In recent months we have seen the scourge of football hooliganism rearing its particularly ugly face again. With a bottle and coins being thrown at players and most recently \u201cfans\u201d invading the playing area in both Scotland and England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This fall in behaviour comes on the back of the decision to\nrepeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football Grounds Act. I was not a big fan of\nthis law but I would not have called it \u201cmince\u201d or a \u201cstain\u201d. One thing it did\nhighlight though is that we should not create new legislation just because the\nPolice say we should, a rather more serious basis must be required. However, the\ndecision to repeal rather than amend sent out some dangerous messages. It\nsuggested that there was not a problem and anyone who goes to matches\nregularly, and I\u2019ve been a season ticket holder for about 30 years, knows that\nthere is. Generally, it has been mostly verbal, whether in shouts, songs or\nchants. But since James Kelly MSP aided and abetted by his Labour comrades, the\nTories, Lib Dems and Greens, voted to repeal, the number of incidents where\nobjects are being thrown at players and more recently \u201cfans\u201d coming off the\nterraces and into the playing area has escalated dramatically! I find it\ndifficult not to link the two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That the Labour, Tory and LibDems should collude in repealing\nanything the SNP does comes as no surprise. They exist merely to oppose the SNP\nnowadays but that the Greens should pander to populism did disappoint, although\nnot surprise, me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As is so often the case when politicians try to play populist\ngames the results are dangerous for ordinary people. When they pander to the\nbaser instincts of the crowd the results usually take us to a much darker\nplace. The relatively small number of fans who campaigned against the Act\nbecause it made it outlawed their offensive behaviour were sent a strong signal\nthat anything goes. The Act could and should have been amended but it\u2019s as bad\nto repeal law in haste as it is to make law in haste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Football likes to think that it exists in a bubble of its own where the normal laws do not apply. It doesn\u2019t matter whether they are on economics, where clubs continue to trade year after year losing money, the ridiculous transfer \u201cmarket\u201d or seriously suggesting the football players should be exempt from freedom of movement laws post Brexit. Now we are supposed to accept throwing a Buckfast bottle or a coin at someone is ok because it happens in a football stadium. Sorry, but offensive behaviour at football grounds is still simply offensive behaviour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If football clubs cannot or will not control what happens\ninside their stadiums then there must be consequences. Just like every other\nplace of entertainment. No-one, fan, player or official should have to tolerate\nabuse which would be unacceptable anywhere else. It doesn\u2019t happen at any other\nsport or entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sadly anyone who goes to football knows that the \u201ccrowd\ncontrol\u201d measures are a bad joke. Expecting part-time, minimum wage \u201cstewards\u201d\nto take action against a crowd is flying in the face of reality. To give just\none example, just after the referendum in 2014 one young lad was huckled out of\na ground for displaying a Saltire with \u201cYES\u201d on it. At the other end dozens of\nUnion Flags, some with slogans, were on display and no action was taken by\nstewards or police. It was ok to tackle one person but not a crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The response of most football officials, pundits and\ncommentators to these recent incidents have been mealy-mouthed. While\ncondemning the offending behaviour, they are willing to blame everyone, fans\nthemselves, police, stewards and Governments, everyone but the clubs themselves!\nIt\u2019s almost as though they do not accept that the only reason the \u201cfans\u201d are\nthere is to support \u201ctheir\u201d club. One of the few I have heard recognising the\nlink has been former Aberdeen captain Willie Miller. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case for \u201cStrict Liability\u201d where the clubs are held\nresponsible for what happens inside their ground becomes stronger with every\nincident. It\u2019s argued that clubs cannot be held responsible for the behaviour\nof every fan, but if they are happy to take the admission money then they have\nto accept that responsibility! How can they not accept responsibility when an\nemployee Is subjected to physical assault in the course of their job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If, every time an object was thrown onto the pitch, the game\nwas abandoned immediately and the offenders club was deemed to have lost 3-0, I\nstrongly suspect that clubs would find that they had a different attitude. If\nrepeated games would be played behind closed doors or the punishment repeated. If\nit takes drastic action to waken clubs up so be it. But I doubt that it would\nbe needed very often. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a recent trip to Canada I went along to see Toronto FC\nplay. The contrast was stark. Everywhere there were banners with slogans like\n\u201cCheering counts as an assist\u201d, there were lots of stalls selling not only club\nmerchandise but decent food and even beer. Yet the worst chant of the night was\n\u201cRef, you suck\u201d. In short, the fans were appreciated, welcomed and treated like\nresponsible adults and valued customers. I also went to see baseball at both\nMajor and Minor League. Again, there was that contrast. At one minor game I was\nstunned to find that it was \u201cFans Appreciation Night\u201d. Can you imagine that\nhere? Clubs actually expressing appreciation of their fans? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile James Kelly and his supporters have to live with\nthe consequences of their short sighted, short term actions. Maybe there is a\nlesson there for football in Scotland too. If you treat fans as valued\ncustomers, they will respond in kind. If you continue as we are they will do\nlikewise. It\u2019s up to the clubs to put their own homes literally in order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In recent months we have seen the scourge of football hooliganism rearing its particularly ugly face again. With a bottle and coins being thrown at players and most recently \u201cfans\u201d invading the playing area in both Scotland and England. This fall in behaviour comes on the back of the decision to repeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football Grounds Act. I was not a big fan of this law but I would not have called it \u201cmince\u201d or a \u201cstain\u201d. One thing it did highlight though is that we should not create new legislation just because the Police say we should, a rather more serious basisRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2443"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2446,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions\/2446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}