lookupsport

A good weekend for British sport and a chance maybe to wax lyrical about the successes of Andy Murray, winning his second ATP Masters, or Lewis Hamilton’s steady victory in China yesterday, which takes him to withing touching distance of the F1 World Championship.  However, my mind is drawn sadly to the Aston Villa vs Portsmouth match, which saw a fourth official struck by a coin, thrown by a Villa fan.

I say thrown by a Villa fan but in truth this could happen at any football ground anywhere in the UK and probably around the world.

What is it about football that makes the “supporters” believe they can behave in such a way?

In the last few weeks we have had abuse hurled at Sol Campbell by Spurs fans still angry that he once played for them and then joined Arsenal, Atletico Madrid fined for their fans racial abuse, England players racially abused in Croatia and now this.  I haven’t included the Ashley Cole booing antics as I feel that’s a slightly different topic, but I could easily have done so.

Unfortunately there is a culture in football, which for the most part is accepted as normal, and which brings out the worst in people instilling a mob mentality not seen with any other sport.  This is handed down through generations as parents take their children to matches and they learn how to behave, by watching their so called role models.

Within this culture it is deemed acceptable to swear and scream abuse at officials, opposition fans and players, and at its worst throw missiles. In days gone by, what can only be described as all out warfare was commonplace between rival fans. To get rid of this aspect has taken millions of pounds of tax payers money, and still takes hundreds of police on a match day to ensure violence doesn’t break out.

I’ve been to games and seen rival “fans” just sit and stare at each other with hate filled eyes, rather than watch the match they have paid a fortune to see.

Rivalry amongst fans can and should exist, but this should be a friendly rivalry where banter can be exchanged with good humour, and opposing fans can sit together, creating and enjoying the right environment for children of all ages.  This happens at cricket and rugby, where the rivalry is as intense and the will to win is as strong, but without the malevolence, which mars our so called “beautiful” game.

So its time for change.  The change has to come from within though - it cannot be imposed by the authorities with CCTV and heavy security.  It has to come from the true fans on the terraces and backed by the supporters clubs around the country.  The message has to go out that aggressive behaviour and chanting is simply not acceptable.  The supporters should police it themselves, refusing to join with such behaviour rather than follow a few mindless morons.

It wont happen overnight, but it would be nice if in 5-10 years it was a thing of the past and that the UK had led the way.  Imagine Arsenal and Spurs fans, Portsmouth and Southampton fans, Rangers and Celtic fans walking to a match without a police cordon.  A pipe dream I know, but unless we take action to make it happen, it never will.