Why noble plan to prosecute Adebayor and Arsene abusers is sadly doomed to failure

By Steve Stammers

Published 08:00 05/10/11

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The gesture is noble enough - two clubs who are the most bitter of rivals unite to weed out the despicable individuals who chanted unacceptable obscenities at the Tottenham-Arsenal clash last Sunday.

One problem: it is a policy that is doomed. How on earth are the authorities going to decide who gets censured and punished from a batch of 5000 who are all singing the same dreadful insults to either Arsene Wenger or Emmanuel Adebayor? And that is just at the Park Lane end of White Hart Lane which accommodates both home and away supporters.

What about the rest of the ground? Are they going to pan round using CCTV to identify anyone who joined in with the disgusting abuse and ban them? Of course not because the stadia in the Premier League would be half-empty every week.

The country is littered with sick insults on a weekly basis. Songs about the Hillsborough tragedy when 96 innocent football fans died ... songs about the Munich air crash ... songs about the deaths of two Leeds supporters in Istanbul ... Aston Villa fans chanting about the awful injury suffered by Arsenal striker Eduardo. All inexcusable. All the products of warped mentalities and all beyond the comprehension of any right-minded person.

It is a problem, clearly. And it is insoluble I'm afraid. If thousands of fans are all singing the same horrendous songs, are they all going to be ejected? Quite simply: no. It is impractical and the police will not welcome - or indeed allow - the streets suddenly flooded with hundreds,maybe thousands, of fans whose ugly mood will match their sick minds.

Segregation has achieved many laudable objectives - not least the end to violence in the stadia. But it has also drawn up a battle line where it seems acceptable to chant whatever you want as long as it is on your territory. Sticks and stones and all that. And it particularly evident at the point where the opposing supporters are divided by a thin line of security.

At Crystal Palace's match against West Ham on Saturday there were four people escorted out. Their crime? They were Hammers fans who stood up and cheered when West Ham scored their first goal. No obscene singing, no punch-ups. In the wrong territory inside the stadium.

The police will be always be more comfortable with violence of the tongue rather than the physical variety any day. And rightly so. No mass confrontation inside the stadium and they are happy.

That is the enormous benefit of segregation. The down-side is that there is safety in numbers to insult all and sundry on racial, regional or homophobic grounds. Mass ejections are not going to happen. Out of around 2500 Tottenham fans who insulted Sol Campbell at Portsmouth, eleven were prosecuted. Not exactly a deterrent, is it?

The cure, as is the case with so many of society's ills, lays in the home environment. But while four year-old kids are being taught songs about plane crashes in Munich, there are no substantial grounds for optimism.

Fair play to Arsenal and Tottenham for their stand. Fair play to Manchester United and Leeds for condemning the idiots who revelled in previous tragedies. But nothing will change. Self-policing is the only answer ... and that just will not happen.

If the clubs are serious they will prosecute anyone on film who is seen on film chanting vile abuse. Leeds did it not long ago to ban a dozen guilty of anti-Semitic chants. Arsenal and Tottenham now have the chance to do the same.

The question is: will they ? Don't hold your breath on that one.

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