What I think is extremely worrying is that with this condition, you also give the opportunity for a smaller group of people to actually end a match, says MFF's CEO Niclas Carlnén to TT.
One gives the opportunity to influence the outcome of the match in such a way that can benefit one or the other team. And we have never done that before. So there is a great risk with that, I would say.
The police's new requirement to interrupt matches in case of unauthorized masking in organized form is part of the organizer's permit when Malmö FF on Saturday receives Djurgården in the allsvenskan, reports the Skåne club on its website.
"Counterproductive"
Only when the masking ceases is the match resumed.
"In the permit requirements from the police, there is a new condition that means that if organized masking occurs and does not cease at the match organizer's request, we as the organizer must end the event. If the event is not ended in the above scenario, the police have announced that Malmö FF will be reported to the police for a crime against the public order law", writes MFF.
Malmö considers the new condition to be "a clear and counterproductive deviation from the exclusion strategy", which means that individuals who commit crimes should be punished instead of all spectators being affected.
"In addition to this, we believe that the integrity of the competition is threatened, since it becomes easy for visitors to influence the match by masking themselves and thus interrupting the event", writes MFF.
"The police have not had any dialogue with Malmö FF about the plans at any time. We are completely puzzled by the lack of communication and cooperation from the police", writes MFF on its website.
Police do not intervene
The authority has stated to MFF that the police do not intend to intervene against masking in the stands because "the crime in question is not in proportion to the risks it would entail".
Stockholm clubs AIK, Hammarby and Djurgården have in a joint statement appealed to the police not to introduce the requirement in future organizer permits.
Other elite clubs have also expressed the same views and Swedish elite football (Sef) is concerned about the consequences the condition may have. Sef is an interest organization for the 32 elite clubs on the men's side in the allsvenskan and superettan.
