THE GOVERNMENT has decided to get tough with football clubs after Sunday evening’s horrific violence in the centre of Limassol in which 24 people were injured and property was damaged.
It’s high time the clubs are forced to take some responsibility by being made to suffer a financial cost for the despicable behaviour of some their fans, which they refuse to do anything about.
The clubs say inadequate policing is to blame when hooligans go on the rampage, as if the police mobile action unit (MMAD) is obliged to be on stand-by, at huge expense to the taxpayer, whenever there is a football match.
But on Sunday night there was no football match. Apollon staged a street party to celebrate winning the league title, but supporters of town rivals AEL decided to ruin it by turning up in numbers. Objects were hurled at the celebrating crowd which returned fire and suddenly rocks and Molotov cocktails were flying through the air. Shop windows were smashed and cars damaged before MMAD arrived on the scene to restore order. AEL’s hooligans succeeded in ruining the party and Apollon, predictably complained about the small police presence which allowed the thugs to cause havoc.
But why should the taxpayer foot the bill for a big police presence, when the clubs are not helping the police clamp down on the hooligans? President Papadopoulos, quite rightly, threatened to withhold state assistance from the clubs which did not co-operate with the police in identifying troublemakers. He warned: “Clubs that do not cooperate, when asked by police to name those shown in photographs and videos committing acts of violence, should not expect (to receive) financial help from the state.”
This could be seen as blackmail, but it is the only way to make club boards cooperate with the authorities. Until now, the clubs have refused to help identify hooligans, filmed by the authorities, because of tribal loyalty – they do not want to betray their fans even if the latter are breaking the law and putting lives at risk. In effect they are protecting the hooligans and thus helping perpetuate the problem.
Clubs would rather have 500 policemen as security in every match than give names of troublemakers to the police. They would not take such a stance if they were made to pay the policing bill for every home match.
It is time the clubs are forced to act more responsibly, because without their help the fight against the hooligans could never be successful, regardless of how many experts the government brings in to help tackle the problem. And as they were unwilling to help the authorities, the government was left no choice but to blackmail them into co-operating.
We hope the President will carry out his threat, if a club continues to protect ‘its’ hooligans. And perhaps, as additional pressure, the police should start demanding payment for providing security at matches. The government needs to make the cost of protecting hooligans prohibitive for our irresponsible football clubs.
