Governing bodies should mandate safety, not regulate taste.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Thursday, September 27, 2001) -- I received an outraged e-mail the other day from a reader that indirectly asks an interesting question -- what should be the limits of the responsibilities of national and international soccer governing bodies like FIFA or UEFA or national bodies such as the United States Soccer Federation?

The writer was extremely upset over what happened at the UEFA Cup match between AEK Athens of Greece and Hibernian of Scotland in Athen, on September 13, the Thursday night following the Twin Towers terrorist attacks in New York.

As players from both sides stood for a moment of silence mandated by UEFA, Europe’s governing body, in obviously a calculated and pre-planned act, according to press reports, several hundred fans began to boo and jeer and burned an Israeli flag, and tried to burn an American flag, but couldn't get it to ignite.

After the match, Hibernian coach Alex McLeish said "What went on in Athens disgusted me. What badly disappointed me was that there was no effort made by anyone, the police included, to do anything about it."

Essentially that is what the letter writer was complaining about. He demanded that UEFA sanction AEK for not controlling its fans. Which brings me to the point I thought worth exploring for a moment -- the limits of authority of organizations such as UEFA or world governing body FIFA.

As dismayed as I am about the actions of this group in Athens, and they clearly brought shame on themselves and disgrace to their club, what they seem guilty of is massive ignorance, and monumental bad taste. Should AEK have somehow tried to prevent this? Having failed to prevent it, and then having had to the further bad taste not to apologize for the actions of its fans -- which apparently it has not -- now should the club be sanctioned by UEFA in some manner?

I don’t think so.

What national and international governing bodies should be concerned with, and where I believe they fail all to often, and at times fail spectacularly, is insuring the safety of players and fans, and of insuring the game is played in a uniform and fair manner. They should not be responsible for forcing clubs to police political statements being made by fans, no matter how misguided and offensive those statements might be.

There are surely some limits. If the actions of fans put others in danger, and I don’t know if this was the case in Athens, of course they should have been regulated, and if the home club fails, that club should be dealt with. I’ll go even further. Whether it’s a political statement, or the kind of aggressive support that would have the foreseeable end of physical violence between groups of fans, that conduct must be regulated, and be the responsibility of the home side.

Generally these days, it is. FIFA, UEFA and many national federations have taken strong action in crowd control situations that place players and fans in danger. There are still instances that happen all too often, and no venue seems immune.

Here in the United States, in the current World Cup preliminary and final qualifying rounds, objects were hurled at both Costa Rican and Mexican players in Columbus, Ohio. In Washington, D.C., at the Honduras-U.S. match, bottles and a bugle were thrown at American players by ardent Honduran fans. In these cases, U.S. Soccer reacted strongly, but probably was guilty of not insuring a sufficient police and security presence to have prevented the incidents

I note that the kind of thing that seems to outrage UEFA is when the lights went out near the end of a match between Romania’s Rapid Bucuresti and visiting Paris Saint Germain. Although it appeared to be an area wide power failure and not just at the stadium, UEFA is talking about punishing the home side for somehow not preventing it, or having a back-up system.

Where I think FIFA and UEFA should be much more hands-on is ensuring that matches are played in safe stadiums, ones with adequate entrances and exits which are open at all times, and with sufficient security forces present. How many more times do we have to read horrendous reports of mass injuries or deaths as people are crushed in overcrowded stadiums that collapse or essentially lock fans in so those outside will not rush the gates to gain entrance? The answer here is simple and direct. National federations should be made responsible for safe stadiums, and if they fail, they should have their teams banned for international competitions until all stadiums in their countries are brought into compliance.

These are the real problems, not groups of ignorant fans exhibiting bad taste.

Senior correspondent Robert Wagman's "It Seems To Me . . . " appears regularly on SoccerTimes. He can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com..