A significant drop in soccer-related violence has been discerned by police, Israel Police Operations Branch Chief, Cmdr. Bentzi Sao, said during a meeting held with Israel Football Association heads to assess the first half of the 2008/2009 season. Sao added however that recent months had been marked by an increase in violent incidents in basketball and youth games. "There's no doubt there has been a substantial drop in violence in soccer stadiums," said Sao, who credited the decline to the punishments handed out to clubs by the IFA and technological advances in the stadiums.
