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Back to the future – football fan violence is increasing

Date: 19th January 2025

I was in sunnier climes for four weeks over Christmas and New Year and after returning to the Baltic wilderness that was Scotland during that period I am now, more or less, reacclimatised to our weather. I have also taken the opportunity to catch up with my SFSA colleagues about what has been happening since I left. Sad to say, it doesn’t make for good reading.

I have written extensively about the growing problem of pyros.  SFSA Chair, Andy Smith, has also written about the growing violence, most recently seen at in the centre of Glasgow during the League Cup final and during the match itself when a pyro ‘display’ was self-evidently a demonstration of the ultras’ ability to cock a snook at authority, secure in the knowledge that not much would be done.  We also had the appalling spectacle of pyros and other objects being thrown at opposing fans during the Dunfermline vs Falkirk game at the end of December.

This wasn’t something new. In 2019, two Falkirk fans were arrested after threatening Dunfermline fans with violence.  A few years later, in 2022, the Dundee Courier reported on trouble after a match in Dunfermline when Falkirk were the visitors, with 13 men reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

The SFSA inbox has been piling up with emails from fans who are fed up with all of this. For the perpetrators, this won’t matter: they really don’t seem to care. But if you’re old enough to remember the 1970s, as I am, you’ll probably thinking that we really are going back to the future.  In those days, before the alcohol ban and all-seater stadia, fights between rival fans, thrown beer cans (if you were lucky they contained beer, but often its by-product), and running battles through towns were not uncommon.  I recall a game at Muirton Park against Hibs when the Edinburgh fans rampaged along the Dunkeld Road after their team was beaten.  I have to say that the Perth Pack, the local hooligans, were not slow in joining in.  Almost every other club brought their own hooligans, looking for an excuse to run at the opposition, exchange a few punches and then run away again before they could be lifted by the police.

As I said, we are getting more and more complaints.  Here is a sample:

“My club don’t care. That’s not just me dismissing the club without any evidence.  Fans have gone to the club and told them about issues and they have  just been ignored, some have been genuinely made to feel as if they are the problem.  How does it get to that stage when fans want to feel safe and go to the club but don’t get any help…who are running these clubs?”

“Sorry but this is ruining Scottish football and I’m sick of it.  I can see the league going down the drain after so many years of improvements.  It’s so sad and no-one apart from you – the SFSA – seems to care.”

“I think the best thing is perhaps to remove our custom and let the fans who want (or don’t care about) the violence go instead.”

“I no longer attend games, it’s stopped being fun, ironically it has been (my club’s) best season for years.”

“I’ve read various reasons (for the violence and pyros) on forums, none of them make any sense though.”

“I’m a fan who is close to walking away from the game I love.  The incidents last night were so terrible I feared that someone who be seriously injured or worse.  Constant missiles, constant fireworks and nothing happens, no police, stewards looking on their phones.  What’s it going to take?  I dread to think.  What can we do to stop this truly alarming rise in violence in the Scottish game?”

“I recently went to a game in Brighton with family I have down there and the difference was amazing.  At my club in Scotland i have seen people being intimidated by gangs of ultras.  Fans igniting pyro next to small children.  Sectarian and foul language as the norm.  At Brighton they catered for families, I felt completely safe, well stewarded (ours do nothing), a really enjoyable experience in complete opposition to matches in Scotland where there now always seems to be a nasty edge.” 

“Some suggest we have no resources to combat it.  We have CCTV at every ground.  If they disguise themselves then follow them on CCTV and arrest them – how hard is that?”

“I think we’ll end up with a league similar to Seria A in Italy, which I have first-hand knowledge of, where these groups take hold and practically run the club, I wouldn’t be surprised if that is already taking hold at some of the bigger clubs.  The clubs have to be open to this of course and for whatever reason they are.”  

“This is an increasing problem all over society. We are breeding consecutive generations who simply refuse to accept the word ‘No’. No, you can’t do that. Increasingly, young people (yes, I know, not all!) are shoving two fingers up at all forms of authority and all members of society and doing whatever the hell they feel like.”

“It has no interest to me but I’m sure it will to others, so best to take my son to more positive activities and we won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“I have had further correspondence from (club) who at least replied to me, I was totally ignored by my own club.  It seems my club doesn’t care about fan safety, that’s clear.  And I understand how hard it is to stop certain things happening but I would have hoped that (club) were going to review their matchday practices to stop a re-occurrence, but they’re not.”

“A view was put to me last week by a football executive that many clubs would like to take more action to eliminate negative behaviours amongst their fans. But they have been advised by the Police that they will generally refuse to take any action as they fear it will result only in “escalating a volatile situation”. We could take that advice at face value, or the more cynical amongst us could feel that that is just a convenient excuse for the Police just not doing their job. Yes, we can sympathise with the appalling under-resourcing of our Police forces but we, the public, can be forgiven for believing they just don’t try hard enough.”

“Whilst the world progresses, in Scotland we’re going backwards to the dark days, and it will end up as a disaster for the league.”

Motherwell ultras' pyros at PerthYesterday (18th January), I was at McDiarmid Park for the Scottish Cup tie between St Johnstone and Motherwell.  The ‘Well ultras not only lit pyros (as shown), they also shot fireworks into the air, exploding over the pitch (as you can see in front of the floodlights).  In the unlikely event any of them read this, I invite them to consider how selfish they are, driving people like those quoted above away from the game.  I’d also like them to consider what would happen if one of those rockets had been fired into the crowd…

Meanwhile, in other news, five people died in Germany due to pyrotechnic accidents over the New Year.  These deaths occurred despite Germany’s police and medical services begging the politicians to outlaw the country’s traditional of individuals setting off fireworks in the middle of streets across the country. Increasingly, doctors, rescue workers and the police are being threatened with firecrackers and/or being physically attacked.

We have deliberately not named the clubs mentioned by these fans.  However, sadly, they could be almost any club.  I’ve heard that the government believes a social media campaign might help tackle this escalating problem. They are living in cloud-cuckoo land. I believe the balance between stick and carrot is well out of alignment with the views of most fans.  That said, in my view, while it’s easy to blame the football authorities and the politicians (and that does not get them off the hook), the clubs are the ones who can stop this.  If they don’t, they risk the politicians saying ‘enough is enough’ and bringing in Strict Liability. It’s in the clubs’ hands: make an example of those who break the law, ban them for lengthy periods from football, jail those who commit dangerous acts and let all those people who, as our mailbag suggests, are fleeing from the game they love, come back and enjoy it once again.

Alastair Blair, Director of Operations, SFSA


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