Soccer Violence

A few weeks ago I was at the A-League soccer match that took place at Aurora Stadium here in Launceston; with Melbourne Victory taking on Gold Coast in a hotly contested match. The score was nil-all at half time and it wasn’t until the 60^th minute, when Harry Kewell’s free kick outside the box found the back of the next, that the scoring was finally opened; 1-0 to Melbourne Victory.

The match was very tense after that, with the match threatening to boil over as players from both teams let their emotions known. Deep into stoppage time, Gold Coast Captain Ivan Thiwate managed to slip past the Melbourne defenders and score a goal with a thunderous shot outside the penalty box. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, with Gold Coast playing better out of the two teams. But the actual game itself was not the only talking point of the night.

Early in the second half the Melbourne Victory supporters in the Eastern Terrence of the stadium (I was in the Gunns Stand with my family), lit some flares. Firstly they lit up a smokescreen, which let off a lot of red smoke and also resulted in their being an ominous red glow that was very visible from the other side of the ground where I was seated. They then threw a flare into the penalty box of the Melbourne goalkeeper, who simply threw the flare back into the stands. Then they shot two flares across the ground using a flare gun. The two flares narrowly missed the Gunns stand, and they definitely gave me a fright. After the game the Melbourne Victory supporters let off flares in Tamar Street, which is not far from the stadium. No Melbourne victory supporters involved in both incidents were arrested by the police, with the police saying that they “couldn’t identify anyone”.

The next day, there were reports from Egypt saying that 74 people had died in a stadium disaster, with hundreds more injured. After soccer match spectators stormed onto the soccer, with many people being trampled to death. Fans then lit the stands on fire, which resulted in many people dying from burns, and others were beaten to death. The aftermath of the disaster was colossal, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the street and protesting. Two people died in the protest, which caused more anger in a country that was still dealing with the consequences for the Arab Spring protests; which resulted in the fall of the ruling Egyptian government. In the Egyptian disaster, it was reported that police failed to do anything as people were dying all around them. They did nothing as the riot started to take full shape.

Back to the A-League game; the police didn’t do anything until the flares were fired, and even then they didn’t do much. The police were on the other side of the ground, when it happened and had to walk all the way to the other side of the ground. What is even more disappointing is the fact that the police did not charge anybody for lighting the flares, which suggests that these hardcore fans can get away with anything.

Some people take their soccer too seriously. We look at these “thugs” and think that what they are doing is wrong, and yes it is wrong, but they are too involved in soccer violence that they can’t escape it. It’s like trying to get out of a gang, or escape a terrorist group. Poor police reaction has only fuelled more violence, as the police aren’t a deterrent for any of these people doing violent things.

It is a sad thing to say, but soccer violence has become a part of the sporting landscape now. We all know that it occurs and that these people aren’t easily intimidated. We, as soccer fans, are just going to have to live knowing that these things happen and continue supporting the game for the positives that it has. Sometimes it takes a tragic event to change a whole group of people’s, or even a whole country, to change someone’s perception on something. It took a tragedy like Hillsborough to change people’s perception of soccer violence in the UK, and hopefully it won’t take something like that to deter violent soccer fans here in Australia; as I don’t know what else we are able to do.