German sports boss wants action and prevention to stop fan trouble

Nov 1, 2011, 13:29 GMT

Berlin - Germany needs a mixture of police action and prevention to tackle a new wave of violence in football, the nation's top sports official Thomas Bach said on Tuesday.

Bach, who presides over Germany's umbrella sports organization and Olympic Committee DOSB, named the situation serious.

But he also said that troublemakers were simply using football matches as a stage for their cause and that football and state authorities had implemented good measures against violence over the years.

In the latest incidents, Dynamo Dresden fans caused trouble around and during a cup match at Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund last week. The next day there was also trouble around a game between Eintracht Frankfurt and Kaiserslautern.

'You can't ask the clubs for too much. The DFB (German football federation), DFL (league) and the clubs have done a lot in this respect and have had success as well,' Bach said.

'(But) there appears to be a new quality when police officers are directly attacked. That shows that it has nothing to do with the sport and the clubs.'