Football-related violence has changed, like society, in some ways; and in some ways it hasn’t, writes Mark Rowe.
Chelsea fans in Paris on February 17, on their way to the Parc des Princes, for a Champions League match against Paris St Germain, reportedly refused to let a black passenger on to a Metro train before chanting: ‘We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it.’
Chelsea FC were quick to comment: ‘Such behaviour is abhorrent and has no place in football or society. We will support any criminal action against those involved in such behaviour, and should evidence point to the involvement of Chelsea season ticket holders or members the club will take the strongest possible action against them including banning orders.’ The Football Association said that like the club, it completely condemned ‘such disgraceful behaviour which is a criminal offence and those responsible should face the strongest possible punishment’.
Yet such anti-social behaviour was no different to, for instance, the anti-semitic chanting on a train by football fans against a Jewish man, as reported in the CST annual security report, featured in the March 2015 print issue of Professional Security. What was different was that the incident was filmed on a phone, and made it to the world’s news websites the next day. It did that because whatever the biggest names in English club football do – or supporters in their name – is news. Such racism is bad for brand reputation of a club and the game in general.
It’s been a commonplace for decades – indeed, ever since modern hooliganism began in the 1960s – that heavy policing and stewarding in grounds only displaces trouble, whether to coach and railway stations and train carriages, motorway service stations, or pubs and town centres. The dividing line between football hooligans and plain Saturday trouble-makers can be hard or pointless for door staff to draw.
Some trouble is peculiar to grounds, because fans get worked up if their team does badly. For instance when Premier League club Stoke lost 4-1 in the FA Cup at second-tier Blackburn in February, some Stoke fans turned violent. A sign of how closely Premier League fans are policed was that police and club stewards wearing jackets marked ‘Evidence Gatherers’ filmed the pitchside aggression.
Or, fans (at Championship bottom club Blackpool for instance) may protest. A fan protest has to be stewarded carefully like any protest – as featured in the March issue; supporters have the right to protest as paying customers; not so to stop the play or block the view of others. While the Premier League has the most banned fans and sees most arrests according to the annual police stats from the Home Office, that may simply be because gates at the leading clubs are biggest. Lower league clubs have trouble too; for instance, Staffordshire Police in January charged 28 men and teenagers from south Yorkshire and the Potteries with violent disorder at the third-tier match between Port Vale and Barnsley in September 2014.
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has called for an end to the alcohol ban inside Scottish football grounds. Murphy points out that football grounds in England sell alcohol; and the SNP government in Holyrood lifted a ban on alcohol at Scottish rugby grounds in 2007. Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Kezia Dugdale wrote in the Daily Record in February: “Done carefully and responsibly, ditching the ban on alcohol at football could help revitalise clubs. Suggesting that rugby fans and football fans are any different is only an excuse.” Police and the Scottish Government however are however sticking by the ban.
In fairness alcohol-related violence is hardly new to Scotland or anywhere: Everton fans in Lille for a Europa League fixture in October were attacked. Manchester will remember the city centre mass rioting by Glasgow Rangers fans, who travelled to the city in tens of thousands without tickets to see the UEFA Cup final in May 2008. More novel as a risk in football grounds are fireworks and flares, ‘pyrotechnics’ or ‘pyros’ in the jargon. As featured in the March issue, Burnley’s new CCTV system was partly to give control room operators better images to identify who was letting off pyros in the stands.
