Saturday night’s Melbourne derby in front of over 41,000 football fans was marred by scenes reminiscent of old National Soccer League (NSL) crowds of years gone by.
However, how much of the so called football hooliganism can be attributed to football itself?
In my experience as a seven-year Melbourne victory member, I have found the majority of the anti-social behaviour or football hooliganism is from a younger demographic.
I would argue there is a mentality among 16 to 20-year-old males that legitimises and accepts vandalism at a football match.
Instead of breaking a bus shelter window, we will destroy 170 seats at Etihad Stadium and steal Dad’s flare gun from his boat and let one off at the game.
Mob mentality is a powerful beast and when mixed with animosity among juvenile delinquents, it becomes a dangerous cocktail.
Causing havoc among many and with minimal risk of being caught gives these offenders an adrenaline fix.
The key issue for authorities is to decipher between real football fans and hooligans.
In many cases I don’t see how the two are related.
The action that needs to be taken is the exclusion of individuals from the mob, with the authorities coming down heavily on those bringing the game into disrepute.
There seems to be a connection between some minority groups and an association with the heritage of the old country.
Such behaviour does nothing for our game nor does it create our own football identity.
I partly see our own game as somewhat wet behind the ears on certain subjects.
That however is not intended to be a criticism. The a league is still very much in its infancy, as is the management and direction of the league.
FFA CEO David Gallop and head of the a league Damien De Bohun need to take the AFL’s CEO Andrew Demetriou’s stance.
By being a public figure and one of the most recognisable figures in Victoria, he rules with a no tolerance approach.
He very much deals with issues on the front foot, something the FFA could take note from.
I would like the FFA and the clubs to adopt the following measures.
The first is no tolerance on flares. Those caught possessing or letting off a flare will be banned from attending A-League games for five years and have their membership (if applicable) revoked. They should also be charged a $5000 fine.
Secondly, the club must be forced to pay $5000 for every flare that has been let off.
The proceeds of this can go to grass roots football clubs or a charity.
Thirdly, club supporter groups will have certain privileges suspended or areas left vacant or with a reduced capacity in active areas.
Some may feel these actions are too severe, or not severe enough. What is important is the safety of the public attending the games, the reputation and integrity of the game, and the economical viability of the clubs.
Football is the greatest game in the world, however it has to start getting onto the front foot and being proactive, otherwise the detractors and haters of the game will get what they love, which is controversy on the front page.
Joseph
Guest
Hey why don't they just deduct points from the sides whose "supporters" make the trouble. I am sure this will create a fair bit of debate but if you look at it a fan would not be engaging in any disruptive behaviour if they knew the club would suffer from their consequences. This will make other supporters dob in the incumbent and also put further emphasis on clubs to interact and control their own members.
tom
Guest
they may check for safety but they dont present clean seats. i've often had to clean droppings, heavy dust and spider webs before seating. it's a blody disgrace what is presented at times.
Qantas supports Australian Football
Guest
They can't be too overweight, their collective Craniums had signs out.... "Space To Rent" :)
Tigranes
Guest
Maybe Melbourne Victory fans are overweight and the seats can't support them?
Kasey
Guest
What I find most puzzling is that a 'news'paper could write an entire article about how Performance Enhancing Drugs issues have been dealt with various sports around the world, but FAIL to mention cycling or even the world's most famous disgraced drug cheat...Mr Lance?? *conspiracy theory hat on* Were the Hun in such a hurry to take attention away from Essendon and get a cheap kick in on Sockah that they chose the path that they did? If there had to be a picture that went with the article, how could you not put a picture of Lance Armstrong as the splash piece?? I hope Tony Pignata goes postal on this.it could get very interesting:)
Lucan
You do know there was a carpark brawl as fans left Oly Park after that 5-0 rout of SydFC?? A handful of MV supporters and a handful of Syd supporters? Have seen too many carpark brawls after sporting events. It is unaceptable at all of them. VFL, AFL, NSL, HAL. Unfortunately it happens in all these games, and it is embarassingly naïve to assume it doesn't.
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
That was interesting that, if anything the most appropriate pic to go with would have been Lance Armstrong given he is in the news atm
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
People seem to misunderstand, I'm saying stronger seats are a factor in the solution in the sense that if the first idiot can't do it, other people aren't likely to follow. They are PART of the solition in the sense that solutions are usually multi-faceted. It would also mean we don't have headline grabbing statistics. For all the talk of "violence" and "hooliganism" with all their inherent connotations, I am not aware to date of one fight between fans on Satruday, and in my own experience both pre-game and post-game there was no animosity. For my part i ended up having a football conversation with some older Heart supporters on the public transport home We have to understand what "broken" means, probably only about 20-30 seats were actually ripped out and/or tossed onto the pitch, "borken" can be a pretty loose term also meaning borken spring, in that the seat works but it just doesen't spring back up when no one is sitting on it. But obviously I think there is a bit of a slight notion that 170 seats were ripped out and thrown onto the pitch When I'm referring to football or overseas example, I am talking about understanding what good practice is in relation to supporters who have the same way of supporting, it is a bit different to AFL and the NRL and Cricket etc. I recall an interview Craig Foster did with an ex MLS CEO called Peter Wilt where they said they had the same issues but worked them out over time Other factors include having the capacity for the secco's or whoever to jump in as soon as they see one idiot ripping one out and haul him away before others think of doing the same I agree in moving beyond the poor me approach, and frankly I think MVFC fans are heading that direction since the low point about two years via the charter they have set up. I was in the active area, and tbf they were encouraging people to get off seats etc which included myself at one point. So while obviously not perfect as we have seen with 50 seats broken in MVFC areas, it is worth mentioning that an effort was made. Just has to be a bit better in the future
midfielder
Guest
R Just go away the ... T word applies
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Middy Tony Pignata was furious & contacted the Managing Editor of the Herald Sun. The photo of ADP has not been removed & replaced by some baseballer. This is why Football fans must be vigilant & respond to false or misleading accusations. Ignoring the media trolls doesn't work. Open media allows us to bombard the offending organisation and every organisation is now aware that negative comments on social media can be very powerful in putting sponsors & advertisers off-side.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Dog Squad, Cert, Scenes of Crime, Crash investigation unit... blah blah blah. Somewhat new you wouldn't answer my 2nd question though! Public nuisance and wilful damage not to mention elements of assault! The amount of man power on hand compared to the 42,000? in attendance could not have handled the two grows of supporters, so your lovely photo that was shared was most likely an act of policing the designated area and letting matters be dealt with after the match as in CCTV footage and collecting correct evidence! Handing out 5 year bans is quite serious in my book, and the biggest thing I applaud the police from preventing was a fray! "Generally" people go in groups of 2 - 3 and if they zoned off the area in an attempt to confine the acts and prevent further disturbance in the stadium it could have backfired with further acts of violence eruppting. So I commend the Victorian Police for their actions! If you still honestly think that they did nothing wrong then I give up, but your not going to admit anything after a day like today!
Cameron
Roar Guru
That is really sad news, and I wish him the fastest of recoveries. He has been a great person to have involved in the A-League and is a great man in his community. I have even seen an ACA program on him in which he went undercover to get up close and personal with the homeless on the streets and donated a significant amount to establish a home for the homeless. A great man.
Reynoldsinski
Guest
Midfielder - the ADP recruitment has been one of the biggest stories of the summer. People know who he is now. I'd say that if he wasn't playing in the A League then they wouldn't have run a picture of him. You are being way to sensitive. You don't live in Melbourne, so why do you care what 3AW say or the Herald Sun write?
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Unrelated but Tony Sage has collapsed at a Perth gym and requires major heart surgery.
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
AR if you didn't know anything about that particular case what would be your impression of Del Piero after reading it?,they only told half the story and alot of people would go away thinking he's dodgy.Someone attacking someone in the stands is pretty cut and dry so its a bad example.
Lucan
South played a home against against Melbourne Knights there. Before someone catches me on a technicality, Docklands was "Colonial Stadium" back in those days. http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/NSL/20012002/Round05.html
Cpaaa
Guest
..but i have seen plenty of afl folk on football tabs. Can anyone provide youtube or cctv footage of what happened. All i saw was a picture of seats not anyone actually ripping them out and i dont believe anything the papers write about anymore. so is there any footage, cameras would have picked it up or at least an iphone?
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I'm not a VicPol officer, but have a lot of mates, who used to be in the various squads, including: Armed Robbery, Homicide, Major Crime, SOG, etc. I do have a LLB = Bachelor of Laws, so I'm pretty well acquainted with the Criminal Law.
Chino
Guest
I would avoid look at Europe at all and to tell the truth they probably have more to learn about crowd control from how the A-League than we have to learn from them. I dont think anybody has ever died during football crowd violence in this country or the police have been forced into using tear gas.
Damiano
Guest
The article leaves out the crucial resolution of the investigation into Juventus, namely, the allegations from Zeman were unsubstantiated. The inference from the article is Juventus must have been cheating because 260 types of drugs were found. Eventually the drugs found were deemed not to be contrary to the rules. The Dr was absolved of guilt and Juve kept their titles, hence the first example given in the article is not an example of doping, its an example of doping allegations being investigated. Zeman actually had no proof, he just thought Vialli & Del Piero had put on more muscle than he thought they should have. Juve were investigated based upon a slur.