Of course fans have ‘Boris’ British common sense’.. so police must not view them all as criminals-in-waiting
SOME police know the score when it comes to predicting the behaviour of football fans.
Last year, the UK’S top football-related cop, Mark Roberts, advised UEFA to move England’s Friday night Euros qualifier in Prague because the trip would attract a stag-do crowd intent on trouble.
They ignored Roberts (below) and a pitched battle ensued with riot police, leading to 14 arrests.
These days, the fans who follow clubs at home are far less likely to cause a mass disturbance than those who follow England abroad, yet most police still treat them primarily as potential criminals.
They decree that derby games must be played around noon so no one turns up drunk, which makes travelling for some fans impossible, and can lead to ugly brawls later in the day which pubs and bouncers have to deal with.
In 2014, Sunderland and Newcastle became so angry with Northumbria Police demanding lunchtime kick-offs whenever the sides met, they chose to ignore their dictats and agree times that best suited them.
There are many examples of away fans suing police for blocking them attending games.
In 2010, Greater Manchester Police paid £200,000 to 80 Stoke City supporters who were stopped en route to a match and falsely imprisoned by containment.
So there was no surprise in the police telling the Premier League that, if they want to resume the season, games needed to be in neutral venues as far away from fans as possible.
No meetings with supporter groups were held to see if that was necessary, no evidence produced of the mass congregations they claimed to fear, just a kneejerk assessment based on making their own lives easier.
Premier League clubs are finally challenging this and we’re now hearing some police forces are fine with games returning at home grounds, as is happening in Germany where fans are equally as fanatical, and, unlike England, there is still a title race to be sorted.
But others, like West Midlands Police Commissioner David Jamieson aren’t.
The former MP says it’s “inconceivable” that fans, including away ones, won’t flock to grounds. Although he’s yet to say whether he’s spoken to any fan groups or knows anyone who would rather get moved on by police outside Molineux than watch the game at home on TV with a drink.
Or if he’s factored in clubs using an army of stewards to block roads and covering any excess police bill, and managers, players and fan groups publically appealing to their people to stay away.
The overriding issue determining football’s return should be the safety of everyone inside stadiums.
If clubs can reasonably guarantee that, players want to play and the British Government gives the go-ahead, the prospect of a minority of fans breaking lockdown rules should be treated the same as the minority of people heading for parks, beaches or house raves.
Objectors cite Paris Saintgermain followers gathering outside the Parc des Princes on March 11, for their closeddoor Champions League game with Borussia Dortmund, as proof fans can’t be trusted. But that was almost a week before France made public gatherings illegal.
All football fans now know the score with this pandemic and are already obeying social distancing in supermarkets and bus queues, quite a few mourning people whose funerals they were unable to attend. Some are even devoting themselves to plugging the PPE gaps left by this British Government.
Last weekend, Liverpoolbased Fans Supporting Foodbanks sent 5,000 lifesaving visors to sister fans groups in Newcastle, Huddersfield, Leeds, Manchester and London for distribution to frontline care workers.
So why, for once, don’t the likes of the West Midlands Police Commissioner engage with fans, instead of citing them as the reason football cannot be allowed to return in their backyard.
Do they believe the only people who don’t possess the “British common sense” that Boris Johnson is calling for in this crisis are ones who watch football?
If so, they won’t be the first to shamefully persuade a Tory prime minister that fans should not be viewed as law-abiding citizens but criminals in waiting.