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A message to unite all A-League fans across the country

Roar Guru
25th November, 2015
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Western Sydney Wanderers fans. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Roar Guru
25th November, 2015
2

I’m sure most A-League fans have seen the comments made by Rebecca Wilson and Alan Jones throughout the week, and have been absolutely livid with such unexplained action against our code.

The controversy arose when Rebecca Wilson and The Daily Telegraph leaked what they dubbed an A-League “shame file”, which consisted of 198 fans from all 10 A-League clubs who have been banned from matches.

Whether or not this release of private information is legal I will not discuss, but I will discuss Wilson’s uneducated account.

In her interview with Alan Jones on 2GB she claimed, “198 people have been banned from matches, while only 19 from 16 [rugby] league clubs have been banned and fewer than 10 from the cricket board.”

She later added, “So this is why they’ve [FFA] got their heads in the sand if they don’t believe this is the worst sport in Australia for terrible offences committed between rival fans.”

I consulted the dictionary to find the meaning of the word ‘ban’, and to my not-so-surprised self it said, “to prohibit, forbid and to prevent trouble”. So if the FFA have banned 198 fans for crowd violence, then the FFA do not have their heads in the sand, they are in fact extremely vigilant on making sure the football environment is safe.

The FFA crack down harder than any other code in the country, which is why it is so unprofessional for Wilson to put a few numbers together and point the finger at football. She was especially upset when FFA CEO David Gallop told her that he does not believe it is a cultural problem.

Jones then made one of the most vile comments ever about football in Australia, when he posed the question to Wilson on his 2GB talk show earlier this week, “Just finally, is this like terrorism in Paris? The leaders have no guts?”

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Wilson replied, “That’s exactly right.”

To put these arrests and bans in the same light as cold-blooded murder and terrorism is sickening and insulting, both for A-League fans and people who were unfortunately involved in the horrible attacks in Paris – like Sydney FC player Jacques Faty, who returned to Paris for personal reasons last week.

Talks of boycotts and protests will not aid football’s fight, that is exactly what people like Wilson and Jones want – for us to turn away from football and implode.

It is time for all A-League fans to unite and support from within our already thriving fan-base.

Football will continue to be watched, and played on parks, backyards, houses and rooftops. We will not stop until we are heard loud and clear!

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