, all the different participants of the meeting were given the opportunity to get to see the "other" stadium in Hamburg, which is home to Hamburg SV.

The meeting is part of the FSE activities in the External link in new windowProSupporters Project, which is supported by the European Commission and coordinated by the FSE members from FairPlay-vidc/Austria.

At the conference room next to the restaurant "Die Raute" at the Imtech Arena, or Volkspark Stadium after its original name, of Hamburg SV, all representatives of the institutions (e.g. FIFPro, Council of Europe, EPFL, UEFA and a representative of ECA in an observer capacity) and various fans representatives from across Europe were talking again about the content of the future handbook, which should help and assist clubs and fans or other parties to create a supporters charter and improve dialogue with each other.

After the first draft was written, participants submitted their comments and proposals for amendments. Some of these comments were integrated in the next draft document for this meeting straight away and this new version formed the working basis for the meeting at the Volkspark Stadium.

All in all, just like at the meeting before, there surprisingly weren´t any major discussions even at this stage, but consensous on almost every point. Even small disagreements like for example which fans to talk or not to as part of a fans' dialogue, could be clarified and agreed upon quite quickly.

Both sides were happy to take up each other’s major points in the handbook. The overall approach was stressed that the handbook is a list of ideas more than a guide of regulations for the parties involved in such a process. So, at the end of the day, all participants agreed that it needs only a few sentences to be rephrased.

But not just the finalisation of the content of the handbook itself was on the agenda. On Tuesday, the second day of the meeting, talks were focussed on how and where to publish the final version of the handbook, which should be launched in June 2013, to reach out to as many people as possible.


Here is what the participants themselves thought about the meeting:

William Gaillard, the Advisor to the UEFA President, (when asked about the content and added value of such supporters charters to be created with the help of the handbook): “This is not going to be decided by the UEFA level or the level of the European Commission or the association of clubs, it´s going to be decided locally with the local clubs and the local fans and that is what is important.”

 Per Arne Flatberg, board member of the Norsk Supporterallianse spoke about the potential impact the handbook can have: „I think having a handbook and concept for dialogue being endorsed by so many parties of the football will certainly help clubs and fans to really get together and talk about their issues.”

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