SOCCER / JULIE CART : Hooliganism Is Still Topic of Discussion
To those soccer officials and fans who go ballistic with every mention of hooliganism, it’s time to wake up and deal with reality. All the protests to the contrary cannot erase the fact the sport as played internationally has a problem. Still.
Hooliganism may not be of the sport, but it clearly is about the sport. Not all fans cause problems--indeed, not very many do. It only takes a few to cause damage, and soccer officials will only hurt their credibility if they continue to deny that a problem exists.
It has become a favorite sport of European journalists to label as naive those Americans who write or talk about hooliganism. It’s so passe, they snort, can’t you think of anything new to write about? Of course, these are the same reporters who have been coming to the United States for years and asking the same passe question about why this country has failed to maintain a viable professional soccer league.
The sport’s officials periodically claim there is no problem--this, despite documented evidence every weekend in league play and, to their horror, serious problems during recent World Cup qualifying matches. The Oct. 13 England-Holland qualifier yielded some 950 arrests, a hooligan record. The Asia qualifying--with Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia--has the region’s peacekeepers on edge. Coming up: Ireland vs. Northern Ireland on Nov. 17 in Belfast.
Why is it so difficult for everyone to admit there is a problem, to implement strategies for dealing with it and carry on? Why is it taboo to ask about hooligans?
What these critics fail to appreciate is the status of soccer and the role of sports in the United States. Fans starving for soccer news fume when precious space is given to reports of hooligans. Understandable. But if soccer is to truly be treated on the level of every other major sport in this country, it will be subjected to the same warts-and-all coverage that other professional teams have lived with for decades.
The behavior of hooligans, a small minority of soccer fans, is news. It’s not the only news about soccer, but it is a part of it.
One reason hooliganism attracts so much attention in this country is because Americans have no point of reference for it. As violent a nation as this is, our sporting events are remarkably violence-free. So, there is both curiosity and trepidation in our interest in the sport that, by next year, will be as high-profile as any in the United States.
It is perfectly legitimate for Americans to voice concerns about the potential for hooliganism, as this country prepares to play host to next summer’s World Cup. It is a phenomenon that Americans have not seen on their soil.
It is also understandable for the rest of the world to think hard about vacationing in a country where, they believe, every American carries a gun and doesn’t hesitate to use it. Europeans are not accustomed to this type of crime.
Fair enough. But isn’t it interesting that while the rest of the world’s media are covering, in minute detail, every awful act of violence against a foreign tourist, coverage of hooliganism by American media is viewed as ridiculous and a badge of ignorance?
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Hooligans, redux:
Experts agree that while the widespread trouble that plagued the sport in the mid to late ‘80s has waned, the incidents are fewer but more serious. Like violence in every other aspect of society, the stakes have risen dramatically.
The escalation of serious violence and mayhem caused by hooligans is notable. In the good old days, rival goons would square off for a scrappy fistfight. Today’s hooligans carry knives and guns, and hurl explosives.
As we saw two weeks ago, the Dutch have pioneered the innovative tennis ball bomb, in which explosive powder is packed into a tennis ball that explodes on impact. A variant currently in vogue is the tennis ball bomb packed with nails, similar to the one thrown into a Rotterdam pub filled with English fans.
France and Italy, in particular, are experiencing trouble in stadiums, while other European nations have largely succeeded in keeping it outside.
On a recent weekend in Italy, for example, the 71-year-old president of the Pisa club underwent emergency eye surgery after being hit in the face with an object thrown by one of his team’s fans.
The same weekend, fans in Cagliari attacked Napoli supporters who were waiting for a ferry. Police made eight arrests.
If form holds, World Cup organizers can expect little trouble in the stadiums, which they can control. The problems in today’s hooligan climate occur in the cities and towns near the stadiums. Small consolation.
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England-Netherlands, redux:
Among the many controversies attendant to the crucial World Cup qualifying match was the decision of referee Karl Josef Assenmacher to ignore FIFA guidelines on Ronald Koeman’s foul of England captain David Platt. Koeman clearly pulled down Platt in the penalty area, but Assenmacher awarded the English only a free kick.
FIFA rules allow referees to use their judgment in such situations, and in many similar instances the offending player would have been red-carded.
“Koeman would not have stayed on the pitch, the referee did not apply the laws of the game as we apply them honestly in our country,” England Coach Graham Taylor said afterward.
Taylor’s frustration was compounded when Koeman scored minutes later on a free kick.
The Dutch won, 2-0, virtually eliminating England from qualifying.
FIFA reacted by suspending Assenmacher, a veteran official in the German Bundesliga.
But an interesting news item appeared last week to suggest Assenmacher was only following orders when he made his call. The European, a London-based newspaper, reported that earlier this year German referees were instructed to be lenient with such fouls because of a public outcry against a rash of send-offs.
“It could well be that Assenmacher turned a blind eye in Rotterdam for this reason,” a source told the newspaper.
