APL Statement, per Joey Lynch:
APL Statement, per Joey Lynch:
At least it’s something…I guess.
So looking very much like no penalty for the club, yet again. And so the cycle will continue…
Statement is also up on Keepup in full:
Sounds like they’re first and foremost focused on ensuring the individuals involved are punished via the law, which is good.
I love the narrative of these aren’t real fans, just criminals playing pretend.
They have been there since the beginning, if you keep pretending they aren’t fans then you will fail to do anything about them in the future.
I don’t think that’s an entirely incorrect narrative though. It’s definitely a failure of leadership of the active support and the club itself that these fuckwits are enabled/encouraged to act the way they do, but they’re not turning up to a Sunday afternoon match against MacArthur. They’re not there for the team, or a love for the game, they’re there to act like fuckwits under the cover of active support.
I wonder if the game will be recorded as a 3-0 win for Mel C?
Also the face of the thug who threw the bucket at Glover is plastered all over the web. Can’t be long until he is charged…
I mean it’s so easy for non regular attendees to stand front and Centre of the home end wearing Horda shirts.
Fuck off.
Just more burying of heads in the sand.
Mel C would certainly be the sporting option
You mean Mr pissypants?
Statements mean absolutely jack shit until punishments and sanctions are handed down.
It’s better in Afrikans like pisskopf.
Pisbroek!
So this is the thread now?
I guess having something out is something.
It does seem like a helluva cop-out if “criminals” simply means ‘because they committed a crime with their actions last night’ and “not real fans” simply means ‘because no true fan would do this’.
I was reading a story in the Age and some Victorian copper said they have more police at AAMI park for a derby match than a sold out AFL match at the MCG. Says everything you need to know about Victory fans
And yet they were nowhere to be seen at the 20min mark which had to be the risk point in this game.
Potentially already outside to prevent anything kicking off on Swan Street between opposition fans?
It was already well underway before any coppers showed up, the initial wave of scumbags were already heading back to the stands well before the boys in blue appeared.
Great piece from Rugari
So, we hate it when active groups are overpoliced and then rant and rave about where are the police when things go wrong? And we blame the clubs, the APL, the police and security. Everyone is to blame, but … Gee Officer Krupke!
We clearly have a problem with those fan groups who want to re-enact Partizan vs Red Star etc ultras warfare whenever they can: flares, hoodies and balaclavas, pitch invasions and looking for any senseless tribal warfare. I want that nonsense gone from our game. Apart from the way it can destroy games as well as batter people, it is threatening, hostile and intimidating for most people who just want to come watch football and support their club. And, I reckon it reduces the attractiveness of the experience for a lot of women who might otherwise attend. And we need more women coming along.
So, what sort of active fan culture would we like to see more of in the A league men??? For mine, NJ and CCM home matches are too much like a cricket crowds; too quiet, too apparently passive , but if they are happy, good on them. They harm no one. Other extreme is Argentina. I went to a San Lorenzo match once and have never, ever experienced anything as exhilarating San Lorenzo 1 Instituto 1 Soy de San Lorenzo si señor, que loco soy.. - YouTube
But, for years, the violence or threatened violence at matches in Argentina was at such levels that away fans were banned from attending matches, particularly at the big-5 clubs. Exciting, but avoid this model like the plague Buenos Aires Times | Away fans will be able to attend Superliga matches this season, confirms official
So, if I had a magic wand, what would I want to see from A League men’s active groups and our wider fan base? Lots of colour yes, lots of noise, lots of choreography in chants and songs, great tifos and banners. Yes, yes, yes. Sounds a lot like what the Cove has brought for 18 years and has engendered with the side bays in call and response. And, I know you can’t just manufacture a culture, but I would like to see some of the Japanese football culture come into our wider fan base. More sporting acknowledgement of when the other team plays well, clapping of good play whoever is responsible, no booing just because we lose, keep up the good spirit until the end … and it doesn’t hurt to smile, laugh and look like you are enjoying the game and yourselves.
Beyond that, I want the organised fucking swearing gone from the Cove chants, together with the classist contempt for eg CCM fans and hostile abuse against ‘westies’ . Sydney FC has plenty of people from the west among our number and, in any case, those insults diminish us more than WSW. Lots of parents hate the swearing when they bring their little kids along. We are all smarter, more creative than that. (In fact, I have been in awe for years at the wit and creativity of many Cove chants).
Spot-on. The core of the problem is that too much of the loudest “active support” has little or no interest in football. It’s more fun to swear a lot, denigrate the opposition ( even when they score a brilliant goal) and generally act like a dropkick. The “fuck off scum” chants are just plain embarrassing.