Wanderers fans deserve fine for lewd banner

A homophobic banner unveiled at this weekend’s Sydney derby is a sobering reminder that soccer has a long way to go.

First things first for Steven Lowy and David Gallop. The A-League clubs are clamouring for more cash, FIFA is demanding more democracy in Australian soccer, and there’s a push on for expansion.

All important issues that the Football Federation Australia chairman Lowy and chief executive Gallop need to devote some time and effort to.

But while ever there are fans at Western Sydney games brandishing giant banners depicting Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold engaging in oral sex, there are more basic issues to sort out.

GRAPHIC CONTENT: You can see the banner here

The banner was unfurled among Wanderers supporters during the A-League’s Sydney derby at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night. Apparently somebody in Wanderers supporters group the Red and Black Bloc thought the banner was funny … witty perhaps.

So funny that they not only displayed it in the midst of a match on national television, but also put images of it on their official Twitter account. Hilarious.

There is just a chance that many right-thinking people attending the game or watching it on TV, particularly those who had their children with them, thought it was something other than hilarious. Offensive perhaps, rude, homophobic, tacky, stupid.

The RBB, one of the biggest and most active supporter groups in the A-League, clearly just doesn’t get it. Nor do the fans who were involved in fights between supporters of the Wanderers and Sydney FC at the end of the game. Fifteen of these goons were arrested.

Australian soccer, under the stewardship of Lowy’s father Frank, has moved on from the days of ethnically based clubs and the violence and inappropriate behaviour that came with them. Or has it?

The offensive RBB banner and the violence after the game are a sobering reminder that soccer has a way to go if it is to become a truly mainstream sport attracting large crowds and reasonable TV viewing figures.

There will always be a significant proportion of parents unwilling to take their children to games where they run the risk of being caught up in a brawl or exposed to sexually explicit buffoonery in the stands.

Tough sanctions on the Wanderers and their wayward fans are the only option for the FFA.