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Their past form should mean this comes as no surprise, but even so, the Red and Black Bloc’s response to the sanction handed down by the Western Sydney Wanderers is somewhat bemusing.
Yesterday, the club announced they would shut down the active supporters area for the upcoming home game against Perth Glory. Today, the RBB offered not so much as a single word of contrition or remorse for letting off three flares during Sunday’s Sydney derby.
The full statement reads thusly:
“We understand that WSW FC were forced into a position of taking action by the “governing body”, to appease shareholders and the media alike, although we find it utterly ironic that clubs who voted against the FFA recently, are still being bent over a barrel and flogged by Lowy, Gallop and CO. There is a clear lack of balls. Club owners and CEO’s are quick to admonish the FFA behind closed doors, but kneel down and lick their boots in the public domain. There are only a handful of people with enough balls to stand up to the FFA, the rest have sold their souls along with their dignity and respect. The fact that an exuberant display garners more attention by “football pundits” than the state of our game, should highlight the skewed vision that those who claim to love football have.
“Football in this country is in an absolute shambles. Attendance figures, interest in the league as a whole, marketing and fan engagement have been on a steady decline. The FFA are so self indulged with holding onto power, that an appeals process agreed upon in the public eye, is still yet to see the light of day. Natural justice would spell the end of the FFA’s nefarious reign. FIFA, itself a corrupt body, saw the state of football and ascertained the need to intervene.
“The sport has become nothing but a corporate product being dictated by sponsors and suits who have no knowledge of football.
“We encourage all fans across the league to support their teams in the way they see fit. This is what separates our sport from the others. Its time the fans took back ownership of this sport from the dictatorship.
“Your biggest stakeholders, the fans, will not go silently.”
Fair enough that one of the most well-known supporter groups in the country wants to make a statement about the parlous state of football. It’s hardly the most unreasonable thing to say the sport is in a shambles. Far less reasonable, though, is saying as much today, using yesterday’s suspension as a springboard for the message.
(AAP Image/Paul Miller)
No-one could seriously suggest that A-League supporters receive fair coverage in comparison to their cross-code counterparts. The fear-mongering hyperbole used to describe football crowds in the past few years has been utterly devoid of class and integrity.
But despite the injustice of that coverage, it’s the lot football has been given in this country. And football fans – although I hesitate to use the word when describing the tiny minority of idiots who ignite flares at games – need to avoid giving the sport’s detractors any excuse to pile on again.
The response from the RBB is just dumb. Really, really dumb.
Given the word ‘flare’ appears a grand total of zero times in the RBB’s statement, a casual observer would be forgiven for thinking they had been unjustly sanctioned for doing nothing more than actively and legitimately supporting their team.
Let’s be clear: there’s a difference between engaging in active support and letting off flares, as so succinctly illustrated by Paul Williams yesterday.
*This* is active support.
Give me ? any day over flares and try-hard, wannabe "toughness". pic.twitter.com/iCQrS8pNKF
— Paul Williams (@PaulWilliams_85) February 27, 2018
The reality is that the suspension has been in reply to a few fans committing what, by definition, is a crime. Put aside the merits and flaws of the law – and if it is the law which is the issue, fans who insist on using flares would be well-placed to heed Simon Hill’s words and push for legislative reform – being at a football match does not give you any right to break it.
Until this minuscule proportion of A-League fans understand and respect that, the competition will continue to be bogged down by harmful coverage. Football and its predominantly excellent and law-abiding fans deserve better than that.