uefa needs to take this report and shove it... SOMEWHERE. *cough*
What the FUCK??! Exactly what "incidents" over the past four years are they referring to??! Is it just the CL final in Athens, where UEFA's own crappy crowd control and incompetent ticket checks played a healthy role in chaos that ensued?
One must really question just what kind of "incidents" they're including in this fucking report of theirs. Would they happen to include fans throwing flares onto pitches? Attacking opposition fans or killing police officers? Tossing scooters off the upper tiers of stands onto lower tiers? Sending death threats to referees and resulting in their early retirements? Racist chants from the entire stadium targeted at black players? Even just the most minor of pitch invasions, whether or not it results in a referee getting attacked and a match getting called off??
I'm not naive enough to think that every single time Liverpool has been involved in a European match (particularly away from home) over the past four seasons, there have been zero incidents. It's a question of just how noteworthy these incidents are, though, and what kind of fucking yardstick UEFA are using before they count an incident as an "incident".
Not to mention, should the severity of these "incidents" not come into account at all?! You mean to tell me that whatever the watershed is for an incident to count as an "incident", the most minor of those are just as significant as, say, fans rioting and killing other fans or police officers or crowd control officials? Whatever their definition of "incident" is, should a report not fully reflect the varying severities of "incidents" when making its conclusions as well?!
Then there's the fact that apparently, only away matches are included. Yes, the behaviour of fans when they travel across Europe to support their club is important. But guess what? So's the behaviour of fans when they stay home to support their club in European matches, and when they're playing host to away fans who've come to support their own clubs in European matches! So by UEFA's standards, it's okay to cause utter chaos in your own home stadium, but not if far more minor "incidents" take place away from home?
Yes, of course this is going to be a biased point of view, coming from me. But consider this, at least: How many incidents of trouble with Liverpool fans or at Liverpool's European matches have been reported in the news over the past four years? Versus how many other incidents of actual trouble have been reported all across Europe? Out of all those incidents that you can find where it's actually made the news, I hardly think Liverpool fans stand out as a group that has incited more trouble than others. In fact, I think Liverpool fans have been involved in far less incidents of trouble than many other clubs out there.
This fucking report of UEFA's is just a damned cheap excuse to continue to deflect attention away from UEFA's own shortcomings re: the Athens final, and try to paint Liverpool fans as the scapegoats. 'Cuz, sure, the Scouse fans with an admittedly patchy history (key word: history) make an awfully convenient target, don't they?
Despite my obvious biases, this is making me extremely unimpressed by UEFA. Sure, there are plenty of problems in the game: corruption, hooliganism, racism, et cetera. But if even one of the main governing bodies of the sport are trying so desperately to shift blame all over the place as long as it doesn't fall on them, how the fuck is that supposed to inspire confidence in the average football fan that this is the body that can help to clean up the game?! No club is going to seriously take the threats and sanctions handed down by a so-called governing body that themselves are so readily taking part in the blame game.
ETA 5/6/07: Helloooo, blatant damage control. Whatever. This just lends credence to the "UEFA's just trying to shift blame" theory, and makes themselves look dumber. I mean, from Platini himself, "it is just that more English fans follow their clubs than those from other countries"? So, again, why were only away fans evaluated in UEFA's conveniently-timed little "report"? *rolls eyes* They're just further proving themselves to be the incompetent, petty, bureaucratic farts that they are.
EATA: An article from the Liverpool Echo that fairly succinctly sums up all the problems inherent in UEFA's "report". (Posted on the LFC.tv message boards.) Couldn't have said it better. (Oh, and there's another article copied and pasted as another post about halfway down that page. Again, yet more proof that UEFA are a bunch of incompetent fools.)
One must really question just what kind of "incidents" they're including in this fucking report of theirs. Would they happen to include fans throwing flares onto pitches? Attacking opposition fans or killing police officers? Tossing scooters off the upper tiers of stands onto lower tiers? Sending death threats to referees and resulting in their early retirements? Racist chants from the entire stadium targeted at black players? Even just the most minor of pitch invasions, whether or not it results in a referee getting attacked and a match getting called off??
I'm not naive enough to think that every single time Liverpool has been involved in a European match (particularly away from home) over the past four seasons, there have been zero incidents. It's a question of just how noteworthy these incidents are, though, and what kind of fucking yardstick UEFA are using before they count an incident as an "incident".
Not to mention, should the severity of these "incidents" not come into account at all?! You mean to tell me that whatever the watershed is for an incident to count as an "incident", the most minor of those are just as significant as, say, fans rioting and killing other fans or police officers or crowd control officials? Whatever their definition of "incident" is, should a report not fully reflect the varying severities of "incidents" when making its conclusions as well?!
Then there's the fact that apparently, only away matches are included. Yes, the behaviour of fans when they travel across Europe to support their club is important. But guess what? So's the behaviour of fans when they stay home to support their club in European matches, and when they're playing host to away fans who've come to support their own clubs in European matches! So by UEFA's standards, it's okay to cause utter chaos in your own home stadium, but not if far more minor "incidents" take place away from home?
Yes, of course this is going to be a biased point of view, coming from me. But consider this, at least: How many incidents of trouble with Liverpool fans or at Liverpool's European matches have been reported in the news over the past four years? Versus how many other incidents of actual trouble have been reported all across Europe? Out of all those incidents that you can find where it's actually made the news, I hardly think Liverpool fans stand out as a group that has incited more trouble than others. In fact, I think Liverpool fans have been involved in far less incidents of trouble than many other clubs out there.
This fucking report of UEFA's is just a damned cheap excuse to continue to deflect attention away from UEFA's own shortcomings re: the Athens final, and try to paint Liverpool fans as the scapegoats. 'Cuz, sure, the Scouse fans with an admittedly patchy history (key word: history) make an awfully convenient target, don't they?
Despite my obvious biases, this is making me extremely unimpressed by UEFA. Sure, there are plenty of problems in the game: corruption, hooliganism, racism, et cetera. But if even one of the main governing bodies of the sport are trying so desperately to shift blame all over the place as long as it doesn't fall on them, how the fuck is that supposed to inspire confidence in the average football fan that this is the body that can help to clean up the game?! No club is going to seriously take the threats and sanctions handed down by a so-called governing body that themselves are so readily taking part in the blame game.
ETA 5/6/07: Helloooo, blatant damage control. Whatever. This just lends credence to the "UEFA's just trying to shift blame" theory, and makes themselves look dumber. I mean, from Platini himself, "it is just that more English fans follow their clubs than those from other countries"? So, again, why were only away fans evaluated in UEFA's conveniently-timed little "report"? *rolls eyes* They're just further proving themselves to be the incompetent, petty, bureaucratic farts that they are.
EATA: An article from the Liverpool Echo that fairly succinctly sums up all the problems inherent in UEFA's "report". (Posted on the LFC.tv message boards.) Couldn't have said it better. (Oh, and there's another article copied and pasted as another post about halfway down that page. Again, yet more proof that UEFA are a bunch of incompetent fools.)