Last Updated: Tuesday 08 June 1999 14:05
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| Features > The Patrick Barclay Column |
'After Glasgow And West Ham, The Authorities Must Get Tough'
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NORTH and South of the Border, football gave itself a terrible pasting over the weekend - and if the authorities do not act with the utmost severity we shall have no alternative but to conclude that it has gone mad.
First, Parkhead. The scene of Sunday's vile and cowardly coin attack on referee Hugh Dallas must immediately be closed. To argue that only a minority of spectators lost control of their feelings as Rangers took the Scottish title on the ground of their deadliest rivals would be futile. The atmosphere was unacceptable and, as ensuing incidents in Glasgow illustrated, a threat to public order.
Nor do I accept that the Rangers players were partly responsible because they went into a Celtic-style huddle at the end. Perhaps it was foolish, but fans routinely offer provocation, regarding it as an element of the fun of watching football; they should be able to take it. There was nevertheless hooliganism on and off the pitch at Parkhead and this must be recognised in the inquest into a shameful day that destroyed Scotland's reputation for good footballing behaviour. It is an inquest which must take tough action, and one which must certainly question the wisdom of a potentially crucial Old Firm derby being staged so late in the season as well as late on the middle day of a Bank Holiday weekend, when refreshments would most certainly have been taken on both sides.
No longer can Scots look southward with a sneer. Though in England things are clearly getting no better in the light of Saturday's events at Upton Park, where Ian Wright, one of three West Ham players sent off by Rob Harris, promptly went to the match officials' room and had a tantrum in which clothes were damaged.
Wright's apology - he is becoming a serial apologist - should not save him from a massive punishment. When Paolo di Canio was given a mere eight-match suspension for pushing a referee to the ground, I feared it was inadequate as a deterrent. And so it has been proved - by a representative of the very club who took the Italian off Sheffield Wednesday's hands. Respect for referees must be established, whatever the current shortcomings of the men in black. If Wright plays again before Christmas, a wrong signal will again have been sent.
We cannot rely on West Ham to discipline themselves. Manager Harry Redknapp has been trying to wish the incident away, or at least to deal with it privately. But football is a public game. And, when one of its most affable characters cannot identify his public duty, the madness is emphasised. This may be the administrators' last chance to cure it.
We must be wary of knee-jerk reactions, even in the face of such appalling behaviour. Yet the feeling persists that football, like the salaries within it, is beginning to spiral out of control. The consequences for a game which arguably has a higher profile than ever before could be disastrous. So let the FA step in and act with a proper code of conduct and fines which match the astronomical wages now being paid to the likes of Wright.
Let bans be extended so they cause real inconvenience to the club concerned, ensuring that chairmen and managers are forced to put increasing pressure to behave on their players.
If the FA fail to act now, who could blame the government for sending in a regulator who will do it for them? |
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