- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It has been an interesting few months for football. The fallout of the publication of names and alleged offences of the 198 banned fans has come during a period in which there has been tension between Western Sydney fans and NSW police.
It’s worth mentioning that this isn’t actually a new phenomenon. The same phenomenon took place in Victoria four years ago when tensions between active fans – predominantly Melbourne Victory’s North Terrace – and Victorian police came to a head.
Football fans, at the time, were portrayed as being the most violent despite eviction rates being on a par with other sports. What has been interesting to note, however, is that the tone has deteriorated since that time.
For example, Ben Buckley – who was not many fans’ cup of tea – at least managed to make some attempt at defending the supporters when conflict arose in Victoria.
This is despite the fact that in terms of actions the FFA effectively doubled down on the Hatamoto counter-terrorism approach of condescending surveillance and punitive regulatory measures. The number of banned people increased by 48 in August of 2012 to 198 at present, which perhaps is a better reflection of the FFA’s institutional perspective of fans.
Before exploring the dynamics of what has been occurring and pointing towards prospective solutions, it’s worth re-iterating Mark Bosnich’s assertion that “this is getting serious”, and as such it is the FFA who should be worried most of all.
Why is this the case?
Well, because unlike the AFL or the NRL, where fans and other stakeholders have to put up with whatever the governing body dictates, football fans of mixed ethnicity have a myriad of alternative leagues or substitute products available to them.
In other words, if push comes to shove, A-League fans can ultimately choose to opt out of the increasingly Orwellian experience of being an A-League fan and get their football fix through watching alternative leagues on TV.
This phenomenon has already occurred to some degree by a significant number of actively inclined fans opting out of supporting the national team and choosing to only do so at domestic games, with dire consequences for the quality of active support at Socceroos games.
The FFA might want to reconsider its approach of perceivably being in-step with media hostility through its unwillingness to defend the fans. Its overbearing zero tolerance security approach is also perceivably in-step with an overbearing approach from state police.
This requires a fundamental shift in the organisational culture of the FFA. The question is, are they willing to change?
Lucy Zelic wrote an interesting article highlighting the myriad of issues the FFA is facing with various stakeholders before calling for Damien De Bohun to be replaced.
There is merit in the principle that the position of A-League chief should now be decided by the A-League owner-investors who actually put their own money into the game.
This will require the FFA to give up some power, but maybe it could focus more on finding investors willing to buy into A-League franchise licenses such as the Newcastle Jets.
This leads on to the debate revolving around the role of the state police forces, which has been given public attention through clumsy comments made by Liberal Democratic Senator David Leyonheljm regarding the “All Cops are Bastards” (ACAB) chant.
On the other side of the coin, football fan behaviour was apparently rather bizarrely and inappropriately linked to the behaviour of the Cronulla riots by NSW assistant commissioner Dennis Clifford.
It’s worth considering the fact that football in Australia was a minority sport up until the last decade and played in suburban stadiums in front of attendances numbering in the thousands. This then jumped to tens of thousands suddenly in major CBD-based stadiums.
It’s not surprising then that the institutional know-how hasn’t been developed within the respective police forces on how to manage and handle football crowds on such a scale and so naturally there is going to have been some sloppiness.
It’s worth considering that as they articulate support for their sporting teams and behave differently to AFL, NRL and cricket fans, there is a different skill-set required in handling football fans’ behaviour. Institutional learning and hence introspection and change are going to be required.
It’s worth noting that the old prevailing view, based on the outdated understanding of crowd psychology, revolves around the notion that disorder occurs as a result of anti-social elements within a crowd intent on disorder utilising the anonymity it affords.
Take this into account when considering statements from police officials such as Inspector Geoff Colsell in an article about A-League crowd behaviour in 2014 such as “they are not true fans of the sport, they are using the A-League as a vehicle for violence”. Added points from the journalist include “thugs have to be removed from the game” and that it is “essential families weren’t driven away”.
This is a viewpoint which seems to reflect thinking within the FFA and various state police forces and rather echoes the old perspective.
Now let’s consider a more modern perspective, which is that disorder occurs as a result of inter-group interaction. This often involves rival fans but also other outgroups such as the stadium security and the police.
There is a deteriorating situation with the active areas and regular hostility from fans towards police and security and a ‘touch one, touch all’ mentality. Viewed from the prism of a modern outlook, this trend could be considered a reflection of the fact that the psychology of the crowd is being managed poorly.
This is not ideal from a fan’s perspective because such an attitude from fans ultimately has a detrimental effect on the ability for the artistic vibrancy and creativity of the terraces to flourish in line with their potential.
As artistic vibrancy is the highest intention of fans, it should be stressed that fans for their part as an institution should be open to changing from an ‘ACAB’ stance should conditions ever permit.
It’s worth referencing one of the top experts in football crowd policing Otto Adang. Based on his research and experiences he outlines facets of good practice which revolve around education, facilitation, communication and differentiation.
Referring to football fans as being inherently more violent than fans of other sports or as “grubs” and “pack animals” is unhelpful.
Regulations geared towards preventing overhead clapping is unhelpful. Stadium security officials banning the use of drums on the basis it encourages some kind of “tribal behaviour” is unhelpful.
For the FFA’s part, hiring experts with counter-terrorism qualifications is unhelpful. Having large numbers of riot police deployed in static frontline positions is unhelpful. It is arguably just as off-putting to the family demographic as the so-called thugs permeating the active areas.
Looking ahead, a major task for the incoming chairman Steven Lowy will involve the formidable task of changing institutional attitudes, which looks like an increasingly challenging one as the current paradigm continues to evolve.
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.