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Date: 2nd May 2024
Introduction
Pyros have been around Scottish football for some time now, but their use seems to have proliferated in recent years. The massive display of flares by Rangers’ fans at Dens on 1st December 2023 was perhaps the biggest seen so far, leading to the teams having to leave the pitch for several minutes and the game being held up for nearly 20 minutes.
The Daily Record ran a poll of its readers in the aftermath of this match. Their report noted:
“From hundreds of responses, 64.49 per cent of people said they were not a fan of it in stadia. More than 62 per cent said it negatively impacted their matchday experience and 58.80 per cent felt it didn’t add anything to their matchday experience. The SPFL, SFA and Police Scotland have been unanimous in their calls for their removal from stadiums. And there is a clear opposition from some fans, with 64.89 per cent of our respondents thinking there should be more clamping down on users of fireworks.”
The Record said its poll received “hundreds” of responses. The SFSA, as the leading fans’ organisation (with over 83,000 members), has debated pyros internally at some length. Our considered view is that the use of pyros at football grounds has been made illegal for the simple reason that they are too dangerous for safe use by fans. That said, we are well aware there is a counter argument for the “safe” use of pyros by fans, as is claimed is the case in some other countries – and/or a change to a totally regulated system whereby the football clubs/authorities provide displays, as happens at Scottish rugby international matches at Murrayfield. We wanted to ask fans what they think and ran a survey from 14th March to 20th April. In total, we received 3,230 responses. The biggest response came from Celtic fans, followed by Rangers, Hearts, Dundee and Hibs. The high number of Dundee fans responding was almost certainly as a result of a 10-year-old Dundee fan being seriously burned by a pyro thrown by fellow Dundee supporters at a game at McDiarmid Park on 11th February 2024. This child came within inches of losing an eye, is probably scarred for life and will require plastic surgery. That, no matter what the enthusiasts for pyros may claim, is the actual result of fans using flares that are designed to burn at temperatures of up to 2000C. Even the so-called “safe” pyros burn at 500C. Human skin starts to burn at only 44C. In addition, there is the issue of the toxicity of pyro smoke. An independent explosives expert, Dr Tom Smith, produced a report for UEFA which described how:
“If you let off 10 average pyrotechnics in a stand and look at the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide levels that are created in the area where they are lit, they are 10,000 times the permitted levels. Even when the smoke spreads out across a stand, you are still talking five or 10 times the permitted levels. Even on the other side of the stadium, it is not at the permitted level. That is because they were never designed to be used like that.”
Judging by our survey, a large minority of fans simply do not accept (or perhaps do not care about?) the potential dangers of pyros. Subjectively, it seems to be that the use of pyros is concentrated in the ‘ultras’ groups, young men, frequently dressed in black shirts. Young men have almost always caused society problems and football gives them an outlet. We can go back to the 1909 Scottish Cup final for one of the first examples of a riot at a match which, on that occasion, led to the turnstiles at Hampden Park being set alight and the Fire Brigade having to attend to put out the blaze. Whilst fighting between rival groups of fans is not as bad as it was in the 1970s and 80s, the SFSA is increasingly being told of violent and intimidating incidents occurring in the last few years. While we don’t think it’s possible to eradicate the problem of bad fan behaviour entirely, that does not mean it should be ignored. In our view, pyros come into this category. The evidence is that while there have been relatively few incidents thus far, there have been several that should be a cause of concern. These include:
A disabled MK Dons fan suffered several seizures after one of their fans set off smoke bombs at a game against Oxford United.
A Celtic fan had his hair set on fire by a pyro, again thrown seemingly by one of his club’s fans.
A 12-year-old boy whose wheelchair was hit by a flare at a Sunderland match said he does not “feel safe” going back to the same stand.
And most recently, a 10 year-old Dundee fan was scarred for life and came within inches of losing an eye from a pyro thrown by other Dundee fans in a game at McDiarmid Park, Perth.
It is only by luck that no-one has been even more seriously hurt or indeed lost their life. Those old enough to remember the Bradford disaster will recall that it was caused by a lit cigarette. Millions of cigarettes had been smoked up to that point in football grounds, but it only took one to kill 56 and injure a further 265. Proponents of pyros will tell us that modern grounds are made of concrete and won’t burn, but as noted above, human beings burn easily at low temperatures (as do their clothes) and, moreover, there are many old stands in Scotland that are still made of wood, while plastic burns at a temperature far less than that of the so-called safe (500C) pyros.
We asked for comments as part of our survey. These ranged from someone who suggested that the “punishment” for their use should be, “A free dance in strippers for being a legend” to some more intelligent observations such as the following:
“Smoke is horrible if you have a respiratory complaint like me.”
“As a firefighter I am well aware of the danger these things pose. If you have seen a seriously burned body you would never light a flare again.”
“I don’t think the ultras would like it if they were regulated as it’s the thrill of doing something bad that seems to drive them.”
“I wouldn’t want my grandson to get burned like the young lad was at the St Johnstone game.”
Let’s look at what our survey tells us (all figures rounded to the nearest whole number):
In our view, the case against pyros is overwhelming. While we acknowledge that a minority of (mainly young, almost exclusively male) fans find excitement in their use, the dangers are simply not worth the risk. Consequently, it is incumbent on the SFA, the SPFL and all the clubs to enforce the law in the same way they do for cigarette smoking, racist or other discriminatory remarks. If they don’t then there is an almost certain grim inevitability that one day in the future someone will die as a result of illegal pyrotechnics at a football match.
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