'Cancer of violence' hype and hypocrisy
Below, for the record, is the anti-football nonsense published by the Irish Independent on Wednesday, and re-heated and re-hyped by Newstalk on Thursday.
It is a deliberately selective and alarmist piece in which the writer dwells on a series of incidents all of which have parallels in other sports or in leagues in other jurisdictions, about which the Independent provides largely uncritical and often glowing coverage.
Gerry isn't calling for the abolition of the English Premiership, despite the various episodes of handbags we have seen there. I suppose there is a gulf in the quality of the punch and pizza throwing. Our self-appointed moral guardian and his easily shocked, faux-naif chum also seem happy so far to see the continuance of the Wimbledon championships, in spite of the expletives heard there this week. Perhaps he and his sensitive Malahide friend prefer their rustic Anglo-Saxonisms voiced by effette English sporting failures than by some real-life Dubs at an EL game.
Nor does Gerry's analysis of the behaviour of sportsmen and fans stretch to those stalwarts of on and off-field argie-bargie, the GAA. Perhaps he sees something of the noble savage in GAA managers and players knocking seven shades of racially pure ****e out of each other.
Whatever about this clearly biased cant, the really sinister part is the talking up of those champions of Irish football, Dermot Desmond and John Magnier, closely followed by his call for the league to be reconstituted with clubs organized by the right sort of people -- presumably those who would like to have a Dublin Utd compete in England.
We are looking at the sneaky flying of a dangerous kite. Is the supporters' association planning any response?
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Cancer of violence killing off Eircom League
THE Eircom League is slowly dying from self-inflicted wounds and unless drastic measures are quickly taken then the patient is going to slowly and painfully pass away.
This season has been another disaster for the league, culminating in events at the weekend when we had tunnel brawls and pitch battles.
One parent, having enjoyed the midweek FAI Carlsberg Cup replay between Malahide United and Sligo Rovers at Gannon Park, decided to bring his kids to their first Eircom League game and chose to visit Tolka Park last Friday night.
Over the weekend he e-mailed the Eircom League to explain why he will never again be bringing his kids to watch Ireland's professional league. He had watched in horror as abusive banners were unfurled, bad language filled the air, coins and bottles were thrown onto the pitch and, to top it off, there was a pitch invasion at the end which resulted in an exchange of missiles between rival fans.
But he, like almost everybody else in Tolka Park last Friday night, missed the incident which generated the biggest headlines over the weekend when, about an hour before kick-off, the chief executive of Shelbourne, Ollie Byrne and Shamrock Rovers manager, Roddy Collins met in the tunnel area.
It was an explosive cocktail. Byrne is easier to wind up than a clockwork toy while Collins is a master at rubbing people up the wrong way.
Apparently, Byrne took exception to comments about his club which Collins had made in a pre-match radio interview and an exchange of blows followed which left the Rovers boss with a torn shirt and the Shels supremo with a sore head.
Then, on Saturday night, as the teams made their way off the pitch at Finn Park in Ballybofey the player manager of Waterford United, Alan Reynolds, lashed out at Finn Harps' 20-year-old striker Chris Breen as they shook hands and received a red card. At least Reynolds had the good sense to resign on Monday.
There is a cancer of violence, thuggery and bad behaviour currently eating into the Eircom League and unless ruthlessly stamped out it is going to drive away the few remaining followers. There are plenty of other things to enjoy on a summer's night than watching supporters of rival clubs bait each other for 90 minutes before engaging in battle at the full time whistle.
It doesn't set much of an example when chief-executives fight managers, or managers decide to lash out at opposing players. If you add in the verbal abuse that can be found on the pitch, in the dug-outs, on the terraces and even in the directors boxes then going to a football match nowadays can be a very unpleasant experience.
Nobody expects angels to inhabit professional sport but the time for tolerating despicable behaviour is long past and the clubs have got to realise that they are slowly killing the game by tolerating it.
The Eircom League exists on a financial tightrope and clubs depend for their income on gate receipts, commercial income, sponsorship and more recently prize-money. Every penny they earn is vital. Shelbourne, the most successful club at present having won four league titles out of the last six and reached the third qualifying round of the Champions League last season, cannot attract new investment that would enable them to move to the next level.
Could anyone blame Dermot Desmond, JP McManus or John Magnier for not wanting to invest the profits from their Manchester United shares into a club where the Chief Executive spoils his excellent work by allowing himself to be wound up into a frenzy by rivals.
As the top club in the Eircom League, Shelbourne set the standards in many areas but behaviour is not one of them as the punishments regularly handed out to Byrne, manager Pat Fenlon and assistant manager Eamonn Collins for various misdemeanours shows.
If the clubs want to become more professional, if they want the League to be run more professionally then they have got to start acting like professionals. Unprofessional behaviour should be no longer acceptable from anybody, irrespective of their position or their club.
At present the Eircom League and the FAI are on the verge of merging.
When that happens the time for pussy-footing should stop.
One radical solution would be to immediately disband the Eircom League and divide the country into 16 regions, four of which would be in Dublin.
Applications would be invited from people interested in running a professional football franchise in those areas and public hearings would be held in each region where the applicants would get an opportunity to present their case as well as receive a public grilling from members of the Club Licensing Committee.
Each successful applicant would enter into a strict contract that would be filled with all sorts of penalties for bringing the game into disrepute and the league would be run by professional administrators who would be fully empowered to make tough decisions.
For every step forward the Eircom League takes, it quickly moves two paces back by shooting itself in the foot. The time has come for radical surgery before the Eircom League ends up being as insignificant to the population as its counterpart is to the people of Wales.
Gerry McDermott
Bootroom
© Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/
