Policing football-related violence in the Czech Republic: the football clubs' quest for profit and security.

Based on semi-structured interviews with security managers of the Czech football clubs, we addressed their role in countering football--related violence as part of the complex 'counter-hooligan' apparatus. We explored how their strategies responded to challenges and dilemmas resulting from the specific configuration of this apparatus, dominated by the idea of the football clubs' primary responsibility for maintaining security and public order inside stadiums. Primarily, this idea was reflected in the police withdrawal from the stadiums and disciplinary penalties imposed on clubs by the football association. However, without a corresponding shift in the public agencies' approach to controlling and punishing incidents of football-related violence, the clubs were not able to exclude the problematic minority from their stadiums. Consequently, they employed different informal and sometimes controversial practices, including the deployment of 'private' riot squads, and expressed support even for indiscriminate and unpopular measures, such as fan card schemes and biometric identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]