Spanish officials engaged 170 private security personnel and 140 police and civil guards to deal with Malta game

Officials from a raft of Spanish authorities and entities organised a “security operation coordination meeting” to deal with last Friday’s national team match against Malta, with 140 members of the police and civil guard and 170 private security personnel engaged in a match where Maltese supporters said that they were treated like “prisoners and persons from a Third World country.”

Malta succumbed to a humiliating 7-0 defeat at the hands of Spain on Friday night, but the game drew attention after both Maltese supporters and journalists spoke of their outrage at the way they had been treated by Spanish authorities.

Some 100 Maltese fans made the trip to Cadiz, but had flags, banners, drums, and even a pushchair, taken away from them by the Spanish authorities, in spite of the fact that they had sought and received permission from UEFA and the Spanish Football Association to use them at the stadium.

The heavy-handed approach taken by the Spaniards may have been planned from the start, however, with a high-level security coordination meeting between no less than nine security authorities and other entities taking place last Tuesday, days before the match.

Various Spanish media outlets reported the meeting, and said that a total of 140 agents from the police force and the civil guard would be at the Ramón de Carranza stadium, while another 170 private security personnel (85 guards and 85 auxiliaries) had been engaged for the match.

The meeting was chaired by the deputy delegate of the Spanish government in Cádiz, José Pacheco, and saw the attendance of representatives of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Cádiz CF, Red Cross, City Hall of Cádiz, National Corps Police, Civil Guard, State Highway Unit, General Directorate of Traffic and Jerez Airport.

The reports also state that the Prevention and Reaction Unit (UPR) of the National Police would be monitoring social networks through the Provincial Information Brigade to avoid messages “contrary to sportsmanship.”

Supporters from the South End Core who travelled to Spain for the match spoke of their anger at their treatment at the match: “An hour before the game, we were treated like prisoners and persons from a Third World country,” the group said in a statement.

“They took away all our flags, drums and a pushchair carrying a little girl, for which we had obtained permission. We applied for all the permits, both through UEFA and the Spanish Football Association,” they said before saying that all the communication had broken down.

“This is the respect that we have received from the Spaniards.”

The supporters’ group sent a message to the Malta Football Association, saying: “This is the last time we will travel with the national team if the MFA doesn’t take action on this incident.”

The supporters were not the only ones who showed anger at their treatment in Spain; Maltese sports journalists also spoke of the disrespect shown to them by the Spaniards throughout their stay there, where – among other things – they were initially not provided a translator on the panel of the Spanish team’s press conference, and it was only after an argument and the intervention of an MFA official that this service was provided, as it always is in any other country.