Melbourne Derby flare incident: David Davutovic says poor crowd behaviour threatening future of game

IF YOU want to throw flares, book a ticket to Europe or South America and knock yourself out, Herald Sun football writer David Davutovic writes. Recap the chat

David Davutovic

IGNITING a flare is a risk worth taking for a wannabe hooligan.

One can hide, disguised among his mates and on the off chance of getting caught, the absolute maximum fine is $6000.

Considering the rewards on offer — notoriety, backslapping and media exposure — and with less than a 25 per cent chance of arrest, why wouldn’t one have a crack?

There is no single solution to this complex issue, but the best chance of eradicating it is by legislating far harsher criminal punishments for igniting flares and detonators.

I’ve been to countless games in Europe — as recently as last year — where flares are part of the spectacle and no one bats an eyelid.

We are so far past that conversation in Australia that it’s time for politicians to bring the criminal punishments in line with the amount of damage these “fans” are doing to the A-League.

Lifting fines to $20,000 with the threat of a two-year jail term for igniting flares and detonators would resolve the problem quickly.

Irresponsible individuals would then think long and hard before attempting to bring the game into disrepute.

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Some are schoolkids, who don’t fully comprehend the consequences of their actions, and would be backslapping each other this week while tucking into the lunch boxes their mums packed them.

Punishing the clubs they claim to support with fines or playing in empty stadiums won’t solve anything because these guys won’t give a stuff — if anything it’ll be worn as a badge of honour.

Nor will they care about losing points, but at least it gives the real fans greater incentive to police it, which began last Saturday when a large section of the crowd jeered the ignition of a flare.

True fans of the A-League are being taken advantage of by the faceless few who continue to run amok, fuelling ill-informed remarks such as Tom Elliott last week linking flares to boring games.

The A-League is many things, but boring is not one of them.

But flares are easy to buy (or steal) and not difficult to bring into venues, with kids, women’s handbags and even prams used to smuggle them in.

Metal detectors and frisking will help but they’ll still find ways and it’ll just take one flare to cause havoc.

That’s why the games’ leaders — especially players and coaches — need to inspire the masses into ostracising the idiots and calling out the criminal behaviour that they call “soccer passion”.

It can be intimidating standing up to such people, which is why it needs to be the collective.

Victory and now the FFA have bowed to disruptive fans in past but can no longer do so.

The plain-clothed, attention-seeking minority are simply running amok and disrespecting those who’ve worked tirelessly to get the game to where it is.

If you want to throw flares, book a ticket to Europe or South America and knock yourself out, but make no mistake here you are threatening the future of the game.

Originally published as Melbourne Derby flare incident: David Davutovic says poor crowd behaviour threatening future of game