Djurgarden escape with fine

Swedish club Djurgårdens IF FF have escaped with a €4,800 fine following crowd trouble at last week's first division match against Hammarby IF FF.

Flare hit official
The club had feared the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) would deduct points after a flare set off by a supporter hit an assistant referee, however, the body decided that the incident had not been an intentional act of violence. Hammarby were also fined the same amount for their supporters' part in the crowd disturbance during the 2-1 Djurgarden win.

Akeby relieved
Djurgarden coach Soren Akeby was relieved by the decision as a points deduction would have been a massive blow to the club who are top of the league by a point from Malmö [FF]. "The fines handed out were totally justified," he said, "and there are no arguments. Anything else, however, would have been a catastrophe."

No justification
Bjorn Ahlberg, chairman of the SvFF's competition committee that made the decision, felt the incident did not justify the deduction of points. "We have concluded that it wasn't serious enough to apply the rule about violence against officials, so it wasn't possible to hand Djurgarden a points deduction," he said.

Sensible decision
Akeby insisted it was a sensible decision that had prevented a farcical situation. "It would have been complete chaos if they had decided otherwise," he said. "Swedish football would have become theatrical - Djurgarden supporters could have put on Malmö scarves and sat in the Malmö stadium throwing flares so that they would get punished. It's hard to say if the fine is a reasonable amount. But I think it's right to hand out severe punishments as we need to sort out this problem."