Russia's security services have undertaken measures to crack down on hooligan activity at the World Cup.GETTY IMAGES
As fans arrive in Russia, "much of the attention on the competition has been focused on security," according to Patrick Reevell of ABC. But fears that hooligan groups "who ran amok" at Euro 2016 in France "might seek to recreate the chaos at home have appeared overblown" amid an "intense crackdown" by Russia’s security services. Hooligans said in recent months that they "received calls and house visits from police and officers from the FSB security service" ordering them to behave. They said that their groups' leaders "are under surveillance, with their phones tapped." Zhenya, a veteran member of a hooligan group that supports CSKA Moscow, described how "armed police had raided his house as a warning." A wave of arrests last year "has also chilled the violent fan scene," while "anti-hooligan practices long common in Europe," such as stadium bans, have been introduced. Under such pressure, over a dozen former and active hooligans said that they expect "no major violence." Ivan, a hooligan in his mid-30s, said, "It won't happen." A "bigger worry," though, is likely to be "racist and homophobic displays at the stadiums." Russian football games still "frequently see racist and anti-gay chants and there has been no notable improvement ahead of the World Cup," with Russian monitoring group Sova saying that it "had seen a rise" in the number reported last year. Responding to the worries, FIFA for the first time "has given referees the authority to call off games over racist or abusive chants" (ABC, 6/12).
