A Stop Gap Measure

Cambridge Dictionary defines a “stop gap measure” as something intended for temporary use until something better or more suitable can be found. It is interesting looking at those final words: something better or more suitable. The saying or phrase provides the feeling that there is an issue, a problem, an inconvenience; and whilst there is not a worthwhile or holistic fix to the problem, it cannot be ignored.

That ideology I’ve just created can be applied greatly to the news Australian football fans heard this morning. The news I refer to is that concerning the recent incidents that occurred both in and outside the ground at the game of the round between Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers. For many years, especially prior to the A-League, crowd violence, hooliganism and general anti-social acts tainted the name of Australian football. It is concerning that still today, these same acts are occurring, and if anything, increasingly.

The incidents I refer to are the clashes between supporter groups of both teams prior to the game, and the antics of Western Sydney Wanderers supporters and supporter group ‘The Red and Black Bloc’ in the away ground. Now this piece of writing is not to berate nor applaud these two incidents, and hence I will not divulge into those two topics that I, a general football fan, am quite not up to date with factually.

However what I will look at is the Football Federation of Australia’s handling of the situation. Being perfectly fair, the FFA needed to put a stop to these acts and come down heavy on an aspect of Australian football that has started to gain attention from media outlets and rival codes. Surely the suits at the FFA would be sick of the newspaper and television reports outlining each and every incident that occurs in the A-League; a great concern of Australian football supporters, who tweet, blog and rally their dislike of such media attacks.

It was definitely time the FFA stepped in before these incidents spiralled out of control. Both Western Sydney and Melbourne are not unknown to the A-League and FFA authorities for anti-social acts, who were well aware of every minor to major incident. But in a move that bewildered all fans, myself, a Sydney FC supporter, included, the FFA have threatened both clubs with points deduction after it was deemed that the game was brought into disrepute due to supporter misbehaviour.

Only once before in A-League history has a club been deducted points. That of course came in 2006 when Sydney FC were deducted 3 points and fined $129,000 after the FFA found the club guilty of breaching contract regulations. An act of deliberate deception and fraudulence by the club’s boards and executives was rightly punished with a point deduction. This I can agree with.

But when the miniscule minority of supporters misbehave, no club and their respective behaving supporters should be punished. It is obvious that 99% of supporters at the Western Sydney Wanderers vs Melbourne Victory game acted in a civil and social manner, watching an excellent and exhilarating football game. It is that 1% that constantly bring the game into disarray, and now everyone suffers because of it.

This annoys me for one main reason, and that is a point deduction hurts those who care most for the club, not the perpetrators. On a completely legal, philosophical level, there are four justifications for punishment; retribution, rehabilitation, incapacitation and deterrence. The FFA have taken the latter approach to punish. In that purpose, there are two types; general deterrence and specific deterrence. The former refers to deterring the community as a whole, whilst specific refers to stopping those guilty of the act. The FFA have taken a general deterrence approach, warning all that this behaviour is not to continue, or point deductions (or worse) will occur.

Specific deterrence, however, has been proven to be more successful, as it gets to the root of the problem instead of a blanket, or stop gap, response. As an outsider looking into the situation, I get the feeling that the FFA are fast running out of ideas to stop these anti-social acts and that the offenders are more in control than the authorities. Their approach through point deduction highlights just how far away the FFA are to stopping these specific individuals. And what also irks me is I strongly believe the individuals responsible will re-offend due to a punishment that does not affect them specifically in the slightest. If the FFA really want to stop these issues, its time they weed out that 1% minority, and slap lengthy and severe bans.

Its time they get off their backsides and punish those responsible, and not those who bleed their team’s colours. After all, we are football, and those responsible are definitely not. Support us, civil supporters, and watch the sport bloom.

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