Radio broadcaster Alan Jones has linked violence among A-League fans with the Paris terrorist attacks, claiming football’s authorities refuse to acknowledge “the problem”.
The 4BC presenter made the claims on his Monday morning show after a report in Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph revealed the identities of those allegedly on FFA’s list of people banned from all stadiums in Australia.
Photographs of 10 of the 198 people appeared on the newspaper’s front page under the headline: “Banned: The 198 louts barred from every soccer ground in the country”. A subheading read, “Revealed: secret police files”.
The paper’s website carries photos of 151 of the 198.
The report claimed the banned fans had “engaged in conduct ranging from violence, assault or flare throwing to general thuggery in a three-year period up to October 30”.
One Western Sydney Wanderers fan is listed as having received a two-year ban for streaking.
Rebecca Wilson, the News Corp journalist who wrote the article and is a regular guest on Jones’s radio show, was invited on Monday to talk about the story.
“The view from the FFA is we’ll prove that we’re doing something,” Wilson told Jones. “Some of the extent of their offences would make your eyes water and would seriously make you question whether or not you would ever go to any A-League game at all.
“What it shows is there’s a much larger problem there and it’s a cultural problem within the sport. We’ve now got the problem spreading to the suburbs which makes it a community problem, not just a soccer problem.
“So this is why they’ve got their heads in the sand at the FFA, if they don’t believe this is the worst sport in Australia for terrible offences that are committed between rival fans.”
Wilson said she had spoken to FFA chief David Gallop, who she said had indicated he did not think there was a cultural problem and that any hooligan problems were caused by a small minority of fans.
“The biggest issue seems to be that Soccer Australia, or as it calls itself Football Federation Australia, don’t want to admit the problem,” Jones said at the beginning of the segment. (The governing body has been known as Football Federation Australia since 2005.)
Jones concluded the interview by asking Wilson, “Just finally, is this like terrorism in Paris? The leaders have no guts?”
“That’s exactly right,” Wilson said. “That’s exactly right, Alan.”
The Telegraph report caused a storm among fans on Sunday, in particular the paper’s decision to publish confidential information.
Many pointed out that fans subjected to banning orders have no right of appeal. The Telegraph was also accused of misnaming fans, listing offences erroneously and revealing the identities of people under the age of 18.
