As part of the efforts to prevent and supress sports violence, offences committed in sports venues and manipulation in sports, a package of measures is being implemented since 2014 consisting of the following:
· Institution of football stewards
The institution of football stewards is being fully implemented since the beginning of 2014-2015 football season. Upon the expiry of the two-year validity of their initial training, re-training sessions for the existing stewards as well a series of new trainings are being held at the same time. As a result of this procedure, at the present stage, 510 persons approximately are registered at the licensed stewards record kept by the Cyprus Sports Organization.
· Policing of sports competitions
It is clear that the strong presence of Cyprus Police has prevented serious incidents of violence outside of sports venues and areas surrounding the sports clubs, which has contributed to the mitigation of the hooliganism phaenomenon.
The main conclusions emerging from the relevant experience are the following:
(a) Declining trend in the number of apprehensions and cases of violence in the sports fields due to the application of article 73B
(b) Increasing trend of exclusion decrees, due to the application of article 73B
(c) reduction in the number of police injuries, since stewards are responsible for the management of fans in the sports fields
(d) reduction in the number of violence incidents due to the appropriate equipment of anti-riot squads, the continuous training and the installation of electronic systems for the monitoring of fans.
· Implementation of infrastructure measurements in sports fields-Fan card
The implementation of infrastructure measures in sports fields, provided for by the relevant legislation, the application of the fan card and the fan identification system are among the priorities of Cyprus Sports Organization, which is the supreme competent authority. To this end, the Stadium Licensing Authority proceeds to concrete actions for the evaluation of stadiums and improvement of infrastructure. The necessary infrastructure measures and the utilization of technology for prevention and suppression of violence must be fully implemented without any delays, including measures to upgrade the audio-visual monitoring systems-where needed, in order to be fully able to identify those who commit acts of violence in sports venues and to check the stadiums entrance system, the tickets issuing and management system, the fans seating system in sports fields etc.
· Manipulation of sports competitions
As part of the efforts to tackle the phenomenon of corruption in sports, the legislative framework for the combat of sports competitions manipulation has been enhanced. The new legislation has set the basis for the protection of sports against corruption, with the appointment of the Ethics and Sports Protection Committee and the investigation of cases using new additional tools for the law prosecuting authorities.