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.
Moss
Guest
bump.
Arto
Guest
For all the nice words coming out of FFA, then this happens: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/pullover-banners-given-the-boot-at-highprofile-clashes-20131010-2vbiq.html Why can't there be proper discussions first before implementing such tactics which are bound to aggrevate some normal supporters (not the 'casuals' type who are more interested in causing a disturbance)???
Phutbol
Guest
17:03 the interviewer said words to the effect of: "I dont think crowd problems are any worse at any code- cricket, AFL, soccer... then goes on to ask about flares and how they tend to focus more attention on any other crowd incident no matter how minor. Robson goes on to say flares are not on and that if you bring em you arent welcome and will be excluded. He then talks about Jill Magher and how generally society needs to be more respectful of others... I honestly dont see how any reasonable person could think he was associating football with Jill Magher. I thought he answered the question well and thoughtfully. One last thing. the entire interview was in no way negative or "attacking" football. The host was very respectful i thought.
Franko
Guest
Was a great piece by Ange, he's a well balanced man.
Midfielder
Guest
Amos Maybe this article says it best ... http://m.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/third-time-lucky-ive-been-heartbroken-before-20131010-2vbl4.html
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"i didn’t hear the interview. however i don’t doubt what has been posted." @tom .. I think we've identified the issue for you & all the others, who have formed their opinion about what Robson said ... .. despite not even knowing what Robson said! Listen to the audio & see if you're still angry.
Rocknerd
Guest
You have no idea! 1. It was at Macathur Rams pre season where a ROCK was thrown and hit a kid 2. Syd Utd fans were attacked on mass by police because one person let off a fire cracker or bungga if you will 3. There was a massive over use of police numbers in Penrith for many reasons, particularly that it was a 2PM kick off on a Sunday against Adelaide who had 1-2 supporters there. This was not a high risk match, Yet the entire Riot squad were on hand to enforce order where non was needed.
Midfielder
Guest
Amos Agree .... however it changes nothing pertaining to those in the media wanting to pounce on issues... with huge respect the issues you raise need over the season to be worked tho ... we have never been closer than we are now but it can still go pear shaped ... Again I stress the issues you raise I on the whole support you however I also expect the HE's to work out solutions over the this season the offer from Gallop is there ... maybe you are five years away from what you want maybe less and in the mean time you can still do most things.... On the fans behaviour record ... FFA last year did heaps to allay and prove the fear wrong ... a good example is Simon Hills article "Can you Smell the Fear" from Hal 1 or 2 .... shows how small things can just get reported out of all context ... last year the broken chairs in Melbourne, the rock and the little girl in WS .... Its not the fault of FFA of how our behaviour is reported ... nor can FFA do much more about it .... The answer is to work from within .... and try to get a united front ....
Amos
Roar Rookie
middy, absolutely agree that we are garnering more positive articles regarding football in the main stream media. No doubt about it. Unfortunately this doesn't correspond to an increased understanding of active supporter culture by those that have power. As an example, the police have now announced that tifos will be banned at a number of Sydney-based matches. Not only that, but they are pouring resouces into a new joint committee to look at the A-League's "poor" fan behavior, despite the fact that we have fewer evictions and arrests than other codes. Oh, and guess who isn't invited to the committee?
Midfielder
Guest
Craig You will be safer than at the cricket and most RL matches ...
Midfielder
Guest
Amos Our game has had a number of false dawns .... I honestly believe we have reached a tipping point and many decision makers and media outlets are watching football today... to see if we make similar mistakes of the past ... When I got my coffee this morning, I picked up the rag called the TerrORgraph ... five and a half of the back 7 pages football ... smh all week yesterday another five pages... last night on the ABC sports show called grandstand their was about 15 minutes on football... I watched Thursday FC on SBS last night .... and tonight will watch on FTA the A-League if I am out in my car I can listen on the radio ... If overseas I can watch my A-League live in a number of countries and live streams for overseas folk have just been set up http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/284508,a-league-grabs-global-audience.aspx We all expect to the opening round to have over 100K fans....with increased ratings... All this my friend from broke, corrupt, miss managed, bias, no vision and self interest as the winner .... Be aware of the journey my friend and be very very very aware many many many people want this to be another false dawn and would love nothing better than to blow out what happened any incident in Football.... we are not in clear waters yet ... Meaning however bad ... and TBH it is not that you can't watch ... don't give the egg ball media and those that support them are being over come by the smell of fear .... no other code comes close to our products, players and the game itself ...
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"A teenage Djurgarden fan reportedly has suffered a broken ankle from the resulting crush at the bottom when the pile of bodies came flying down. Still find it amusing?" I find it less amusing when I know of an injury. Does the ALLEGEDLY broken ankle belong to the same miscreant, who was standing on the escalator hand rail? PS: "rather their negligence led to the “brakes” on the escalator failing due to the unsafe number of people and sending" Oh dear .. another example of kids today never being able to accept responsibility for their actions. They get burnt, it's because someone didn't tell them not to put their hand in the fire. If you think a situation is dangerous, stand back. You won't have mummy & daddy, or teacher looking over your shoulder all your life.
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
Not to mention the away strip There seems to be an issue where policies are being affected and driven by the news cycle too much, eg they have to be SEEN to be doing something and they have to come out with all of this zero tolerance stuff as media management. Sounds great in the media but doesen't translate into actually good policy and more harm than good ends up being done Similarly, De Bohuns article sounds nice enough and you wouldn't have any issue if you weren't aware of the inconsistencies between what is actually happening in the field so to speak As for the whole restrictions thing, not really sure what the end result will be of the fallout exactly, will be interesting to see what happens throughout the season But there are so many positives, and it irritates me that we are running the risk of past mistakes again that will cloud a very positive time for football
IchBinDeutsch
Guest
Fußball du bist verrückt
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
Only people who wouldn't go anyway The point of that is that the derbies are a good news story, but some people don't want to confront that naked fact so there has to be a negative slant to cage discussion of the match in to obscure the good element (crowd, atmosphere, drama etc)
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
The trick to it all is a sense of balance The issue with the heavy police profile approach is the way it affects the group psychology of fans, in the sense that it intimidates football fans with peaceful intentions, it creates an "us and them" type mentality where the police ability to influence the crowd is undermined and the irony of it is that any people within the crowd inclined to want confrontation of some form are seen as "protectors" of the overall group against police aggression rather than isolated. Not surprising m skelletts original post talks about a subdued atmosphere and feeling of uneasiness, happened in the MVFC active area long ago. Now you will probably give me a smart as answer Fussball, but it is worth mentioning the South Enders were dismissive of the North Enders concerns until both were combined for the 2009 Finals series....
Titus
Guest
Wow, that clip actually makes cricket fans look well organised and passionate...and that isn't a slight on the beer snake.
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
ROFL, reminds me of when back in season 3 when MavFC had an anti-Docklands gathering in a city park before a game. Not really that many people there but the police presence at the mere notion of football fans in a public area was hilariously OTT and the helicopter hovering overhead was the highlight
BA Sports
Guest
While those comments (which I didn't hear) are obviously stupid from the Victory CEO, you only have to read some of the comments on these Boards, or listen to talk back radio to understand why Peak Bodies are selective about how they collect feedback from "fans". Because while some fans may have some good ideas, many don't have much constructive or logical to add. Everyone's entitled to their thoughts, but why waste time and money sifting through 1000's of dumb comments to get one valid one.
Jo MVFC
Guest
That comment will never ever be forgotten, Melbourne fans have been put through the ringer and for our CEO to make these statements is unforgivable, I hope his tongue dry's up and falls out. Muppet..