The outbreaks of hooliganism we witnessed last weekend were flashbacks to an era we thought English football had left behind long ago.
Advances in technology mean it is highly unlikely we will ever return to the hooliganism days of the 1980s
There was a time back in the 1980s (coincidentally the last time Margaret Thatcher was on the front pages) when bloodied fans fighting running battles with the police was a regular event.
But in the intervening years, hooliganism has been all but eradicated thanks to the concerted efforts of the authorities, the police, the government and, not least, the fans.
Yet last weekend was clear proof that this particular disease will never go away entirely. Pockets of troublemakers will always exist and they only need the tiniest excuse to return football to those dark days.
The first incident happened during the FA Cup semi-final and involved – predictably – Millwall, a club with a long and unfortunate history of hooligan supporters. What was surprising, however, is that the violence at Wembley was actually Millwall fans fighting among themselves rather than against their rivals. That doesn’t make it any less wrong, of course, just all the more illogical.
The second incident took place at St James Park after Newcastle United lost to Sunderland. The Toon Army are lots of things – noisy, passionate, committed, boisterous – but you would never normally associate them with crowd trouble. Unfortunately, the 3-0 home defeat to their bitter local rivals pushed a small section of their less intelligent supporters over the edge.
Last weekend’s incidents put a dent in English football’s reputation that has been so painstakingly rebuilt over the past three decades. We all know how much Europe loves to paint hooliganism as an English problem even though the evidence very much indicates otherwise. This will no doubt play into their hands.
However, I don’t agree with the doom merchants who are saying last weekend could be the tip of the iceberg and that hooliganism could be about to make a comeback.
As disturbing as these outbreaks were, they have to be marked down as isolated incidents that just happened to take place on the same weekend. They didn’t involve large groups of fans waiting to ambush their rivals. They weren’t pre-planned or formally organised like much of the violence was in the past.
In my opinion, advances in technology mean it is highly unlikely we will ever return to the hooliganism days of the 1980s. Back then you could pretty much do what you want and get away with it unless the police caught you red-handed. If the incident took place in the streets surrounding a stadium then you had to be extremely unlucky to get caught.
Today, thanks to the internet, CCTV, television cameras, a hawk-like media and more specialised policing techniques, the chances are you will be caught sooner rather than later. And a lifetime ban from following their team is one of the few deterrents that actually hurts these morons.
I’m not saying hooliganism has been, or even can be, 100 per cent eradicated. The intensely tribal nature of football means there will also be some who let their passion boil over.
But we shouldn’t let one or two relatively minor incidents tarnish the image of a sport that has moved mountains over the last few decades to get its house in order.
The race must go on
It is 100 per cent correct that the London Marathon goes ahead today despite the tragic attacks that took place in Boston.
Security needs to be stepped up, obviously, and everybody who is running the race or watching it from the sides needs to be exceptionally vigilant.
But the idea of cancelling the London race should never have even crossed anyone’s mind. The second you start to change things to accommodate terrorism is the second terrorism wins.
The Boston attack has served to highlight something that has long been a reality – certain sports are particularly vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Not so much large-scale events like the Olympics or major football matches – the fact that they are in confined areas with designated points of entry makes them somewhat easier to police.
But how can you make something like a marathon secure? A course that stretches for more than 26 miles by its very nature is almost entirely impossible to protect. You can put extra checks at the beginning and the end, but what about the vast middle?
Let’s just hope what happened in America was nothing more than a one-off, an evil opportunist attacking an easy target, and not the beginning of a campaign targeted at defenceless spectator sports…
A legend in the making
He’s only been at the club a couple of weeks but Paolo Di Canio is already well on the way to becoming a Sunderland legend.
The Italian arrived at the Stadium of Light amid a storm of controversy thanks to his right-wing leanings and fascist sympathies.
Just two games later and the number of Sunderland fans who don’t think he is a good appointment has plummeted.
His first match was a creditable 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, with the team showing many signs of life that had been lacking under Martin O’ Neil.
But to follow that up with a 3-0 away victory over Newcastle – well that’s the sort of result that will go down in Sunderland folklore and ensure even those who were passionately against his appointment will start warming to him.
And you’ve got to love his touchline antics and goal celebrations, haven’t you? Sheer, unadulterated joy. Television companies are probably going to have to install ‘Di Canio cams’ at every Sunderland match, because watching him is almost as much fun as watching the game.
Of course, Di Canio’s status as a true legend will not be secured until he has saved the club from relegation. And, with five matches to go, their top-flight status is anything but certain.
However, if they can put in performances similar to the one they did at St James’ Park last week, it should be case of when they are safe, rather than if.
And that will give us a whole lot more magical Di Canio moments to look forward to next season.
It pays to do badly
From next season, clubs that are relegated from the Premier League will receive parachute payments worth a staggering £60 million (€70m) over four years.
That’s an increase of a very healthy £12 million (€14m) over the current levels.
Of course, I understand the logic behind the parachute payment system. Clubs that are promoted spend considerably more on players and wages to try and compete at the top level, and the parachute funds cushion the financial blow of relegation.
But forgetting for a moment that I am not overly keen on the idea of rewarding failure, how can this sort of financial bonus be fair on those teams in the Championship that haven’t been recently relegated?
It’s just one more example of the way the football playing field is anything but level these days.
Like father…
It doesn’t happen very often – only once before in the history of English football to be precise – but last Tuesday night a father and son faced each other as managers of rival teams.
In one dugout you had Lee Johnson, who is attempting to mastermind Oldham’s League One survival. In the other dugout was his father Gary, whose Yeovil team are pushing for promotion to the Championship.
The only other father/son showdowns took place more than 40 years ago when Bill Dodgin was manager of Bristol Rovers and his son, cunningly named Bill Dodgin Jr, was boss of Fulham.
I’ve honestly no idea how the Dodgin battles panned out, but on this occasion it was the son who got the better of the father, with Oldham scraping a 1-0 win, boosting their survival chances but severely denting Yeovil’s hopes of automatic promotion.
Wouldn’t you just love to be a fly on the wall when the Johnson family sit down for lunch today…?
sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade