“The organizers, referees and police all agree not to continue the match. There are no conditions for that right now,” says Per Svärd, the Swedish Football Association's match delegate, to TV4.
At that time, the Gothenburg derby at Gamla Ullevi had been interrupted for around 80 minutes, after the players were called into the locker rooms after a fire started in the blue-and-white away stand at the end of the first half.
Svärd justified the decision not to finish the game:
“Partly for sporting reasons, because it drags on in time. Then we have had serious disturbances and we cannot accept what has happened.”
"So fucking boring"
It was past 9:15 p.m. when the announcement came that the match could not be completed. The plan is to continue the derby on Tuesday afternoon in front of empty stands, TV4 reports.
“I just think it's so fucking boring,” says Örgryte's coach Andreas Holmberg to TV4.
He said he loves Swedish supporter culture, but also said:
“When you burn someone's flag and think you have the right to do so, it's reprehensible.”
Holmberg was strongly critical of how long it took to decide to cancel the match.
The derby, the first in the Allsvenskan between Öis and Blåvitt in 17 years, began with ten minutes of silence. It was a joint protest by the supporters against the police's new strategy of increased presence in the dugouts.
A couple of hours later, the police decided not to finish the match.
“In some way it feels like they are at war with each other, like there is some kind of prestige in it,” Holmberg tells TV4.
2–1 to Blue and White
Both he and Stefan Billborn, his coaching colleague at IFK, said they had not been involved or informed during the long break in play.
IFK Göteborg led 2–1 when the match was stopped. August Erlingmark and 17-year-old Benjamin Brantlind gave Blåvitt a 2–0 lead before William Hofvander reduced the deficit.
Police say there were several serious disturbances in the stands during the match. At one point, officers were even prevented from helping with a medical case.
“There has been a fire and a lot of pyrotechnics have been used,” says police spokesman Adam Isaksson Samara.
He says a police officer was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.
A preliminary investigation into arson and causing danger to others has been initiated.
