Send football hooligans to jail

Sport
SEND the hooligans to jail or ban them from all football related activities totally.

SEND the hooligans to jail or ban them from all football related activities totally.

Inside Sport with Michael Kariati

That is the only way Zimbabwean football can get rid of the hooligans who week-in week-out cause disturbances at different match venues.

The hooligan element has gone far beyond estimations, to the extent that football in the country has ceased to be a family sport as no one wants to take their family to stadiums where they risk being attacked.

The effects of the behaviour on the stands, has also spilled onto the field of play as players are no longer performing to their fullest due to the danger posed by the same people they are employed to entertain, noted player manager, Nobert Chawira.

But all this can be changed if the right methods to curb hooliganism are applied. There is consensus that the system of charging clubs for the misbehaviour by their fans has failed to bring the required results.

Chawira points out that while clubs have suffered financial losses with regards to fines, the real culprits have been allowed to go scot free, and continue to attend matches.

A case in point is what happened last Sunday when Dynamos fans rained missiles onto the field of play in their match against Black Rhinos, only a few days after the Premier Soccer League (PSL) had indicated they were summoning DeMbare and Highlanders following disturbances that claimed the life of a Bosso fan in Bulawayo.

More importantly was the fact that the Dynamos fans were not worried that their neighbours CAPS United had just a few days back, been fined thousands of dollars for the same conduct.

There have been suggestions that clubs with a violent home- ground play in empty stadiums. But why should we make the genuine football fan suffer for the behaviour of others?

Why should a team lose gate takings which are its only source of survival because of rogue elements?

The football fraternity is unanimous in its agreement that everyone has to pay for their sins and the football hooligan has to be arrested and prosecuted for public violence and in some cases for malicious injury to property.

This happens in other parts of the world.

Only last month, four supporters of English lower division side, Rotherham were sentenced to 20 months behind bars for attacking supporters of Bradford City.

In December, a group of Lincoln City fans received a combined 31-year sentence for their role in the disturbances that saw Luton Town fans injured.

Nowhere was this more evident than at the 2014 World Cup where an Italian photographer captured scenes inside Brazil’s most notorious jail cells where fans risked being sent to if they got involved in violence.

Another option would be to ban the perpetrators from football matches altogether. This would need the cooperation of the clubs, especially the supporters associations who are too familiar with the behaviour of their members.

Members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police are being paid for doing a job, but so far, there is no evidence of their efforts in football.

We need to get rid of the hooligans once and for all. Only when one of them goes to jail will the others disappear. We need to set an example.

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