Gidi Lipkin
The Network at Sami Ofer (Hagai Michaeli)
As part of the four-step plan to reduce violence in football stadiums and on the way to installing networks at Bloomfield Stadium, in the Ultras stands, which are considered problematic by the police and teams, a special meeting was held today (Thursday). The meeting was attended by representatives of the police, led by Itzik Amir, who deals with all matters of sports events at the police, representatives of Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv, the director of the sports halls, Maor Binyamini, and representatives of the football leagues administration.
At the meeting, there was a long discussion regarding the installation of networks, when the police decided to take Bloomfield as a stadium that would be a pilot for the other stadiums in Israel. The parties involved are now checking with the companies, prices, materials, how long it takes to install and all that this procedure requires. The nets should be installed at gates 4-5 (identified with the ‘Ultras verb’) and 10-11 (identified with the ‘Fanatics’). The problem is that there is no roof and they will have to see how to perform the installation.
We are now examining the possibility of installing the nets per game, that is, if there are no object shots – the nets will not be installed, but if there is an object shot, a game will then be installed on the nets. The whole point is that there will be no harm to the normative fans who do not throw objects, to the fans who conduct themselves properly. The goal is to prevent a 20-minute game break, to prevent goals from closing and to prevent radius games and heavy fines on the teams, which indicate that this is economic damage of hundreds of thousands of shekels and even more. On the other hand, fans will be able to put in cheerleading accessories.
By the way, not everyone is complete with the installation of the networks that thousands of fans will suffer from due to the conduct of a small part of them, but on the other hand say that it exists today in quite a few countries, and will do anything to choose a less aggressive network. Also, various sources have pointed out that it all depends on the behavior of the fans and it will always be possible to remove the nets. In any case, the whole matter of the networks is awaiting the approval of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, with the goal of starting the pilot at the beginning of the coming season.
During the meeting, the police also presented their intention to place magnetometers, as we revealed in ONE. The goal is for the fans to go through the same machines at the entrance, and not have to suddenly raise their hands, etc., so as not to cause them to be humiliated. Police have already conducted a preliminary pilot at one of the basketball games. In this regard, the police are still waiting to receive data from abroad on the whole matter of magnetometers, when these will also be purchased from abroad.
