By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Last week it was officially announced, but practically nobody noticed it. However after a very tense 2014-15 season, Euroleague is going to be much strickter on any form of violence.
As it was said “a working group will be formed to improve security measures and protocols around games. The group will meet over the following two months to draw up proposals for both prevention and discipline for incidents that damage the image of the competitions. These will be forwarded for consideration and approval at the next ECA Shareholders Meeting on July 8, 2015 in Barcelona”.
The events of this season, namely the death of Marko Ivkovic, the brawl in Berlin involving Galatasaray fans, the threats from Panathinaikos towards referees and also the invasion of Olympiacos fans on the court of SEF, even to celebrate, are causes of concern for Euroleague. The point is not to stay in the current practice, which translates meanly to financial penalties, but prevent such incidents and also upgrade the security of a Euroleague event in any aspect.
Euroleague also announced the formation of a technical committee under Kostas Rigas which will not only control the refereeing matters, but will also try to collaborate with the technical committe of FIBA towards the unification of the rules.