Football fans recently demolished a regional train and caused 25,000 euros in property damage. There are also high follow-up costs, for example because trains are canceled for days. Who takes responsibility for this?
A video shows scratched window panes, a torn ceiling panel, graffiti and fan stickers from 1. FC Magdeburg. Platoon leader Tobias Brauhart has that Video posted onlinewhich shows a demolished carriage of the regional train with which he drove Magdeburg fans home after the second division game in Berlin in mid-February.
“There is absolute incomprehension and of course pure disappointment,” he says. The trip was absolute horror for him. “It’s an extreme situation to be in.” In the meantime, he was only able to continue the journey at 20 kilometers per hour because fans were smoking on the train and triggered the fire alarm. At the same time, emergency calls from other passengers kept coming in.
Razor blades under the stickers
The managing director of the East German Railway Company (ODEG), Lars Gehrke, is also horrified. But the news didn’t surprise him. “We always have to deal with football fans or supposed football fans who make that out of our trains.” Some time ago it was Braunschweig, this time it was Magdeburg. They would have suspected it beforehand at this game and would have spoken to the club and the police.
What makes the ODEG particularly angry is that some of the stickers have razor blades attached. People can get injured when removing the stickers. “This is no longer an exception,” says Gehrke. The ODEG has filed a criminal complaint.
A number of follow-up costs, not just property damage
According to initial estimates, the damage amounts to more than 25,000 euros. And that’s just the property damage. Because the railway companies are bound to transport contracts with the transport associations of the federal states. If they take over a route, they must guarantee certain requirements and quality standards. “If the vehicles are used again later and do not meet the entire contract standard – such as toilets, lights, sockets that work everywhere – that also costs money.”
Hundreds of thousands of fans drive across the country every weekend to cheer on their team. The vast majority manage this without rioting. A few, however, take out their frustration or joy of victory on and off the train after the game.
The problem is also known at Deutsche Bahn. The company incurs annual costs of around two million euros. “These arise, for example, from the removal of pollution, devastation and vandalism, but also from the deployment of additional security forces,” says a railway spokeswoman. Football games are also “always major operations” for the DB Security teams.
There are also follow-up costs due to train cancellations and delays. On the one hand, when trains are stopped because of rioters. Or if damaged wagons are no longer usable. “The cars are not available for regular operation for several days to weeks – an average of ten days,” says Deutsche Bahn. The costs would be borne by the affected railway companies.
Pure fan parades, more police?
Much has been said about the problem in the past. According to one of the ideas, fans should only be allowed to travel to their clubs’ away games on special trains, with the clubs assuming liability for any damage. This was not implemented. The ODEG would like the DFB, DFL and the clubs to take responsibility for their fans when they arrive and depart. After all, they would earn enough.
At least the club’s fan representatives should ride on the trains and have a calming effect on heated and often drunken minds. After the riot at the weekend, 1. FC Magdeburg’s fan representative Felix Nebel said: “Such crimes are carried out arbitrarily, we can understand the anger and frustration of those affected.” There were disorganized fans out and about at the weekend who couldn’t be influenced.
The railway says: “We are gradually making more and more agreements with many clubs and associations about cooperation in football fan travel. However, the topic remains difficult because not all clubs have recognized the need for it.” One would like “that clubs and fan organizations would pay more attention to arranging fan travel by train by ordering special trains.”
Rioters taped cameras
Ideally, the costs of the destruction are borne by those who caused them, but of course you have to be able to determine them. In the case of the ODEG train, this will at least be difficult. The first thing the perpetrators did was tape up the video cameras.
There were no arrests. Federal police were on the train, but they were significantly outnumbered and positioned to de-escalate. In Genthin, well before the journey’s destination, they left the train – and the railcar driver was alone with the rioters. When asked what he was thinking at that moment, he simply says: “Have a nice evening.”