Football fears

IN SPITE of the best efforts of football clubs to rid the game of the violence that has bedevilled it for much of the past 40 years, the spectre of soccer hooliganism continues to cast its long shadow.

Hull City, for one, continues to suffer the occasional outbreak of violence by those purporting to be the club’s supporters. Sadly, such behaviour by a minority has an impact on other spectators – hindering football’s efforts to reinvent itself as a family-friendly game, one which welcomes women and children.

The switching of Hull City’s visit to Huddersfield Town next month to a 5.20pm kick-off, for instance, has prompted West Yorkshire Police to turn the clock back to the 1970s, imposing stringent travel and ticket restrictions on City’s supporters.

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Six-year-old leukaemia sufferer Ted Rice believed he would face a 300-mile round trip to Hull from his home in order to travel on an official coach to the match. Though the police have now reassured the family this is not the case, it highlights the problems that the lingering spectre of hooliganism can create for true fans.

The transformation of football into a family game has slowly edged the hooligans into the margins. It is saddening, however, that the actions of a small number are still capable of triggering the introduction of measures which make travel to the game difficult for those who are least likely to cause trouble.