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The recent controversy surrounding Melbourne Victory supporters and a recent incident at a Brisbane Roar game, in which a young boy was struck with a shot-glass thrown from a crowd, has put the spotlight on fan behaviour in the A-League.
However, the big discussion point is defining what makes a fan or hooligan.
Football supporters around the world are renowned for being the most passionate of any sport. The vocal support on match days at practically any football team on the planet, is far superior to any other sport. Just take a quick moment to YouTube fans from the Turkish club Fenerbahce, whose crowd was once recorded upward of 140 decibals.
Such passion is also present at A-League football matches. The vocal support of the supporter groups which typically reside behind the goals is second to none in Australia. However, there is a fine line between fans and hooligans.
Melbourne Victory, a club whose popularity is a source of jealousy throughout other A-League clubs is a very good example of such issues. Ever since season one, the Victory have had strong, vocal support which really lead to a swell in average attendance to over 27,000 in season two. Such passion, which is displayed by the fans of the Victory, is essential to the future of the club and the A-League, some behavior however, has the opposite affect.
Footage of a Melbourne Victory fan throwing flares at a derby game against Melbourne Heart is an example of such behavior. One such flare narrowly missed a family seated in the front row. Would this family want to come back to a Melbourne Victory game? Of course not.
No matter how enjoyable the game was, the feeling of being unsafe far outweighs this positive. Holding up banners with foul language on them are also common-place at Victory matches.
I personally do not have any sought of vendetta against Victory supporters, i simply believe that there is some hooliganism developing at the club which needs to be alleviated. I love the vocal renditions of ‘Seven Nation Army’ by White Stripes. I love the drums and the megaphones, to help coordinate the fans.
If such items are being confiscated then this is a great shame on stadium security, but things such as foul language, flares and physical intimidation of the oppositions fans are not what is needed in the A-League.
Even my own Brisbane Roar are going down a similar line of trouble. An incident at the recent M1 derby, where a young child was hit in the knee with a shot glass hurled from the crowd was a great blight on the fine team.
Whoever the perpetrator was must ask themselves, what was achieved by doing this? A flare which was lit on the weekend also brought a negative note to an otherwise spectacular evening of football. The biggest issue at Brisbane Roar is by far the foul language exhibited during matches.
Swearing is acceptable on the odd occasion during the game. For example, a rubbish refereeing decision, a missed chance, or another emotionally charged event in the game. Swearing for the sake of however, is completely unnecessary and detrimental the matchday experience.
Every single time that an opposition keeper takes a goal kick, the roar supporter group yells in unison, “your S#&T, aaaggghhh!” Is this funny? No, maybe the first time, not the 422nd goal kick later. I find it to be quite embarrassing as a fan of the club. The worst of them all is the “F%$K OFF UNITED!” chant. This is hooliganism not being a fan.
Last Saturday night, Brisbane Roar were already premiers, up 3-0 and playing beautifully and all they can think of is the Gold Coast. What’s wrong with chanting about being premiers, or being up 3-0?
Of the countless Roar matches which I have attended this year, I have seen young families have to explain to their kids, not to repeat what was chanted by the Den, or have to lit to them about what was said.
Are these families going to be motivated to keep returning to Roar matches of their children are learning swear words on the matchday? Of course not.
Cubs such as Liverpool and Celtic are renowned for their intelligent rewrites of famous songs to support their team. Songs such as ‘The Ants go Marching One by One’ and ‘That’s Amore’ have famously being reworded to show their support for their team.
The real question is: if you a too busy slagging off at the other team rather than supporting your own, are you really a fan?
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