All fans must call this behaviour out, every time they see and hear it

Football, it’s the beautiful game … however last weekend we saw the ugly side.  No matter the supporters’ background or age, for 90 minutes we come together to support our clubs, from the Scottish Premiership to the most junior of junior Leagues. It’s quality time to watch the team playing and also catch up with friends who we might only meet at the game.

But… as both sets of fans arrived at the SMISA stadium to watch St Mirren vs Aberdeen on Saturday, they didn’t expect that most of the headlines would be about an incident off the park.

Police have launched a hate crime probe after Aberdeen fans were filmed allegedly chanting abuse at a St Mirren fan with a disability during the game.  The media broke the news, after footage was posted on social media.

Both clubs instantly condemned the incident and are working together to identify those responsible.  Aberdeen has released an apology to the fan affected, but it can’t take back the alleged discriminatory actions towards him.  It was good to see on the social media posts about this that Aberdeen fans were universal in their condemnation of what seems to have happened.

Sadly this isn’t exclusive just to one club; it happens a lot, but is rarely reported. As we come to the end of another successful season, to hear this news is shocking and sets a poor example. With campaigns for a better TV deal and sponsorship to the game and a need to encourage more fans, continued incidents like this set the game back.

At the start of  games  teams often “Show Racism the Red Card.”  While we’re focusing on their efforts to rule out discrimination on the park, how mindful are we about what’s happening around us in the stands? We’re all football fans going to watch our favourite teams; that should unite us.  There must be no tolerance for this sort of abuse in stadiums; we’re there to support our clubs. When one group of fans’ perceived banter turns into irreversible hate crime it ultimately damages this wonderful game we’ve all grown up with.