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Western Sydney Wanderers have a problem. It is not a football-specific problem, nor is it set to cripple the club overnight, but it is a significant social issue which bears discussing nonetheless.
Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill wrote a terrific article during the week in which he stated that it’s “time to weed these idiots out”.
He was, of course, referring to the incidents before and during Saturday night’s enthralling 1-1 draw between Melbourne Victory and the Wanderers.
The facts as we know them are these; a video taken before the match shows two groups engaged in a violent brawl in which countless projectiles are hurled, whilst during the game flares were lit and noise-bomb detonators were reportedly activated from Western Sydney’s end.
Were it not for the pre-match violence the incidents inside AAMI Park may not have garnered the column inches they did, because the use of flares inside A-League stadia remains depressingly commonplace.
But now that the incidents have shone an unwelcome mainstream media spotlight onto the A-League, it’s incumbent upon the game’s leaders to engage in some frank discussions about how to resolve these issues.
The first phone call David Gallop should make is to the NRL’s former Canterbury Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg, to enquire about how he and predecessor Malcolm Noad helped transform the club from an outfit plagued by anti-social behaviour into one of the competition’s best-supported and most family-friendly clubs.
One of most common and laughably inane statements made by football’s detractors is that the sport is ‘so boring it compels fans to riot’.
Such logic crumbles the second one examines some of the incidents of fan violence which bedevilled the Bulldogs – to borrow an example from another code – in the recent past.
What the Wanderers and the Bulldogs have in common is this; both clubs have at one time or another attracted a small minority of individuals who use them as vehicles to conduct anti-social behaviour.
The code itself is irrelevant.
These individuals are not interested in watching sport, they’re interested in fighting and vandalism and other such rituals presumably aimed at solidifying their misguided notions of masculinity.
Much like honest motorcyclists have seen legitimate pursuits co-opted by outlaw ‘bikie gangs’ who wouldn’t know a Harley Davidson if it ran over them in the street, so too is the image of the A-League in danger of being held hostage by ‘fans’ who don’t actually give a damn about the round-ball game.
So what can we do about it?
The mainstream media is liable to do little more than label it ‘soccer violence’ and move on, despite the fact this oversimplifies both complex social triggers and ignores the prevalence of violence elsewhere – typified by a sickening king-hit culture outside pubs across Australia.
But when your average Herald Sun reader sees images of away fans covering their faces with scarves, shouting obscene chants and taunting anyone who comes across their path, it’s perhaps natural for them to conclude that the majority of football fans are thugs.
Football fans are quite palpably not all thugs, but the frustrating reality is that the impact of such a tiny minority resonates so loudly in the face of an overwhelming majority.
It is time for that majority, who come for the sole purpose of watching football, to speak out against the selfish individuals who attend A-League games purely to indulge in behaviour which would make their own mothers weep in despair.
We can shoot the messenger and blame the media all we like, but these issues exist and they won’t go away if we bury our heads in the sand.
Instances of fan violence may have a negligible impact on most facets of the A-League – a point exemplified by the fact the Wanderers are about to be purchased by a consortium of investors.
However, they damage the competition’s credibility across the broader community and have the ability to seriously hinder the sport’s growth going forward.
Whether it’s through better self-policing or hard-hitting life bans or something in between, ignoring the issue of anti-social behaviour at A-League games does our great game a disservice.
Simon Hill is right. It’s time to weed these idiots out.