Behave Yourselves- at least ’til Sky goes?

To the many people trying to make local soccer into a profitable, enjoyable and family-friendly spectacle, tonight’s first ever live broadcast of an Irish League game on Sky Sports will be viewed as an important step forward. The game ended with a 2-2 draw between Linfield and Cliftonville.

Yet I was struck by a part of the BBC Radio Ulster Sports bulletin tonight which highlighted how Cliftonville FC were warning fans on their website that a ‘zero tolerance’ approach would be taken against any supporter bringing the club into disrepute through bad behaviour on the night.
The language used in the website message was unequivocal:”Any individual – through physical or verbal means – causing damage to the club and its reputation will be identified, removed from the ground and banned for life from Solitude.”
But surely Cliftonville- along with the other clubs in the Irish League- should be adopting the same ‘zero tolerance’ approach to thuggish/ sectarian behaviour regardless of the presence of the Sky camera crews, particularly if the local clubs are serious about attracting families through the turnstiles of local stadia every weekend.


Discover more from Slugger O'Toole

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Categories Uncategorised

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.