Zero Tolerance Could Work - If The Will Was There

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL might be in something of a mess just now, but, compared to Brexit, everything is good.

Sure, we are seeing some bad instances of crowd misbehaviour at the moment, with the recent interaction between a daft spectator and James Tavernier of Rangers just the latest in a series of unsavoury incidents. Now, the spike in bad behaviour may or may not be linked to the abolishing of OBFA (the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act), but, it is difficult to not feel it is a factor.

 Friday night's Easter Road incident

I said when it was brought in OBFA was bad law, hurriedly brought-in and not thought through properly. However, in bringing it in, the Scottish Government was seen to be doing something, at a time when the men running the game were, as ever, refusing to act. They are still refusing to act, the question has to be – WHY THE RELUCTANCE TO ACT?

The main driver of the abolishing of OBFA was Labour's James Kelly MSP. Like so-many opposition politicians, he appeared to be more interested in points scoring, driving forward the agenda of: “SNP Bad,” rather than actually seeking a solution to a problem which has been around for years.

All Kelly, and the other Unionist and Green politicians at Holyrood who lined-up behind him seemed to be interested in, was getting a piece of SNP-driven law off the statute book, rather than coming-up with a workable solution. It seemed to me, Kelly, who is from “The Celtic-minded” section of Glasgow, originally thought OBFA would get rid of the bigotry and sectarianism of “the other lot,” leaving the Celtic Family to pretty-much carry-on as before. His opposition to OBFA only surfaced when it became clear, it would hit them as well.

“Zero Tolerance” is being touted as the answer, however, there is no evidence yet of the SFA grasping that particular nettle. I don't know if they could, but, might we see the politicians imposing that? This, however, is unlikely to happen, unless it comes from the opposition benches – the Unionists would never back such an idea if it came from the ranks of the SNP government – tribalism in Scottish politics is even more ingrained than it is in Scottish football.

But, I ask: why should I not work? However, I am convinced, before Zero Tolerance could be implemented or imposed, football needs to come up with a carrot and stick approach.

Here's a scenario:

• Zero Tolerance is introduced – so, clubs are held responsible for the behaviour of their fans, with bad behaviour leading to a points deduction.
  
  
• Two teams from the same city are running neck-and-neck for the league title.
  
  
• The team at the top of the league are at home, when one of their fans invades the park and thumps the opposition's star man.
  
  
• The home team is deducted three points – and their rivals win the league.
  
  
• It then transpires, the guy who invaded the pitch and caused the deduction was actually a fan of their closest rivals.

• What happen now?

Far-fetched, maybe but, it could happen – so, how do you prevent this unlikely but not unthinkable scenario?

I feel, if Zero Tolerance has to come-in, then there needs to be an incentive for the clubs to get behind it. And I feel the time is right to look again at a suggestion – one I have made before – which, when first mooted back in the 1980s, was too-much even for that great champion of civil liberties: Margaret Hilda Thatcher (pictured left).

One of her then MPs, David Smith, was also, at that time, the Chairman of Luton Town FC. Luton had a hard core of “casuals” fans at the time who caused mayhem wherever they went, and were involve in one major piece of bad behaviour during a match being televised. So, an exasperated Smith came up with the notion of membership cards for fans.

Initially, the Iron Lady was all for this, but, the Civil Service got involved and Thatcher was persuaded that this was a step too-far; there wasn't an appetite for this in the country and, in any case, it was unworkable.

That might well have been the case in the 1980s, although I feel it was the lack of appetite for action either in the ranks of the FA and the Civil Service which principally killed it. However, with today's advances in IT, I feel certain with smart membership cards, such a plan could work.

If a club introduced membership cards, they would immediately have access to the details of most, if not all of their following. And if they were to offer attractive perks of club membership, so much the better.

Part of he whataboutery from back then was the case of the neutral football fan. The guy who does not have a favourite team, but likes simply to pick his game and go to it. How can he access tickets if the two club members are to be favoured?

Stanley Matthews, could put 10,000 on a gate

Now, old fart that I am, I can envisage a neutral fan back in the day. They used to reckon, in England, back in the sepia-tinted 1940s and 1950s of huge crowds packed into primitive stadia – that Blackpool and Stanley Matthews, or Preston North End and Tom Finney coming to town could put 10,000 onto the gate at places like Huddersfield and Burnley. Up here, at the same time, Gordon Smith and Hibs' Famous other Four had the same effect at places like Dundee or St Mirren.

As could Gordon Smith

Of course they could, the only live football on TV back then was the FA Cup Final and the occasional international match, so, if you wanted to see the two future knights of the realm, you had to go along and watch them when they were playing close by.

Aside from the fact we don't have players of the quality of Finney, Matthews and Smith, or the later George Best or Denis Law, you don't have to leave the comfort of your front-room to see them on the wall-to-wall TV coverage we get today. So, while I accept there may be a few fanatics, prepared to travel as neutrals to watch a key match, I don't think there are that many.

But, why not a general, neutral “Football Fan” membership ticket – perhaps tied to he international team, with each club required to make a limited number of such tickets available in the week leading-up to a game.

With a wee bit of thought, we could begin to identify the hooligans and idiots, and drive them from the game. But, is the game willing to do this, or, is it a case of them being so-greedy, they will just take the money and do nothing to preserve the good name of their game?