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Viking Park in Erindale. A cold Tuesday night in the nation’s capital, and five thousand football starved Canberrans left their jobs and packed into the ground that resembles that of a League One side in England for the city’s first FFA Cup match.
The underdogs, fittingly from the more ‘working class’ suburbs of Tuggeranong, against the might of Melbourne victory. Whilst the class difference was too large, the people of Canberra made a real claim for the city and its right to field an A-League side.
There was a great buzz around the ground as the big boys such as Berisha and Milligan came to town.
The kranskies were sizzling, beers flowing and people were happy. Football was in the capital and it was as authentic and raw as you will get it.
The match showed how brilliant the FFA Cup concept is, and the magic of the cup, albeit not via the result, was realised.
For an A-League fanatic such as myself it was really exciting, however, there was a dampener.
There is always one as they say, and on this occasion, it was about ten.
Ten wannabee Green Street Hooligan ‘casuals’ who travelled from Melbourne to supposedly ‘support’ their local football side as they made the trek inter-state. It was through these men, a minority I must emphasise, that brought me into contact with the worst of football.
A child from the local Tuggeranong Club went around with a fundraising box, only for these hooligans to throw their cigarette but into the box instead of coins.
When the child’s mother pulled them up on their actions and reminded them the child was only eight years old, they shouted profanities and verbally abused her.
At the end of the game I saw a teenager (probably 17) with a Western Sydney Wanderers cap being pulled up by these guys in an aggressive manner for wearing the cap and threatened him.
Some may say why wear the cap, but that is a ridiculous argument that simply promotes hooligan culture.
This was not the Western Sydney v Melbourne Derby, but a match between a melbourne and a state league side in a suburb of Canberra. As such the ethos of the competition should be promoted, and every kid should be afforded the right to wear any cap.
I wear my teams cap when other AFL teams are playing and nothing happens, and that should be the same at the football.
They wrestled with security and some were escorted out. It was no place, or there was no need for trouble, but these men brought it.
These men aren’t football fans, they are thugs, and they are a minority, but the unfortunate thing is, they are relevant.
Why? Well, I went to speak to the mother of the child I mentioned earlier, she had never been to an A-League game, and said she wouldn’t based on this behaviour. They are a minority, but you can’t exactly blame the mother for her sentiments.
While this is but one isolated example of such behaviour. Every time the media reports of football hooligans it turns off many others, rightly or wrongly. As the game tries to go mainstream, as it needs to, we don’t need the bad publicity.
The fans and players need the game to grow – but as long as these individuals (hooligans are not football fans I must emphasise) continue, the game wills suffer.
Damian De Bohun receives a lot of criticism for his active support measures and I don’t agree with them. But the reality is, there is a culture, albeit a minority, in which individuals look to realise their devious and unlawful behaviour through the football team they ‘supposedly support’.
And as long as this exists, people will be turned off and the Damien De Bohen’s of the future will have to continue with similar measures.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.