A-League boneheads need a new hobby
Columnist
By Mike Tuckerman, 22 Sep 2009 Mike Tuckerman is a Roar Expert
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- A-League, Adelaide United, football, Melbourne Victory
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Adelaide United's fans seen during the AFC Champions League semifinals second leg match between Bunyodkor and Adelaide United in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008. AP Photo/Anvar Ilyasov
It’s been a bit of a gloomy start to the new A-League campaign. Crowds have stagnated. Certain pitches are a disgrace. And now the mainstream media has a new show reel of ‘crowd violence’ to dredge up every time football threatens the status quo.
The so-called ‘clashes’ between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory supporters last Friday night were the usual storm-in-a-teacup stuff.
Footage of police dragging prepubescent teens away from rival supporters kept the cameras rolling outside the ground, whilst the sound of chanting fans apparently had some Adelaide citizens scared witless.
It was all reminiscent of those stupid “World’s Worst” TV shows – grainy stock footage, a shaky camera operator and the lingering sense of disappointment that what you’d just seen wasn’t half as shocking as first promised.
But while genuine A-League fans can sit and snigger at the benign nature of what the mainstream press calls ‘crowd violence,’ the fact is that such imagery strikes at the heart of the A-League – no matter how inane it is.
Yes, we can gnash our teeth at the injustice of it all. 29 fans ejected from an A-League game seems to herald the breakdown of Australian society, but large-scale fan violence at the cricket is a mere example of Aussie larrikinism.
But what we can’t ignore is the fact that morons who lob projectiles and fans who scuffle with police give the A-League a reputation it can ill-afford.
Any regular A-League fan knows that a football game in Australia is a safe and relatively fun place to be. Trouble is, many members of Australian society do not.
It is they who are left tut-tutting at the back page headlines and sensationalist media reports – concerned for the safety of loved ones and friends should they ever run into an A-League fan in a dark alley.
Without an accurate basis of comparison, they often take at face value reports of hooliganism and mistake active, vocal support for the threat of imminent violence.
More importantly, many have young sons and daughters who play the game, or run businesses that might otherwise plough money into football were it not for the spectre – real or imagined – of crowd violence.
In his fascinating account of Italian fan culture “A Season With Verona,” English novelist Tim Parks reveals that many Italian ‘Ultras’ give up their unique version of active support the minute they acquire a love interest.
Forgive the crass generalisation, but it looks like one or two of the cretins who drag the A-League’s name into the gutter could do with a hair wash and a good old-fashioned girlfriend.
And – lest I be accused of such – I’m not some prudish version of a football wowser either.
I’ve stood on the terraces at high-security games in Germany on countless occasions, and once had the unenviable pleasure of being in the Swiss capital Bern the night visiting Feyenoord fans turned the city centre into their own version of “Kristallnacht.”
I’ve just never understood the point of ripping a flare in support of my team. If you want to play with distress signals, why not join the Navy?
The fact of the matter is that the A-League does not have a major problem with fan violence or crowd safety. A few isolated incidents and some scruffy-haired Elijah Wood-wannabes does not a Taylor Report make.
But with the A-League battling gallantly to muscle its way into the consciousness of the wider Australian public, the last thing it needs is a bunch of fringe-dwelling lunatics ruining it for everyone else.
I’m not the first to say it, and I doubt I’ll be the last – but I wish some of the boneheads within our ranks would find a new hobby.
Otherwise we run the risk of the A-League being remembered for everything that it’s not – an unsafe and unfriendly environment in which to watch football.
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Scott B said | September 22nd 2009 @ 3:20am | Report comment
Was at Millwall v Forest away last year. At the meadows club house (notts county) drinking before hand. Police escort , horses, wouldnt let us leave. Walking to the ground singing “Always shit on, the right side of the Trent,” The best thing was when we couldn’t get in the ground, the nottingham police decide to dump us back in central nottingham. Thats fun! And anyone reading this , if you go england to watch the ashes avoid nottingham, trent bridge. Horrible
Freud of Football said | September 22nd 2009 @ 4:43am | Report comment
How sensaltionist and pathetic is the Australian media for starters.
Yes, if you stick a camera amongst a bunch of youths who’ve had a bit to drink and a common dislike of something then they will likely cause a bit of a stir, but come on people, this stir was about as big as a scuffle between 4th graders, hardly worth making the national news and the way it was reported on, many Aussies who watch it have never spent time abroad and realised how one dimensional and misleading Australian media can be, it truly is “pick a side” type stuff the way it is portayed and obviously not having a dominant football culture in Australia they pick up on this sort of thing and blow it out of all proportion.
Next the Police. Are they actually insane? Have Australian police received absolutely no training in dealing with crowds? These are metropolitan police, not some country bumkins and this was hardly a hostile group, there wasn’t a row of young men advancing down a block with militia type tactics, they weren’t attacking people, there were no stabbings or bashings or causing mass property damage, the cops weren’t wearing riot gear, there was no horses or dogs and yet the police come in and react the way they do.
A-League Administrators would do well to have a talk with them, provide whatever assistance they can so that there aren’t cops grabbing teenagers by the shirt and dragging them away, it’s exactly that image that will stick in the mind and it was totally unnecessary.
Lastly the idiots who took part. Judging by the footage and having not been a part of it one would generalise it as a bunch of idiotic youths. Obviously the kind who have heard about hooliganism and think its cool and gave it a crack. Firstly, thanks for the laugh, it was a pathetic attempt and Australian’s shouldn’t even try it, the deep-seated hate seen amongst European & South American rivals hasn’t and won’t develop in Australia, Sure SA vs VIC will always be a rivalry but it doesn’t have the life changing background of say a Millwall-West Ham type rivalry.
It really is a joke that this was even covered, they only did it for the attention (as you can see them all trying to get their pock-marked faces on camera) and not out of spite, to give it the media attention it got simply encourages these chimps who are still learning right from wrong to do it again.
Pete said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:07am | Report comment
Look at what goes on at the cricket one dayers. How many ‘drunks’ are thrown out. Albeit some have committed the heinous crime of inflating beach balls and stacking plastic cups together but there is some unsavoury elements at the matches. At the cricket they are larrikins at the soccer they are hooligans …
Dan said | September 22nd 2009 @ 11:11am | Report comment
Let’s not be too harsh on the “Australian media”. Last time I checked it was no worse the British, US, Italian, Indian … well yeah, pretty much anywhere else where the likes of Tabloids have taken hold. In fact I’d go so far as to say (given that we don’t have cable news channels with pundits claiming our prime minister is a communist that is trying to steal our country constantly blaring their misinformation on the air waves) that our media is comparatively benign by world standards.
Just an observation from one who has done a fair bit of reading about media’s generally downward spiral globally over the past 50-70 years… We don’t need to be singled out on this one. You should simply say “how pathetic and sensationalistic contemporary media culture has become”.
Freud of Football said | September 22nd 2009 @ 4:42pm | Report comment
Australia is well known to have one of the worst media systems in the world when it comes to impartiality and media freedom.
That Australian media is “bening by world standards”, well it depends on the issue at hand. The rest of the world wouldn’t have given that bunch of yobs a look in on their national news so I’d call that a beat-up, but then again, rarely do you see graphic images of warzones which are beamed out to homes across Europe who are much more liberal in their reception of what is news.
Dan said | September 22nd 2009 @ 5:17pm | Report comment
Well known by whom? The Japanese? Their ‘kisha-club’ system essentially makes the media all but an arm of the government. The Italians? Berlusconi still owns the majority of the press and slants it to his liking. The British? Their tabloids are among the most famous in the world for unsubstantiated slander and sensationalism. The Americans? Fox News is the most watched cable news channel by a mile and its bias is such that it is akin to a right wing think tank turned public relations behemoth. How about the world’s largest democracy India? While once it had an array of fairly solid publications and stations, the advent of Murdoch’s “Star News” has lowered the level of debate across the board to the 4 Cs of “Crime, Cricket, Corruption and Celebrity”. The French press is pretty decent and it’s ok in my mother’s home Sweden (though of late it’s apparently spent a fair bit of time blaming everything on foreigners), but in all honesty the “fourth estate” is in a pretty dire state the world over… you can’t say “hey! the European’s have it right!” Because that’s only true in pockets at best.
Sorry to go off topic, but I’ve heard this a million times from AFL fans in Sydney, Rugby League fans in Melbourne and fans of soccer in general whenever they feel their sport (a trivial issue to be judging news media on to begin with) is being unfairly targeted. That a certain media enterprise might pull the old “soccer hooligans” line out when some fans at an A-League match misbehave, does not indicate that Australia has no journalistic standards left.
Please, a little perspective is all I ask… let us not take an attack on one trivial aspect of society such as sport as some how signaling the fall of free thought in this country.
Freud of Football said | September 22nd 2009 @ 5:39pm | Report comment
Well known as it is taught in Universities across Europe, is that enough for you or shall I send you the actual information from published authors that I know have lectured on the issue?
Australia, while claiming to have a free media really does not have one, it’s not REALLY true and saying that the UK has tabloids and hence rubbish media or the USA has Fox meaning its all biased is very narrow minded, If I could be bothered I’d list them off but the UK has some fantastic media, you’ve just got to get away from the rubbish to find it and just because the press in a FEW European countries isn’t great doesn’t make Australia’s better, even by comparison.
Just listen to the boofhead reporting on the issue, he obviously has no idea, watch the slow-mo zoomed in replays of a plastic cup being thrown at the goalkeeper, the fact they had a camera amongst the idiots and even gave them airtime, the way they obviously asked this “Aleks” bloke to dress like an idiot (what normal person wear an Adeaide United headband around? Where else would they put a goon like that on national news?) but that is Australian media for you. There was no expert commentary, no talking about the police’s preperation or lack of training, no history of the rivalry, it was reported on by people with no idea who’ve read a few books and seen a few clips of European games and want to make a comparison in the hope they will cause a bit of a stir and get some attention, self-serving nonsense.
Dan said | September 22nd 2009 @ 6:26pm | Report comment
I would respond more fully to this, but you clearly didn’t read all of my post so I won’t bother.
As I said, I’m asking for perspective, but you continue to give me your narrow view based on an irrelevant sporting incident. You credit the UK with having some great news media among the filth, which is true. Why do you not accept that Australia also has good quality analysis with the 7:30 report, Dateline, SBS world News, Insight, Foreign Correspondent, Media Watch etc? These are all good quality programs (even if Howard screwed SBS while he was in). I was never putting us up as the benchmark – I was simply remarking that it’s more than a little silly to see bias reporting on Soccer by our tabloid channels like 7 and 9 as being indicative of the entire system and thus worthy of condemning the whole thing as “sensationalist and pathetic”. So what if some channels are still a little reactionary toward soccer? Soccer’s spread is merely a reminder that globalisation was a British led phenomena before it was an American one, and like all things that globalisation injects into different cultures, hostility is always there at the beginning.
Glen said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:41pm | Report comment
Freud, Let me get this straight.. you’re using the Australian media (this site is part of it) to vent your spleen on media bias?
That’s how you spell irony!!!
Freud of Football said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:45pm | Report comment
Actually Glen, you spelt it right the first time and no I wasn’t using this forum voice my displeasure at the Australian Media, I merely commented that it was a part of the problem
Corey said | June 3rd 2010 @ 4:36pm | Report comment
Actually our media is 16th for having media freedom (http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2009,1001.html) amongst the whole world, so it isn’t that well known, since it is a fallacy. And the nations with greater freedom aren’t too far ahead of us. NZ is one ahead (15th) and that puts it in the standing of blue (either full freedom or almost full freedom), so our Media wouldn’t be bagged out by European Universities since the countries in Europe that could do that have smaller populations than ours. It would be better for them to pay out Germany, France, England, Italy, USA etc. Much worse than Australia.
The Answer said | September 22nd 2009 @ 4:45am | Report comment
Crowds haven’t stagnated, they seem to have dropped in some case quite significantly.
I often marvel at the Aussie media’s fascination with crowd violence. I have often sat at rugby league and football matches quite peacefully only to read later about the violence and chaos which was apparently happening right around me.
I don’t think it is just about a-league but any sport, it gets the hand wringes all worked up so sells papers or lights up switchboards.
The weird thing is that people don’t want any over sanitised soulless ground and they also don’t seem to want it a bit rough around the edges.
We can you say, we are doomed.
Simone` said | September 22nd 2009 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
“I have often sat at rugby league and football matches quite peacefully only to read later about the violence and chaos which was apparently happening right around me.” Same thing has happened on bvarious occasions, apparantly at a Victory vs. Sydney game a few years back. Supposedly there was a large amount of crowd trouble around me (Herald Sun doing great porting of the game), though all i remember was a few 16yr olds getting thrown out. It’s ridicolous and biased against football. Ive seen worse at AFL and cricket and nothing is ever reported.
melbvictory87 said | September 23rd 2009 @ 8:29am | Report comment
so true. if its at cricket (my god i hate this sport) then it might get one sentence on the back page, if its at football its a ‘riot’ put on front page
Pippinu said | September 23rd 2009 @ 8:38am | Report comment
Plenty of drunken incidents at the cricket have made the news over the years.
Scott B said | September 22nd 2009 @ 6:02am | Report comment
I agree with freud. Violence hasn’t & won’t develope in Australia. For the same reason rugby in england doesn’t have hooligans. If you consider aussie rules, rugby league and union……. the players beat the shit out of each other, not the fans.
And if Australians were this way inclined, hooliganism would already occur in melbourne and sydney between old rivals
However i do like the old english saying “Rugby is a game watched by gentlemen and played by animals…….. Football is a game played by gentlemen, watched by animals”
Robbo said | September 22nd 2009 @ 7:00am | Report comment
Another good saying is: Rugby is a game played by gentlemen pretending to be bogans, soccer is a game played by bogans pretending to be gentlemen and League is a game played by bogans being bogans. That said – League is the best of the three!
oikee said | September 22nd 2009 @ 7:50am | Report comment
Send all your bogans to rugby league, we thrive on them.
Matt said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:21am | Report comment
Never heard that one before. I always thought was ‘Rugby is a thugs game played by gentlemen and football is a gentlemans game played by thugs’. Given the upper class history of rugby union and the chavs that play football and their loutish behaviour off the field this would make more sense but whatever floats your boat.
AndyRoo said | September 22nd 2009 @ 12:22pm | Report comment
Matt
your version is the only version I have ever heard.
Glen said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:45pm | Report comment
Matt, yours is the original and correct version.
melbvictory87 said | September 23rd 2009 @ 8:32am | Report comment
mmmmmmmmmmmmm maybe lol its not watche by animals its just more of a passionate sport than league. i love afl but passion is almost non existent, chanting collingwood clap clap clap is hardly passion for your sport. cant comment on this because i love active support and it makes football so much fun
Marlon said | September 22nd 2009 @ 7:55am | Report comment
Should do what the Italian Serie A does….when crowds play up, the next home game is played behind closed doors. Punishes the fans, hurts the clubs financial income for the week. In Adelaide’s situation, the fans might be over the moon if Hindmarsh stadium is suspended for the week. They would not have to sit through the crap the reds churn out. Maybe thats why they turn to fighting.
The Answer said | September 22nd 2009 @ 9:04am | Report comment
The Mariners, The Roar and The Fury are already close to experimenting on playing in empty stadiums.
Freud of Football said | September 22nd 2009 @ 4:44pm | Report comment
Yeah, because of a bunch of underage drinkers trying to get their faces on camera we should take away gate revenues. This was hardly that big of a deal that something like that even needed to be considered.
Art Sapphire said | September 22nd 2009 @ 4:51pm | Report comment
Freud – the Answer is a well known anti-football poster. His post was a wind up. He was just being cheeky and implied that these teams are already playing in empty stadiums. He does have a point though – Brisbane have farcically increased their prices this year to and they are now only getting 7k to a game.
Pete said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:10am | Report comment
Marlon, do other club fans deliberately cause trouble at opposing teams matches (whilst wearing the another teams kit) to cause damage to the other club? You’d hope that fans of other codes wouldn’t turn up to a game to cause similar difficulties.
sledgeross said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:21am | Report comment
I think the clubs have to be stronger. I was at Elland Rd a month ago watching Leeds United play, and there was not the slightest whiff of trouble (and remember Leeds used to be notorious for their “Service Crew” hooligans). Admittedly, it was a game against Tranmere
. WOuldnt like to be there if they played Man Ure!
Paul J said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:23am | Report comment
Fans from all codes get frustrated with the small minority of fans & players who are guilty of doing the wrong thing or put them selves in the position of being believed to have done the wrong thing. The fact is the media will always make mountains out of mole hills because that is how they make the offensive amount of money they do.
albe said | September 22nd 2009 @ 8:49am | Report comment
the mainstream media is best left ignored. With the net and DVRs we can now very easily filter this crap and just read outlets that are at least respectful (maybe even knowledgeable) about football. That’ll hit their earnings over time, they’re already on a slippery slope to irrelevance.
The absolute last thing the world game needs to do is water itself down to appear more “safe” to the simpletons out there. Passion is the life blood of football.
Mackey said | September 22nd 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
God forbid anyone stands up at Suncorp who is not in Bay 332, bloody holligans.