Ultras to help police securing football games in Ukraine.

If you’re old enough to remember the infamous Altamont rock concert back in December of 1969 in Northern California, you’ll probably remember the huge mistake that was made when the Rolling Stones hired the local chapter of the Hell’s Angels to look after security. The gang was paid with $500 worth of beer. Well, all hell broke loose at the free concert and it ended in the murder of one gun-toting concertgoer when he was stabbed to death by one of the bikers.

If you’re wondering what this has to do with soccer, well the same mistake could be made in Ukraine this weekend when hardcore fans, known as ultras, will be helping police stadiums in the volatile nation when the domestic league returns from its eight-week winter break. In many people’s eyes the ultras are more or less thugs and hooligans and bring nothing but shame to the beautiful game.

Ukraine is in political turmoil at the moment as there are Russian forces over in Crimea and some residents want to rejoin Russia while others would rather join the European Union. There have been numerous violent demonstrations over the past couple of months with dozens of lives lost. However, the soccer league is adamant on returning to action even though it’s two weeks later than scheduled. Crimean teams scheduled to play, two weeks later than originally planned following a two-month winter break.

Dmytro Bulatov, who is the Ukrainian youth and sports minister, said ultras from various clubs will help out with stadium security and will work hand in hand with law enforcement officers. Bulatov stated, “In view of the tense situation in the country, we shall bolster security in the stadiums with civic groups. In particular and based on my proposal, the ultras agreed to a mechanism for coordinating with law enforcement bodies in cases of emergency to avoid any incidents and provocations during the conduct of football matches.”

Supposedly there’s been a truce between opposing ultras since January when the anti-government rioting hit the streets in Kiev. Hopefully that’s the case or this could turn into a very messy situation at Ukrainian soccer stadiums.