Dutch football fans warned not to wear orange

From Censorbugbear

Top South African criminologist: “Orange is a very visible colour, so don’t wear it at night..’

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands. June 9 2009 -- Top South African criminologist Dr Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies , pictured second left at a German Chamber of Commerce crime seminar, has issued a stern warning to Dutch football fans attending the FIFA World Cup 2010 tournaments in his country: “don’t wear orange when you’re out on the town, because you will run extra risks of criminal robbers who are known to target foreign tourists’.

Original story in Algemeen Dagblad here (you can also leave a comment if you’d like)

Dr Johan Burger, author of the authoritative book, ‘Strategic perspectives on crime and policing in South Africa’ is a senior researcher in the crime and justice programme at the ISS and a former Assistant Commissioner in the South African Police Service. He is also a lecturer in policing at the Pretoria University of Technology’s Department of Safety and Security Management. He is widely recognised as one of South Africa’s top criminologists. Read his entire paper on South African crime at the international executive police symposium in 2007.

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South Africa’s top crime expert’s warnings however drew immediate denial from an executive member of the Royal Dutch Football League. Bert van Oostveen, left, oranje@knvb.nl who was quoted as saying that ‘South Africa was being portrayed far too much as a country which would be dangerous for football supporters’.

‘Let’s stop these horror scenarios…’ said this top Dutch football league executive

“Let’s stop these horror scenarios,’ Van Oostveen told the Algemeen Dagblad – only a week before his and other top Dutch football league executives’ fourth fact-finding trip to South Africa. The top football honchos will inform themselves by speaking to Dutch embassy personnel and the ministry of foreign affairs during their tour and ‘while security will be a talking point,’ he was quoted as saying, the crime stories from South Africa also are blown out of all proportion…

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The front-page story in the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad also quoted Burger’s detailed advice to Dutch fans to be extra careful and on page 3, they also published a map of the crime rates in each city where the WC2010 tournaments will be played.

Dr Burger is widely recognised as South Africa’s top criminologist, and is a former deputy-police commissioner with years of experience in the field of criminology.

“I can understand very well that football fans want to dress themselves up in the team colours. But the Dutch fans, in their bright orange, are very visible targets. Inside the stadium of course it does no harm, and enroute to and from the stadiums there’s no avoiding wearing the supporters’ clothing. However when you go out on the town at night, don’t wear your bright orange. That will no doubt draw the immediate attention of criminal gangs. They know that foreigners carry lots of valuables with them. So after each game, go back to your hotel, dress yourselves in neutral clothing,’ he was quoted in Algemeen Dagblad.

Dutch fans to travel in armed convoys between venues

The superbly-fit Dutch football team this weekend became the first European team to qualify for the WC2010 tournaments in South Africa. It’s generally expected that about 10,000 Dutch supporters will travel with the team in South Africa next year. These tickets are sold in blocks to travel agents and Dutch amateur football clubs and arrangements have already been made to have the fans travel enmasse between venues in busses under the protection of armed private security convoys.

South Africa ‘a bit different than Switzerland or Germany’

Van Oostveen was quoted in the Algemeen Dagblad as saying that ‘things weren’t nearly as dangerous in South Africa as was being portrayed in the news media. South Africa is a bit different than Switserland or Germany, and Johannesburg isn’t like Nijmegen. However during our investigative visit next week, security will be a subject of discussion… But let’s stop these horror scenarios…’

The Algemeen Dagblad – whose sports journalists have been warning about the violence in South Africa for several years now – clearly does not agree with this assessment by this top Dutch football official.

Most recent SA crime statistics date from 2007/8

Indeed they have thus far been the only European newspaper to publish a huge map highlighting all the violence in the country in each of the individual cities where the tournaments are taking place, citing from the old 2007 South African police statistics. The 2008 crime statistics have not thus far been published and the South African police are not allowed to publish up-to-date week-by-week crime statistics. In other words, nobody really knows the very latest, up-to-date crime statistics, not even the nation’s top criminologist Dr Johan Burger…

In their story, headlined: “Criminality: Orange supporters in South Africa must watch themselves…’ their journalist Niels Dekker writes that the ‘South African crime statistics are impressively alarming. The number of murders are 38 per 100,000 residents, for instance. Compared to the Netherlands, one murder per 100,000; Germany, 4 murders per 100,000…’ He cites the ‘horrifying increase in the number of armed robberies in homes and businesses, and the out-of-control number of hijackings of residents at red traffic lights’.

He quotes Johan Burger as saying that ‘criminality has dropped by a quarter over the past five years’. Howver, says Burger, that was mainly due to the fact that the police budget was increased, and the number of policemen was boosted by 55,000 to 185,000, and police are better equipped and trained than before..’

However, Burger also warned that the violent crime was a massive problem in South Africa, and that the crime levels were still ‘very serious, very high’.

‘South Africa is a bit of a banana-republic’

While the Dutch football league manager Van Oostveen was in denial about the South African crime epidemic however, even when they were submitted by South Africa’s top criminologist, the international football league FIFA which hosts the tournaments, is indeed taking the matter much more seriously – especially after FIFA president Sepp Blatter's daughter was allegedly attacked while touring the country, the journalist writes.

(My comment: I personally have been unable to find any published reports about this attack against Corinne Blatter in my internet searches. Hopefully the readers will be more successful? email me at a.j.stuijt@knid.nl).

And Dutch travel agents also are concerned, writes Algemeen Dagblad, quoting spokesman Gert-Jan Steltman of VCK Travel, which books special FIFA-arrangements for Dutch companies, being quoted as saying that ‘the world football league has set very strict security demands, because South Africa is a bit of a banana-republic…’

One of the best-known Dutch fans, Winfried Witjes of Elst, (click on picture left for more details and the name of the photographer) – and who is dubbed ‘the general’ because of his striking cap, initially told the AD-journalist that he ‘wasn’t scared of the crime’, and that he ‘intended to walk right through’ the centres of Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg in his bright-orange outfits. “I know all those stories about pickpockets, but I also hear positive stories,’ he told AD’s journalist.

However when Dekker confronted him with these warnings issued by South Africa’s top crime expert, the ‘Orange General” did get a bit of a fright and promised to follow Burger’s advice to the letter. “I won’t take any risks with my life,’ he said – adding however that the other ‘orange fans’ may not take such advice as seriously as he was going to do: “None of those Dutchmen will take off their orange clothes,’ said the ‘Orange General’.

Whites more likely to be murdered during armed robberies in South Africa

Dr Burger also recently revealed from his research that whites were much more likely to be murdered during armed robberies in South Africa. White South Africans in suburbs such as Sandton have been affected by the 2008 13.5% rise in house robberies and associated crime. Senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Dr. Johan Burger, said that criminals were specifically targeting "richer" suburbs. Burger noted that more well-off suburbs are usually surrounded by poorer residential areas and that inhabitants in the latter often target inhabitants in the former. This also was due to a culture of entitlement complex that such criminals often have; "They feel they are entitled to take from those who have a lot". This report also found that residents in wealthier suburbs in Gauteng were more risk of being targeted by violent criminals, and also were more likely to be murdered during such armed robberies. Source

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Dr Burger’s advice to Dutch Fans

1. Don’t show criminals you’re a tourist’: Wearing bright-orange flags and clothing in public is just asking for problems.
2. Stay inside a large group when walking in the streets: Walking alone in the streets is just too dangerous!
3. Avoid dangerous places: Before going out, ask in your hotel where the nearest danger spots are.
4. Don’t advertise your valuables: Always keep valuables such as mobile phones and cameras out of sight.
5. Keep all the doors locked whenever you are inside a vehicle: Attacks on people sitting inside parked vehicles also occurs frequently.
   

Map: Algemeen Dagblad, page 3, June 9 2009

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Sources:

• Orange General: http://www.gelderlander.nl/voorpagina/betuwe/article2036392.ece

• http://www.onsoranje.nl/news/content/news/oranje/ned-xi/Gekwalificeerd-Oranje-oogt-applaus.html
• Fans targets at World Cup Algemeen Dagblad: http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/3275723/Uitgedoste_fan_doelwit_bij_WK.html#reactie
• Orange fan becomes grey mouse in South Africa, Algemeen Dagblad: http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/3275692/Oranjefan_wordt_grijze_muis_in_ZuidAfrika.html
• http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/2009InsideFFA/default.aspx?s=insideffa_newsfeatures_newsitem_new&id=27722
• http://www.nu.nl/sport/1883252/blatter-heeft-geen-plan-b-voor-wk-voetbal.html

Institute for security studies Dr Johan Burger: author of the authorative book ‘Strategic perspectives on crime and policing in South Africa’, is a senior researcher in the crime and justice programme at the ISS and a former Assistant Commissioner in the South African Police Service. He is also a lecturer in policing at the Pretoria University of Technology’s Department of Safety and Security Management.

• http://www.issafrica.org/index.php?link_id=5391&slink_id=6796&link_type=12&slink_type=12&tmpl_id=3
• http://www.iss.co.za/index.php?link_id=24&link_type=12&tmpl_id=2

Whites targeted more by criminals in South Africa says Dr Burger

• White South Africans in suburbs such as Sandton have been affected by the 2008 13.5% rise in house robberies and associated crime. Senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Dr. Johan Burger, said that criminals were specifically targeting "richer" suburbs. Burger noted that more well-off suburbs are usually surrounded by poorer residential areas and that inhabitants in the latter often target inhabitants in the former. This also was due to a culture of entitlement complex that such criminals often have; "They feel they are entitled to take from those who have a lot". This report also found that residents in wealthier suburbs in Gauteng were more risk of being targeted by violent criminals, and also were more likely to be murdered during such armed robberies. Source
• http://www.ipes.info/WPS/WPS%20No%2010.pdf

Royal Dutch Football League

• oranje@knvb.nl News media contacts: Kees Jansma. Monique Kessels en Anja van Ginhoven ‘
• Accreditation for international (non Dutch) tv/radio stations is handled by IMG World (London office). Please contact: melissa.sofier@imgworld.com
• Holland is currently the leader of World Cup qualifying group 9 – They have some of the world’s top professionals on the current team: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Edson Braafheid (FC Twente), Mark van Bommel (Bayern München), John Heitinga (Atlético Madrid), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Real Madrid), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Dirk Marcellis (PSV), Joris Mathijsen (HSV), David Mendes da Silva (AZ), André Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid), Stijn Schaars (AZ), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid), Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax) and Demy de Zeeuw (AZ).
• http://www.knvb.nl/english2
• Bert van Oostveen:
• http://www.knvb.nl/archief/organisatie/knvb.nl_organisatie_nieuws/van_oostveen_in_directie_knvb
• http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/4112888/__Oranje-fans_doelwit_bij_WK__.html