In the aftermath of the Lucerne riots, the St. Gallen government wants to take tough action, and in a press release on Tuesday is clearly in favor of personalized tickets and a ban on standing. But isn’t that a quick shot? We spoke with the President of the District of St. Gallen and the head of security, Fredi Fessler.

Mr. Fessler, the government of St. Gallen is declaring war on fan violence. How should these measures work?
Freddy Fassler: First, we do not want to declare war, we want to solve a problem that has existed for 15 years. Various solutions have been tried in Switzerland without much success. Two years ago, the Conference of the Chiefs of the Cantonal Justice and Police (KKJPD) and the Conference of the Chiefs of the Cantonal Police (KKPKS) carefully analyzed the problem and concluded that personalized tickets are the most promising way. However, the waterfall model was still used.

Do you think the waterfall model is inefficient?Bye
Freddy Fassler: We in the government believe that this model is the wrong way. We believe that consistent action is needed throughout Switzerland. However, I would also like to state here that we are pleased to note the measures taken so far, such as the closing of the sectors and the corresponding signal. However, this only helps in the short term. However, in the medium or long term, we do not think that we can solve the problem in this way.

What does the government expect from personalized tickets? In the event of incidents outside the stadium, such as on Saturday in Lucerne, this measure is useless.
Freddy Fassler: It’s true, there’s not much you can do outside the stadium with personal tickets, but there’s a lot going on inside stadiums. On Saturday, they set it on fire several times, which, firstly, is dangerous, and secondly, it is a criminal offense. But with personal tickets, it can be guaranteed that, for example, chaotic people who are forbidden from being in the stadium will not be able to enter the stadium. For example, EV Zug has personalized tickets and has had little to no problems with fan violence since then. In addition, this measure is a sign. Because I don’t think people go to the stadium every weekend to make noise. And if so, then it definitely has nothing to do with fan culture.

The government also wants to ban standing room. Why?
Freddy Fassler: This measure makes it possible to guarantee who sits where with these personalized tickets. We also hope that this will prevent group dynamics from negatively affecting the behavior of the fan curve. This measure is also not unbearable, as there are no standing places at the European Games.

These measures are a bit like activism. What do you think of this accusation?
Freddy Fassler: No, this is not activism. We are very serious. At the moment, we cannot guarantee that people who are prohibited from entering the stadium can enter the stadium. And we assume that they are the main cause of problems. With personal tickets, we can change that. Seating arrangements are an additional measure to contain violence.

So aren’t these proposals a direct response to the Sabbath events?
Freddy Fassler: No, these suggestions are based on 15 years of fan violence. Just because of one incident, we would not have reacted so sharply. But that was the last straw. That is why we clearly say: this cannot continue. And you hear this phrase not only from me, but also from the head of the municipal security, as well as from Matthias Hyuppi. We all want to prevent violence because it has nothing to do with sports.