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Dear David and Damien, this is an open letter to explain why I believe many football supporters feel that your recent comments regarding active fans are at best disingenuous, and at worst damaging to the code.
First of all, lets address the disingenuous accusation: your comments about “active fans” being the “stars of the show” and “turbocharging the season”, along with the marketing strategy which heavily emphasises the active nature of A-League support as a point of difference is undermined by the reality of the FFA’s actions on the ground.
There are many reasons for fans to be skeptical:
Lack of true consultation
There have been multiple and continuous failures by the FFA to bring their key stakeholders – the fans – on board in an inclusive process of consultation.
It often seems that the FFA (and often the club franchisees) have absolutely everything backwards when it comes to assessing who the true ‘stakeholders’ are in football.
We see mention of sponsors, police, stadium management, security personnel and government high on the list before we ever come to the true people who actually make football what it is: the fans. And of those fans, the most vulnerable are the active supporters.
They are vulnerable because they are the most open to exploitation by marketing departments who use their images to sell memberships and television slots.
They are vulnerable because they are often the subject of derision by cynical journalists and a media riddled with financial conflicts of interest.
They are vulnerable because they are the most likely to be subject to authoritarian measures metered out by an uneducated police and security force without any realistic recourse.
They are the most vulnerable because the very body that oversees the game that they love chooses to allow them to be subjected to collective punishment.
And they are also the most vulnerable because they love football. They pour their souls and their money and their time into expressing it every time they attend a match.
Active support is part of their identity and a significant part of their community.
Maladministration of supposed wrongdoers
A total lack of transparency, natural justice and due process when administering attendance bans to football fans who have been alleged to have done the wrong thing.
There is no appeals process available to such fans, there is no presentation of evidence, and frequently fans are not even informed of their bans until they attempt to attend the venue again, which automatically increases the length of their bans.
How is this in any way a fair or just system? And Damien, you have the temerity to talk about living in a “lawful society” when the FFA itself fails to follow the principles of natural justice!
A push for the homogenisation, sanitisation and official sanctioning of active support
The desire for true independence from the business franchisees is one of most misunderstood aspects of active supporter culture.
Although there is a spectrum of ways in which different supporter groups interact with clubs across the A-League, there is no doubt that the most vibrant active supporter groups are also the most fiercely independent of the club management.
Within reason, these groups make their own decisions (and spend their own money and time) as to how to support the players, unencumbered by corporate desires which would turn them into mere consumers or advertising fodder.
This independence and right to self-determination is vital to the very thing that money cannot buy and that business cannot administer: a sense of community on the terrace.
The FFA continues to use anti-terrorist consultants Hatamoto to spy on active supporters and to provide guidance and recommendations for match day security, totally ignoring experienced consultants who can recommend on world’s best practice of dealing with football fans.
This is totally irresponsible by the FFA who is charged with oversight of our game.
I’m sure you would also appreciate the perceived conflict of interest in having such a group employed to identify ‘trouble makers’ with little or no oversight – they are essentially creating work for themselves.
The more ‘troublesome’ fans identified, the better the profits and the more secure the FFA account.
Next, lets look at the damage that you are doing to the game with your current PR strategy (if that’s what it is). I would like to make some recommendations:
Stop using the phrase ‘family friendly’
It is nothing more than a spin-doctored phrase and it sounds desperate.
You are also setting the code up for failure: as soon as any little incident occurs the Australian public will assume that you have failed to make football matches family friendly and you reinforce any negative sentiment about crowd behaviour in their minds.
In addition, the appearance of large numbers of riot police outside grounds and inside stands happens to be the least-family friendly scene you can imagine.
Instead, maybe you should continue to talk up the vibrant, loud, colourful atmosphere, which is not on offer anywhere else in Australia.
By the way, young kids love the atmosphere and nearly all of them that I know want to join that active support when they get older.
Stop saying “there is only a tiny minority of trouble makers”
The truth is that there are no more (and probably less) arrests, ejections and incidents at football events than there are at similar sporting and entertainment events.
So don’t even bother mentioning it, the other sporting codes (and entertainment providers) don’t mention it, why should you?
It only serves to pander to the likes of the anti-football media by raising a non-existent bogey man, and implies that these events are disproportionate at football matches.
In fact, you should get some of your staff at the FFA to put together some real statistics comparing our code with others so that if this comes up in an interview you can dismiss the idea immediately with hard data.
Stop saying “antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated”
This should be a given, as it is anywhere. It is a motherhood statement, and by mentioning it again you are again reinforcing any negative preconceptions in the minds of the population.
More damaging than that, you are implying that all of the fans are somehow capable of such behaviour when this is plainly not the case.
You are collectivising the guilt of a few individuals’ actions on to all football fans, whether you mean it or not.
The reality is, there are idiots who act irresponsibly in every area of society. Why highlight it as an issue at all? Again, refer to the data.
I believe the core of the issue is this: Football fans, and in particular active supporters, don’t feel that you defend them and value them.
You should be putting fans first, not the club franchisees, not the sponsors, not the police or stadiums or players or football’s administrators.
Because at the end of the day, football is more than what happens on the pitch and in the boardrooms and on the terraces.
Football is ultimately about communities, and healthy, growing and vibrant communities occur when people work together to build each other up and support each other.
So do your bit: stick up for the most passionate and vulnerable of football’s fans.
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.