State Duma deputies started talking about the abolition of Fan ID. What is needed for this

And what happened? 

The deputies started talking about the abolition of Fan ID. How do they explain it?

All the matches of the first round after the resumption of the RPL had not yet been played, as the deputies who voted in December 2021 for the adoption of the law on Fan ID began to talk about the possibility of its abolition. The reason is obvious. Match attendance is catastrophic .

The statistics of the Moscow matches are especially indicative: 4281 people gathered for the game of Spartak, which is 66% lower than the average attendance of the team in the fall (and then the arena’s capacity was limited by the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs). It was worse only in 5 matches at the start of the 2000s, that is, almost 20 years ago.

4943 people gathered at Dynamo. Even in Khimki, before the completion of the reconstruction of the VTB Arena and with a less convincing game, more people often came to support Dynamo.

One of the arguments of the Ministry of Sports in promoting the bill was the expected increase in attendance. Allegedly without a Fan ID, many people refuse to go to the stadium due to security concerns. “We assume that the introduction of such measures will, on the contrary, increase the attendance of sports competitions, if proper order is ensured during mass sports events,” said Deputy Minister Andrey Fyodorov.

Vitaly Milonov was the first of the legislators to speak about the need to turn the stuffing in the opposite direction. “This is some kind of madness with Fan ID. Those who introduced it achieved the opposite effect. Complete order in the stadiums will come if there is no one there at all. No one will hooligan, there will be no problems. Now I am preparing a corresponding initiative, and will pass it on in the near future. Because this is not right. Personally, I think that Fan ID did not justify itself,” Milonov said in an interview with RB Sport.

Svetlana Zhurova also spoke. She noted that in order for Fan ID to cease to operate at RPL matches, it is not at all necessary to repeal the already adopted law.

“The interpretation of the law is as follows: we have empowered the government, and it determines whether there will be a Fan ID or not. There is no need to change laws for this. Why did we accept it? Because when there were international competitions, they required a Fan ID. And I think that this should be preserved, because it is not a fact that in two years we will not start holding international competitions, where Fan ID will be required again. And for each competition we should adopt a law? And this, sorry, often takes at least six months. I repeat, for this the law does not need to be changed at all. The government, the Ministry of Sports, the RFU can do this without repealing the law,” Zhurova said.

Did the deputies change their shoes? What did they say before?

Those who immediately called the deputies’ statements a change of shoes in the air are not entirely fair. Milonov voted for the adoption of this law only in the first reading, and missed the next two votes. Zhurova voted in favor all three times, but constantly said that the purpose of the law is not to control football fans – it is allegedly needed for holding some international competitions.

“Perhaps, only international competitions will be in the law. The law simply empowered the government to determine which competitions would require a Fan ID. But there is not a word that this will apply to the RPL, ”said Zhurova in January 2022.

“We must not forget about law enforcement assessment – when the law starts working, everyone watches how it works, and then corrects it. This is normal, it happened with many laws,” Zhurova said in August, at the start of the Fan ID project in five RPL cities.