AUTHOR: – Bricki
I witnessed two excellent games this weekend. I was lucky enough to be at Old Trafford for what turned out to be a very entertaining game against Arsenal and i was able to watch the FA Youth Cup game between Liverpool and United via MUTV.
Both games contained some fantastic skill, drama and what we all love to see… Goals. However, both games also contained an unsavory side of the game that needs to be addressed and has no excuses.
I am course talking about some of the vile and downright offensive chanting that took place at both games.
In the last few years Sir Alex Ferguson has had to use his programme notes on the chants that Arsene Wenger has had to face when he visits Old Trafford. I’m sure many of you are aware that the chant in question likens Wenger to a paedophile. It is a horrible chant and still occurred Saturday in the early stages of the game, it was replaced as the game went on by ‘Sit down you paedophile’ as he emerged from the bench. There is no justification for this chant and everytime it is sung it drags the club and its supporters down to a gutter level.
We then came to the game at Anfield between two ‘youth’ teams, lets not forget that point in all this. Any game between the two clubs will be hotly contested as it is a case of playing for the badge and local pride. This game was no different with 5 goals, 4 red cards and scuffles between players. However it could be said that both sets of fans let themselves down in the great contest that happened yesterday with the chanting that took place. Chants about Munich, Hillsborough and Heysel came from both sides so this piece is not going to take sides saying one side is right and one i’snt. As far as I’m concerned it is all disgraceful and nobody has any credit in the argument.
I am 28, i wasn’t born when Munich happened, don’t remember Heysel and have the slightest recollection of the Hillsborough disaster. Why would i need to chant about these subjects? It doesn’t affect the game today, doesn’t affect the rivalry between the clubs and is the most unimaginative way of trying to ‘taunt’ the opposition fans.
There is a ‘tribal’ element to supporting a club that has started to rear its head again in recent years after a decline of sorts during the mid 90s which i believe occurred due to the introduction of all seater stadiums and more families starting to attend games.
An ignorance of the behaviour that has started to come back into grounds is no excuse. Any discussion regarding this topic becomes a tit for tat affair amid claims of ‘well they started it’. That is not good enough in the society we live in today, we rightly condemn other countries that allow behaviour such as racist abuse from the stands to go largely unpunished. Whilst i am not suggesting that these chants are in the same bracket as racism/homophobia (that is a different topic altogether) we are breeding a new generation of fans who will grow up singing about these incidents and also singing things to players/managers such as the song aimed at Arsene Wenger and feel this is acceptable.
One of the most emotional moments i have witnessed in a ground was the Manchester Derby that occurred on the anniversary of the Munich disaster. All the build up before the game was about whether the Manchester City fans would observe the minutes silence at the start. This was never in doubt however and my view from the top of the North Stand was a magnificent one. Thousands of fans with red/black and blue/white scarves raised in the air as an amazing silence fell over the ground. I had a Manchester City fan in the United crowd with me, this lad was only 15 years old. He turned to me at the end of the minutes silence and just said that this moment would live with him forever.
For me this is what the game should be about, moments like Munich, Hillsborough and Heysel have shaped the clubs they have affected and also shaped the game itself in this country. For this reason i am proposing that as fans we are stand together and attempt to eradicate this from our game.
Crawley Town had an incident with a ‘fan’ on a club video prior to their trip to Old Trafford for the FA Cup game. The swift manner they identified and removed the fan, who was then subject to criminal prosecution shows it can be done and with the clubs we can fight this pathetic behaviour.
The question that needs asking now is…
If this is the ‘minority’ that we all say it is, why can’t we stand up and remove this from our game? Failure to act is as bad as the chanting itself, but by allowing this behaviour to happen are we allowing the minority to in fact become the ‘majority’?
The onus rests with us as fans, failure to act could result in this behaviour becoming commonplace and once the cat is out the bag its very difficult to catch it again.
We all talk about the Respect campaign for Officials but what ‘Respect’ can we have as fans if we fail to act on what is happening right in front of our faces…