Violent crowd shame

MERE moments after Zach Tuohy’s match-winning heroics to give Geelong a crucial victory over Melbourne after the siren on Saturday night, the very worst of football culture broke out in the stands.

It was an ugly aftermath to a beautiful game. Instead of celebrating a brilliant exhibition of football, fans turned on each other as passion devolved into violence. Footage of punching, kicking and abuse in the stands soon graduated from social media into the mainstream and eclipsed the coverage of Tuohy’s post-siren goal.

The ugly incident placed Geelong on the national news agenda for all the wrong reasons.

Instead of lauding an inspiring come-from-behind victory, reports were focused on trouble among fans — an uneasy repeat of other recent incidents of spectator violence at the stadium.

And while it is a natural instinct to blame others for inciting the violence, video footage of Saturday night’s brawl clearly shows Cats fans in the thick of the fighting.

The AFL spends countless amounts every year to market the game as family-friendly — offering incentives such as free entry for kids on Sundays, kickto-kick after games and cutprice pies at certain games. But who would want to place their kids in an environment where violence and abuse could erupt at any moment?

Saturday night’s crowd violence is not an isolated incident at Kardinia Park — crowd violence at the stadium has made news in the past 12 months, including a fight among fans in the Richmond game last August and a glassing at the game against Carlton in May.

And while the stadium and football club will be investigating ways to address the issue, at the end of the day the buck stops with the fans.

The message is pure and simple — if you don’t think you can control your temper or excessive drinking at the football, we don’t want you there.

When great games are overshadowed by stupidity and violence, then no one wins.