Just because it’s a cliche doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
The enduring, irrefutable fact remains that football without fans isn’t worth the grass it’s played on. If it was not for the passion and the emotion which injects itself into the veins of our national sport then the game would be stopped and, worst of all, almost no-one would stop to bat an eyelid.
It should be stressed also that the vast majority of those stalwarts who make it their business to show up week after week, home and away, in defiance of every defeat – these are the people who make it matter as much as it does. But somehow, somewhere along the way Scottish football has become infected by a contagion which is so malign and so utterly appalling it does give reason to wonder if it’s really all worth it.
A subculture has taken hold of football’s extremities and it’s gripping hard enough to make the eyes water. The time has come to stop beating around the bush where these self entitled simpletons are concerned. They like to call themselves ‘ultras’ as if they are more extreme and important than the normal run of the mill fan.
But the truth of the matter is, for the most part, they are moronic, middle of the road cult members who have long since abandoned the ability to think for themselves.
These people appear to pride themselves on being obnoxious, crass and vulgar as if it has become their sole purpose in life to cause shock and outrage in equal measure, wherever and whenever they gang up together, under the banner of whichever club they purport to love.
They are not radicals. They are repugnants. And the sooner they are given the cold shoulder by those of us who prefer to exist in a civilised society, the better it will be for the game that we hold so dear. For example, there will be Celtic fans out there right now who may be wrestling with those exact same thoughts now that they may be about to be denied the opportunity to follow their team to Munich to face Bayern in the play-off rounds of the Champions League.
After all, what is the point in being a football supporter if the right to support your own football team at such a monumental moment is taken away from you by the mindless deeds and actions of others draped in the same colours? The self centred dimwit who hurled a smoke bomb onto the pitch at Aston Villa after Adam Idah’s equaliser on Wednesday night has left UEFA with a major decision to make.
Given the European football governing body’s highly visible, zero tolerance stance on such matters, a one size fits all travel ban for the second leg now seems almost inevitable. And that would constitute a crying shame for those Celtic supporters who would have been digging out their passports in the rush to get to Bavaria if they had even half a chance of landing a ticket for the away end at the Allianz Arena.
Similarly, when those same fans arrived at Fir Park on Sunday, there will have been Motherwell supporters spread out across the home sections still stinging with a sense of embarrassment at the circumstances which led to their team being selected by reluctant caretaker boss, Stephen Frail.
Frail was left to pick up the pieces from the moment Stewart Kettlewell decided that he was no longer prepared to tolerate being harangued and subjected to abuse from a pocket of fans in the main stand. Kettlewell chose to call it a day because of the emotional scars this boorish behaviour was leaving on his family members who had the misfortune of having to witness it up close.
The widespread and generally mortified reaction to the manager’s resignation suggests the vast majority of Motherwell’s rank and file are almost as sickened by this scenario as Kettlewell was himself. They too have been tarred by the same brush. They too deserve a great deal better from their own, supposedly kindred spirits.
It was the same heart sinking story at Ibrox on January 2 when 50 odd thousand Rangers fans were celebrating a 3-0 victory over Celtic – and one of them chose to hurl a coin at Arne Engles, leaving the young Belgian in a dazed heap at the corner flag.
During the same derby Brendan Rodgers was also targeted by at least one tosser from another section of the stadium and it’s almost impossible to fathom what on earth was going through the heads of those responsible for such brainless thuggery.
Of course, all of these examples cause a period of intense toe curling and navel gazing along with an increase in calls for fans to self police. But that’s so much easier said than done that, inevitably, it almost always falls on deaf ears. And so the cycle continues and the silent majority can do little more than shrug their shoulders while bracing themselves for whatever embarrassment might be thundering towards them down the pipeline.
The football authorities, meanwhile, continue to do nothing much more than wince as all manner of damage is done to our game’s reputation. They won’t make a case for imposing strict liability because they know the clubs won’t back it but, just lately, SFA president Mike Mulraney has waded into the debate, publicly calling for the police and the courts to take a more proactive role in cleaning up Scotland’s stands.
Mulraney makes a strong point when he highlights the recent downturn in the issuing of football banning orders. Astonishingly, while the problem is getting worse, the punishments for those indulging in these acts of criminality in the name of football are almost non-existent.
One thing is for sure, it simply cannot be allowed to go on like this. The more the silent majority feel similarly motivated and empowered to find a voice, the quicker they might be able to drown out the game’s unwanted noise.