by It’s the biggest weekend on the world football calendar, and what are the Australian ‘fans’ of the game doing?
Kicking an own goal.
I use the term “soccer” with some trepidation, by the way. The last time I committed this cardinal sin in a column, my inbox was filled with messages dripping with outrage, spite, and vitriol.
Still, it could have been worse. It could have been my mailbox filled with a lit rocket.
Aussie Rules football was riding high after the World Cup until the violent and shameful invasion of the pitch in Melbourne on Saturday night (pictured) in the A-League Melbourne derby
Now the morons at AAMI Park (pictured) have replaced positive stories with headlines of flares, pitch invasions, muggings and game abandonments.
That’s what a so-called “world game” fan threatened to do if I ever dared use the S-word again.
“It’s called football, you #%*+,” he said.
Truly? Well, today it’s called a shame.
Seriously, what’s going on with you?
The image of the game in this country is getting the biggest boost since… well, maybe ever, and you have to drag it through the mud.
The Socceroos performances (don’t blame me, I didn’t name them) put the game on the front page for all the right reasons. Now, even before the World Cup is over, the morons at AAMI Park have replaced those positive stories with headlines of flares, pitch invasions, muggings and game abandonments.
Violent thugs pictured storming the pitch on Saturday night
Any goodwill engendered by those inspiring two weeks in Qatar was swept away by a few minutes of idiocy and violence in Melbourne.
And please don’t try to tell me that it’s wrong to blame the majority of loyal, well-behaved football fans for the stupidity and violence of a minority.
Sorry, but that’s how it works.
Do you think the non-football community watches TV coverage of police using tear gas and baton charges to break up riots in Paris and Belgium after World Cup games and thinks, “well, it’s only a minority”?
Did they see a 14-year-old boy killed when he was hit by a car trying to flee the violence and see it as ‘just part of football’?
Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover suffered a suspected concussion and a cut to his face
Do they look at a French fan bleeding and in need of medical attention after being hit in the head with a crate of milk thrown by an Australian fan at a World Cup live site and think, ‘Oh , isn’t the passion for the World Game beautiful? ‘
Of course not. They think, ‘what’s going on with football fans? Why can’t they behave like normal people?
And that’s a good question.
How is it that fans of other sports in this country can follow their teams in action knowing that there is virtually no chance that they and their families will be caught up in a riot, but if they go at a football game, there is always this doubt in the back of their minds?
Field invaders pictured swinging from the goal crossbar at AAMI Park
Now I have to say that I used to take my young children with me to watch the A-League quite regularly in its early days and there was never a single problem.
But similarly, I have attended matches in the UK where visiting supporters are met at the station by mounted police and escorted to and from the ground to avoid contact with local supporters.
I also remember the old days of the NSL when derbies between clubs backed by opposing ethnic groups were little more than an excuse to rekindle age-old grievances.
And then there was that Sydney newspaper front page in 2015 naming and humiliating – complete with photographs – 198 fans who had been banned by the A-League.
Football has the worst public image of any sport in the country
Put it all together and you have a game with the worst public image in any sport in the country.
At one time, we used to read that football was the fastest growing game in Australia among juniors as mothers didn’t want their children to get injured while playing the other codes of football.
Those days are over. We are now told that the well-funded and expertly managed Auskick juggernaut is sweeping everything before it.
And why wouldn’t it be? Football might be a safe game for kids, but you wouldn’t want to take them to watch the A-League. First, there’s a perception that it’s not a safe environment for spectators, and second, the quality of the game is so low it’s like watching the paint dry.
Football might be a safe game for kids, but you wouldn’t want to take them to watch the A-League with scenes like Saturday night
It’s no wonder that unlike the mega-rich AFL or rugby league, the game doesn’t have two bobs to rub.
The number of paying viewers and subscription sales are a joke, as evidenced by the size of the paltry $40 million per year broadcast rights deal.
That’s why when the Socceroos captured the country’s imagination in Qatar, those charged with the dubious honor of running the game in Australia looked to the skies and said a prayer of thanks.
Finally, something had finally gone well. People loved them.
For a few days, the good vibes even put off the A-League’s decision to sell the grand final to Sydney for the next three years.
Terrain invaders pictured going crazy at AAMI Park
Ah yes, the infamous grand finale deal that sees the code’s biggest game of the year locked up in Sydney for the next three years for a whopping $12 million.
The deal that was the spark that led to Saturday night’s shameful scenes in Melbourne.
Now, I admit I’m no expert on the inner workings of the A-League or the minds of its supporters, but it seems to me that if someone offers a struggling sports code a shipping container money to play one match a year in the most beautiful city in the country, it would be bad business to refuse.
Sure, it can be hard for code-followers in other parts of the country to put up with, but sometimes it just sucks.
Fans have the right to leave games – but they cannot throw flares at players, run on the pitch and hit players with metal trash cans
Rugby league fans from Queensland, Victoria, ACT, Newcastle and New Zealand have been doing it for decades, knowing that no matter where their team finished on the table, the grand final would be played in Sydney .
However, if you want to protest by leaving the matches after having paid to buy your tickets, it is your right.
What is not your right is to throw flares at players, run around the field, hit a player in the head with a metal trash can, assault a referee and a cameraman and force a stoppage of play.
Nor is it your right to continue to fuel the overwhelming public perception of Aussie rules football as a toxic cesspool of idiocy, hooliganism and violence.
Australian rules football is seen by the public as a toxic cesspool of idiocy, hooliganism and violence due to events like the utter chaos of the Melbourne Derby.
At some point, you have to put the good of the game you claim to love ahead of your most basic instincts.
Not that I would hold my breath waiting for that to happen. In my experience, it seems some people just don’t get it – and they probably never will.
About 15 years ago I attended a large Brisbane Roar function in Brisbane. The guest of honor was Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, who stood up and pledged her personal and government support for the club and the code.
“I’m a soccer mom,” she said. “My boys love football and so do I. Anything I can do to help football and the Roar I will do.” Just ask.
In a city dominated by the Broncos of rugby league and the Lions of the AFL, it was a huge commitment.
Members of Victoria Police pictured in the field after the violent chaos on Saturday night
So what did the room full of the game’s biggest supporters do? Did they applaud the Prime Minister or did they give him a standing ovation?
No. They booed her for using the word “soccer”.
Honestly. Some people deserve what they get.
