TRUE FANS PAY THE PENALTY
Ignorant minority stain England’s reputation and leave beloved Wembley Way a no-go zone
IMAGINE if specialist penaltytakers were the answers and July 11, 2021 had become the most significant date in English football for 54 years.
How would we feel this morning knowing it had been poisoned hours before kick-off by the ignorant minority whose behaviour has led to unprecedented censure for this nation’s footballers.
Perhaps there could have been a stronger stewarding presence at Wembley that day. Riot police in helmets, with tear gas and truncheons from the start.
Would we have wanted such an auspicious day remembered that way?
As the organising hosts alongside the FA and the local authorities, UEFA had signed off on the security.
Nobody expected the rushing of gates or fighting with the authorities.
So it is no surprise that yesterday’s judgment – and the reprisals – were placed firmly at the feet of the England supporters.
Two matches behind closed doors, the second suspended for two years, was the punishment “for the lack of order and discipline inside and around the stadium”.
A £84,500 fine was also thrown into the mix.
All the fault of a minority of England fans, not the authorities.
Hours before kick-off, it was clear something was not right. Olympic Way, Wembley Way – call it what you will – had been a family playground before previous England games for fans excited to be at a tournament on home soil.
As England contemplate the feasibility for hosting the World Cup in 2030, those same fans must ask themselves when they expect anything similar to land on their own doorsteps again.
No wonder the FA were making no excuses yesterday.
“We condemn the terrible behaviour of the individuals who caused the disgraceful scenes in and around Wembley Stadium at the Euro 2020 final,” their statement read.
“We are determined that this behaviour can’t ever be repeated, so we have commissioned an independent review, led by Baroness Casey, to report on the circumstances involved.
“We continue to work with the relevant authorities in support of their efforts to take action against those responsible and hold them to account.”
What makes things worse is the lengths the FA have gone to while Gareth Southgate, right, has been England manager to make the team a force for good in the country’s society.
Brave, direct action has seen similar sanctions handed out to other countries for unacceptable racism from their supporters.
The FA have now to decide whether to host the game in question at Wembley or pass it off to a smaller venue nearer their St George’s
Park base.
But when those doors are shut next June for the UEFA Nations League – the next England international sanctioned by European football’s governing body – something certainly needs to come home.
Not football, sadly, but the idea that the mindless, selfish behaviour of fans will no longer be tolerated.