Swift Justice.

Lampman · 22-02-2005, 21:30

Good to see that the pitch invader in the Burnley V Blackburn match was arrested,presented at court and imprisoned all within a couple of days.
A refreshing change to the usual tale of delayed court appearances,bail and suspended sentences.
More of the same please!

Acrylic-bob · 23-02-2005, 07:38

I watched the news reports of the disturbances following a couple of football matches at the weekend in utter disbelief. I saw the massed police presence and noted that they closed off large sections of towns, redirecting traffic and affecting businesses. Not for the first time I was moved to wonder at the attiude of (a) the "supporters", and (b) the authorities. If any other business caused this amount of distruption on such a depressingly regular basis it would have so much legislation thrown at it that it would be unable to continue. And yet the foootball clubs are allowed to carry on as if nothing remarkable or untoward had happened.

Other sporting events manage to take place without all this disruption. Can you imagine rioting at a race course or at the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race or at Wimbeldon?

Why does a special exception have to be made for football?

And I also have to wonder at a "sport" that attracts the likes of the head-case who thought that it was permissable to go onto the pitch and attack the players and police. How can people let such a trivial matter as a game get so out of proportion?

pendy · 23-02-2005, 14:02

I agree totally, A-B. We went to Twickenham towards the end of last year, to watch England play Canada. There were massive crowds, but all good-natured, no trouble at all. Of course there was a police presence, but mainly to direct people along the way and direct traffic to the ground. No sign of much inside the ground, because they know there won't be trouble - yet rugby is supposedly a much rougher game than soccer!

It is about time that football clubs paid for the disruption they cause - goodness knows, they obviously have enough money with the salaries and transfer fees they pay. Perhaps we could pass a law saying that all football grounds had to be sited outside of towns? That way, everybody could get there without causing disruption in town centres, and the idiots could play happily at slaughtering one another in a specially designated field, with a bulldozer to gather the bodies later.