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Hooliganism
- a nurtured germ in soccer?
(A GNA Feature by Veronica Commey, GNA Sports Desk)
Accra, Jan 5, Ghanadot/GNA –
Soccer hooliganism is gradually lifting its ugly head,
something that in time past warded off potential sponsors
for Ghana’s soccer League.
Some of us have looked with irony in our seemingly helpless
quest to uproot the canker forever; a situation that has
compelled me to wonder whether the Okudjato Commission's
decision to be silent on finding culprits or scapegoats in
the wake of the May 9 recommendations was a shrewd decision.
The recent behaviour of supporters of Kumasi Asante Kotoko
protesting a disallowed goal in their Premier League game
against Sporting Mirren at the Ohene Djan Stadium last
Sunday vividly re-enacted the events of May 9, when the
irate fans broke down one of the bullet proof inner gates,
invaded the pitch and attacked everything in sight except
their players and even went to the extent of heckling the
security detail at the arena with zeal.
Granted that the match officials might have been at their
lowest ebb but was the attack necessary? I have read the
Okudjato Commission's Report and my conviction is that page
38’s attempt to "justify" the supporters' unpleasant
behaviour regarding the May 9 is amusing and a recipe for
disasters.
You may argue that the security personnel over reacted in
their quest to halt the hooligans during the May 9 calamity
but to claim that "indeed some of the missile throwers were
just showing their disgust and would have moved off after
venting their emotions by throwing the missiles" as
explained in section 25.24 on page 39 is regrettable.
Whoever said since the missiles were not directed at any
particular group or person(s) and that the fans did not
threaten each other in the stands or anywhere else in the
arena, hence the need to have allowed them to vent their
supposed anger, might perhaps be one of the reasons why in
this age, supporters allow their emotions to clad their
judgment when it matters most to save lives and property.
Had the supporters who took the law into their hands to set
the tone for the May 9 disaster been made to face the full
rigorous of the law, those who turned the national arena
into the rioting field in an apparent protest of bias
officiating last Sunday would have had every reason to fear
the repercussions.
I think our attempt to uproot hooliganism has been elusive
mainly because we have relegated the main architects and
culprits to the background and turn to look for scapegoats.
But expect the Club to suffer for the destruction of
national property only for the reckless culprits to escape
punishment. For this reason, the clubs will do themselves
and the game loads of good by embarking on educational
drives for their supporters to accept that in football one
cannot always win, while offenders get punished for
misbehaving.
It is easy to wonder why the football authorities as well as
the security agencies still grapple with this phenomenon
since some of them are ineffective or have aligned
themselves with some of the clubs and so cannot take any
punitive measures against known culprits.
The time has come for the football authorities to send out
strong signals to all that soccer is governed by universal
laws which cannot be flouted with impunity and that nobody
would be made to go scot-free.
Unless the bull is taken by the horns and approached with
resolute issues like the England Football Association’s, (EFA)
which mandates security personnel to arrest supporters
irrespective of their club affiliation for prosecution and
go further to alert protocol to deny such hooligans access
to the stadia; our sweat will be in vain.
It is important that the football authorities revisit the
Commission's recommendations to empower and equip the
security agencies deployed to the stadia to work
efficiently.
The Police may have finally intervened, but they appeared
powerless as some fans formed a protective shield around the
"ringleaders" thwarting their efforts at arresting the
offenders.
Watching the Policemen at the Stadium struggling but in vain
to topple the rioting supporters with their bear hands and
occasionally falling victims of the angry fans gave credence
to the fact that until they are well equipped with the
shield, riot gear and the megaphones, one would have to
forget the war on hooliganism.
Again, there is the need to task the security men who throng
the arena to concentrate on mingling with the supporters to
ensure sanity and focusing on their duties and to remain
neutral instead of watching games must be among the prime
objectives of halting hooliganism.
And watching some Kotoko players join to attack the match
officials, it became evident that targeting only supporters
in our quest to uproot hooliganism would have little meaning
if characters like players remain the reason why soccer
lovers throng the arena week in and out.
Such players do not deserve to be involved in the passion of
the nation, which can unite more than divide us all and it
is against this backdrop that I ask the appropriate
sanctions to be applied to who ever is found culpable to
send the right signals that the FA is up to task of ensuring
peaceful and violent-free soccer leagues in the country.
GNA
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