Authorities must do more to clamp down on football violence

Mr Armchairus Fanus, Sports Correspondent

The 2008/9 football season will rightly be remembered for Legoland United's historic triple but the campaign will also go down as yet another missed opportunity on the part of the authorities in their purported bid to once and for all end football violence. The scenes witnessed in Amrap on the final day of the 42-game Serie A underpinned the reality that the LFA's anti-hooliganism measures have been nothing short of an abject failure. This will come as no surprise to many of course with the football association long believed to be the most incompetently run organisation in the Empire.

For their part the LFA point most recently to the £1m fine handed down to Legoland FC for the Amrap riots as a clear indication that they mean business in what association president and general lard ass Mr Fifa termed "the LFA's war on scallywags". The penalty, although severe, is understood to be likely overturned in the coming weeks as Legoland FC's legal teams prepare to submit their appeal to the High Court, ignoring and by-passing the LFA's own appeals tribunal in an act of apparently willful defiance.

How the authorities, sporting and policing, should deal with clubs whose fans partake in serious anti-social behaviour is subject to debate but it is clear that something seriously needs to be done to end the trouble regularly witnessed in and around the Empire's football stadia on match days. According to consultants PricewoodhousePieces and La Sal, the LFA SuperLeague's top flight alone lost close to £100m in additional revenues last season as a direct result of crowd trouble. This equated to approximately £4.5m per Serie A team. PwP report that the key areas where the Serie A clubs are losing earnings as a direct result of hooliganism are increased security costs, increased taxes from the state, and most importantly reduced gate receipts and television and sponsorship deals. "Average attendences are likely to decrease if trouble on the terraces continues as it is no place to bring your family due to safety concerns" PwP say.

With the new season just over 2 months away, it is evident that much needs to be done by the LFA and Empire Police to examine current anti-hooligan measures and strengthen these to make them a real deterrent. Only a reduction in the number of violent incidents next season can be deemed any sort of success. Heavier fines, prison sentences and above all, points deductions for clubs, are required to stamp home the fact that the "war on scallywags" has really kicked-off.

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