FFA uses conciliatory language when it should been coming out hard against flare fools, writes Richard Hinds

IN its war against flare-ripping fools, FFA must do something Donald Trump’s speech writer, the NRL integrity unit and maths teachers could not. It must cure stupidity.

News Limited new columnist Richard Hinds with Phil 'Buzz' Rothfield

IN in its war against flare-ripping fools, Football ­Federation Australia must do something Donald Trump’s speech writer, the NRL integrity unit and mathematics teachers could not. It must cure stupidity.

The original solution was lethal injection. Throw out the idiots and ban them for life. But the medicine was dispensed before it was laboratory tested and a few innocents suffered the same side-effects as the morons for whom it was prescribed.

So on Monday, when FFA should have been giving the latest flare-igniters shock therapy, it was instead unveiling an appeals process. The new system is fair and necessary but the timing of the announcement could not have been worse.

FFA had every right to be speaking stridently and unapologetically about poor fan behaviour. Yet those explaining the appeals system were forced — or chose — to walk on eggshells using conciliatory language for fear of upsetting the delicate sensibilities of the innocent majority. It sounded like zero-ish tolerance.

Yet only last week the FFA had put its latest anti-stupidity miracle drug on the shelf. The $50,000 fine and threatened points deduction imposed on the Wanderers was supposed to cure clubs of the delusion they were doing enough to confront fan behaviour, and cure fans of the delusion they could act with impunity.

But the dosage proved too weak and some fans’ immunity to common sense proved far too strong. Stupid barely begins to describe those Melbourne Victory “supporters’’ who witnessed the appalling behaviour of some Wanderers visitors, considered the club’s punishment and then did the same thing.

We would say it was monkey see, monkey do. But the far more civilised occupants of the Taronga Park chimpanzee enclosure might sue for defamation.

FFA had sincerely believed the fines and threatened points deductions would prompt fans with the best interests of their clubs at heart to modify their behaviour. It took just four days to reveal an ugly truth: the moronic minority don’t care about the game or even the clubs they pretend to support. They use a sport genuinely loved by billions for their own pathetic self-aggrandisement.

So imagine how good these idiots felt during the A-League supporter boycott when they had their out-sized egos stroked by clubs, fellow supporters and some media commentators. Imagine how their chests puffed out when they were told their form of “active support’’ was more important to the game than Lionel Messi’s left foot. Thus FFA’s concessions on appeals will not satisfy some, but merely feed their egos.

But a few fools defiantly igniting flares at the Melbourne derby was achingly inevitable. Far more bewildering was that many members of the supposedly loyal Red and Black Bloc did not turn up to the Wanderers game on Sunday. This was an apparent protest against FFA’s sanctions and will provide comfort to the idiots whose misbehaviour prompted the penalties.

The RBB’s no-show was the response of the spoilt child. The wobbly lipped petulance of those who claim their “personal choice’’ is being denied. Never mind that Gilligan, the skipper, Mary Anne and Thurston Howell III have the right to ignite flares and football fans do not.

This confusion developed during the original fans boycott when the legitimate call for an appeals process was confused with a raft of other issues. A persecution mentality has developed that leads some to mistake legitimate media criticism and even FFA’s good governance with an attack on “fans rights’’ and even the game itself.

Yet even as it should have been unapologetically berating poor behaviour, the A-League was bending over backwards to cater for fan demands and avoid upsetting sensibilities. It should be rewarded with compliance. But as my maths teachers could tell you, there is no cure for stupidity.