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Hatamoto security consultants may argue otherwise, but A-League games are generally a safe place to be. They’ve certainly never been plagued by the kind of violence seen in Genoa this week, which begs the question of whether full-scale hooliganism could one day make a return to the terraces of Europe.
First things first: the violence which erupted at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa on Tuesday night had nothing to do with football, and everything to do with nationalist politics.
Virtually every media outlet in the world has blamed right-wing nationalists for the prolonged rampage that left Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic fearing for his life, and which forced Scottish referee Craig Thomson to abandon the Euro 2012 qualifier between Italy and Serbia.
Stojkovic withdrew from the starting eleven after being threatened en route to the ‘Marassi,’ with the experienced shot-stopper allegedly found cowering in the Italian dressing room before the game.
The 27-year-old is perhaps best known for joining Belgrade outfit Partizan on loan this season, after originally starting his club career at fierce city rivals Red Star.
Regardless of whatever club allegiances Serbian fans use to justify their rampage, it seems clear the hooligans were well armed, well organised and hell-bent on forcing the abandonment of the game.
It’s a scene which has been repeated countless times in Belgrade derbies, and many older fans of Serbia’s two biggest clubs acted as paramilitaries during the bloody Yugoslav Wars.
The shocking scenes have lead many to question whether hooliganism is on the rise in European football, particularly in countries from the so-called former Eastern Bloc.
But Michał Karaś, editor of Polish fan culture website PortalKibica.pl, says any connection between events in Genoa and the overall safety of Euro 2012 is “rubbish.”
“As for Poland and Ukraine, the legislation here has been tightened way beyond what’s rational, and what’s more the problem of hooliganism even here is well exaggerated,” Karaś told me.
“Let me just say that during 240 games of Ekstraklasa last season there were barely five major incidents,” he said.
Even so, it won’t stop a world media now used to the heavily policed – some would argue “sanitised” world of the English Premier League – from questioning whether Poland and Ukraine are ready for an influx of European football fans.
And when Russian fans continue to racially taunt black players, and crowd trouble regularly erupts as Romanian teams take to the European stage, it’s no surprise to see some of the world’s media make sweeping generalisations about the safety of eastern European football as a whole.
I don’t think there’ll be widespread hooliganism at Euro 2012, because like my Polish colleague Karaś, I think it’s hard enough for legitimate fans to get their hands on tickets to UEFA or FIFA-run events – let alone known hooligans.
But hooligans obviously got into Genoa, despite the warning Italian authorities received about the likelihood of trouble at the match.
UEFA now has some serious decisions to make, and it would be a national tragedy for Serbia if the actions of a small but violent minority resulted in their expulsion from the European championships.
That’s precisely what may happen though, with former Serbian international Savo Milosevic labelling events in Genoa “one of the darkest days in the history of Serbia’s football.”
“I strongly condemn any form of violence and ultranationalism, but see these threats as way smaller than they appear (even) after Tuesday,” Karaś told me.
“And surely they’re not anything that might be a major issue during Euro 2012,” he said.
I certainly hope not, and I trust that authorities in Poland and Ukraine will be doubly alert when Euro 2012 rolls around.
But no matter how well prepared officials are, the vile display inside the Marassi on Tuesday night won’t silence doubts that the ugly spectre of hooliganism is once again creeping into the European game.