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Of ignorant people and football
On The Sporting Edge
Paul Reid
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Based on incidents that have dogged the smooth flow of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel schoolboys' football competitions, the daCosta and Manning Cups this year, it would seem that ignorant people are inextricably linked to football.
Games have been interrupted by missile-throwing morons, most of whom cannot spell the labels on the bottles; tires of team buses and referees' vehicles have been slashed and match officials have been confronted after games, unfortunately at times by those who should know better; coaches and /or team officials.
Unfortunately one name - St James High - has been linked to far too many incidents and while most of the incidents cannot or should not be blamed on the players, the team and the school has been stigmatised.
The fight at the Inter-zone stage against Rusea's in 2007, the premature end to the Olivier Shield return-leg game last year and the first-round Zone A game against Cornwall on October 1, all come readily to mind.
Supporters of western Jamaica schools including Cornwall College in the past have earned reputations as sore losers and some venues including Jarrett Park and Frome Sports Club have also come in for bad names. Not too long ago one man Kenneth Reid was shot and killed at a game between Cornwall College and Rusea's. His killer has never been found.
Several years ago, Port Antonio High claimed their goalkeeper was threatened in a game against Cornwall College at Jarrett Park and their bus was ambushed on their way out of Montego Bay. Luckily these allegations were found to be less than factual.
To be fair to the teams, however, it is the spectators who cause the most problems in almost all the cases through ignorance of the rules.
Crowd violence at football games is not unique to Jamaica or schoolboys' football however, as even in advanced industrialised countries with high levels of educated people, we see the same sort of loutish behaviour.
It is interesting that other sports such as American football and rugby, which have far more contact and are more violent by nature, are not affected by these incidents.
Football administrators have tried many remedies to rid their sport of this black eye but nothing, including banning fans from the game, sending some to prison, playing games without fans, or punishing the home teams for incidents that affect the game, seems to work.
As the debate of how to get spectators to behave continues, I am willing to bet that until serious steps are taken, this scourge - which I'm sure is attributable to a minority - will continue to plague the game we all love.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/weste...D_FOOTBALL.asp#
On The Sporting Edge
Paul Reid
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Based on incidents that have dogged the smooth flow of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel schoolboys' football competitions, the daCosta and Manning Cups this year, it would seem that ignorant people are inextricably linked to football.
Games have been interrupted by missile-throwing morons, most of whom cannot spell the labels on the bottles; tires of team buses and referees' vehicles have been slashed and match officials have been confronted after games, unfortunately at times by those who should know better; coaches and /or team officials.
Unfortunately one name - St James High - has been linked to far too many incidents and while most of the incidents cannot or should not be blamed on the players, the team and the school has been stigmatised.
The fight at the Inter-zone stage against Rusea's in 2007, the premature end to the Olivier Shield return-leg game last year and the first-round Zone A game against Cornwall on October 1, all come readily to mind.
Supporters of western Jamaica schools including Cornwall College in the past have earned reputations as sore losers and some venues including Jarrett Park and Frome Sports Club have also come in for bad names. Not too long ago one man Kenneth Reid was shot and killed at a game between Cornwall College and Rusea's. His killer has never been found.
Several years ago, Port Antonio High claimed their goalkeeper was threatened in a game against Cornwall College at Jarrett Park and their bus was ambushed on their way out of Montego Bay. Luckily these allegations were found to be less than factual.
To be fair to the teams, however, it is the spectators who cause the most problems in almost all the cases through ignorance of the rules.
Crowd violence at football games is not unique to Jamaica or schoolboys' football however, as even in advanced industrialised countries with high levels of educated people, we see the same sort of loutish behaviour.
It is interesting that other sports such as American football and rugby, which have far more contact and are more violent by nature, are not affected by these incidents.
Football administrators have tried many remedies to rid their sport of this black eye but nothing, including banning fans from the game, sending some to prison, playing games without fans, or punishing the home teams for incidents that affect the game, seems to work.
As the debate of how to get spectators to behave continues, I am willing to bet that until serious steps are taken, this scourge - which I'm sure is attributable to a minority - will continue to plague the game we all love.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/weste...D_FOOTBALL.asp#