In this weeks Teenage Kicks In our young writer Darragh Mullen quietly blows a fuse.
This week I am interested in an article from the official site where Naylor questions the double standards of the FA in dealing with crowd trouble.
http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20100210/skipper-what-if-wed-have-done-that_2247585_1962510
Now first of all let me say that in regards to the actual incident itself I am not actually all too bothered by it. Our club has our idiots as does every other but Carlisle FC were unlucky enough for a couple of their idiots to go over the top and actually harm players no matter to what extent. I am not even all that angry about how some of our players were allegedly hit because if they were still standing afterwards and there were no visible war scars then it couldn’t have been too bad, although I suppose I am only making assumptions. I do take issue with the fact that our players are there simply as entertainers and deserve to be protected so I am also glad the club have appealed because incidents like this, however minor, should not be seen in this game.
Also just in case I would be thought of as a hypocrite I will mention that I do remember our own fans disgraceful display after the Ipswich game a couple of years ago as they also reportedly threatened Ipswich away fans and threw coins but then again I wasn’t there so I am only going by other peoples reports on the incident. Fans on the pitch has absolutely no place in the game if the aim of those on the pitch is to taunt/harm opposition players or fans from the vantage point of the pitch. I’m not sure what action was taken that day to those Leeds fans involved although I imagine it was more a punishment to individual fans as opposed to the club itself.
My point in all of this is the media’s take on all of this where it is almost a light hearted approach. The Ipswich incident attracted headlines such as “Leeds thugs attack disabled away Ipswich fans” (article below)
http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/Leeds-United-thugs-attacked-disabled.3648545.jp
This on the other hand is taken as a small scolding, like a 6 year old who pushed his friend at school and just needs a quick talking to. Naylor makes a brilliant point when he questions what it would have been like If Leeds fans had done this because we like to think that things would have been seen in a different, much more severe light and I imagine for a team like Millwall it would be the same. The media are so quick to jump on stereotypes and reinforce them because its apparently what peopl want to read about. If a small club like Carlisle surround our players then they are only just over-excited after a famous win but if on the other hand Leeds had done it or even Millwall, the headlines would have been along the lines of ‘Leeds thugs taunt opposition team after narrow win’.
I’ll try and put a bit of structure to this now as I bring back that Cardiff incident that I referred to two weeks ago when back in 2002 Cardiff were cautioned after their disgraceful fans threw bottles of urine at our players and invaded the pitch after their huge third round win over cup giants. Now I suppose that is just small club mentality but in this case the ‘small club factor’ worked in their favour as the ‘little club from Wales’ avoided any real action from the FA. Similarly Carlisle are just a nothing club from Cumbria who were just excited about their amazing fete of 5 Football League Trophy Finals! (Hows that for history Chelsea FC?). Meanwhile if a club with a reputation for trouble does this, and I only use ourselves and Millwall as examples, it gets either the full blown coverage that it might deserve or else blown completely out of proportion because once again its fashionable to hate certain teams. I can deal with our club not being liked but surely every club deserves to be treated equally when it comes to punishment be it Morcambe or Man U.
Overall I am writing this from a relatively passive point of view. This thing is not really a problem as such but it potentially could be in the future if trends continue like they always have done in the past. It seems that in the society we live in teams like Leeds and Millwall will always be put under the microscope in incidents like this because apparently no team and its crowd has the capacity to change away from a stereotype. I suppose though there is no need to get caught up in all of this. At the moment everything is going according to plan with 3 home games in a row coming up after this Saturday so a chance to pick up points. The O’s will be tough on Saturday as they haven’t lost in their last 5 games but I still trust in Grayson to pull us through and get us on one more long run to finish off the season.
Darragh Mullen.
