Just thought I'd get on my soapbox about a couple of unsavoury incidents before and apparently after the Gold Coast United/Brisbane Roar match on Boxing Day.
The Author, Family & Friends travelled to Skilled Park by train to the match. We alighted on a suburban station (that won't be mentioned) to a rather packed last carriage. Upon entry there were some ordinary comments made by 1 or 2 supporters (of a bunch dressed in orange) in regard to where they thought we hailed from (station name). I presumed it was lighthearted, and it probably was. The only retort I managed to utter was "Hey, I actually live here you know".
For the next 20 minutes or so the crowd of Orange supporters were quite loud and boisterous. Some of their banter was quite entertaining and drew quite a few smiles and laughs from some of the passengers. Others didn't look quite so amused it has to be said, and probably even less so when the rather silly "Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy Brisbane Roar" was sung. This involved at least half a dozen of them jumping off the floor in unison for 30 seconds or so, a bit like being at a Rock Concert really but let's not forget this is a moving vehicle full of passenger with a floor that is off the ground! At one point they were rehearsing this as the train crossed a bridge over the river and 1 or 2 of them mentioned after that maybe they should try to avoid doing so in future.
Anyway, overall it seemed a bit of fun and let's face it there is little in this world more boring than travelling by train for any longer than 10 minutes!
Just a shame though that the fun had to be carried a bit too far as will so often happen when a bunch of young blokes get together, possibly under the influence of alcohol. The moronic chant F.....off United (opposition team) really serves no decent purpose, particularly if said supporters happen to be travelling on the same train, in the same carriage (The same chant was heard several times during the match).
Anyhow nothing evolved out of that thankfully but it was time for us to leave after the orange army chanted boasts of wha theyt have done or what they would like to do with Gold Coast Women.
I wasn't game to look left of us where 2 young attractive Indian ladies sat. Up to that point they had seemingly enjoyed the revelry and I do hope they took no offence. My young bloke (age 14) was off though. He could stand no more so we all headed off and left to another carriage.
All that aside I was surprised to learn a couple of days later from a work colleague that there was some sort of incident/scuffle that took place outside the stadium after the match. Certainly no 'Shrinking Violet' himself, he seemed genuinely disturbed at what had been broadcast on a particular Channel (I believe it was the only one) and mentioned why does this only happen at Soccer matches. It doesn't happen in State of Origin matches, other Football codes etc.
I retorted that I bet it does, but you just don't see it on the news.
Now, I've never been to a SOO match myself but have been reliably informed that this sort of thing does happen at those matches and on a fairly regular basis.
Yet another work colleague asked did I attend the match and showed some concern as to what we might have got involved in. Quite honestly though we saw absolutley nothing as we headed out of the ground to catch the first train home. I can only assume that a rather innocuous incident has once again been blown out of all proportion by the media, mainly because there has been very little aftermath.
And apparently in said report there was absoluetly no mention of a far more serious happening on the night, in which I understand, some 1000 supporters were left stranded outside the stadium before the match had started and weren't let in until half time. That is reprehensible and perhaps the 2 incidents were connected and one thing led to another?
And ultimately there is a very important moral to this story and it is..............................If you are a supporter of Football (Soccer) in this country please do your utmost to "keep your nose clean" because if you don't there are certain sections of the media here that will absolutely crucify your sport no matter how small or insignificant the 'incident' may be. Now in writing that I'm certainly not saying that the media doesn't have a job to do and report serious incidents in public places. That is their responsibility to the Public (and authorities). Although I didn't see the footage of this one it just seems that in this instance it has been overblown, and somewhat coveniently for them it just happened to occur at a Soccer match that a fairly miserly crowd of 6800 people attended.
And I mention the train journey in connection to this deliberately because the Soccer Community has a responsibility to all it's followers to treat the rest of the public with respect. The most vocal supporters rightly or wrongly become the face of their club, and their sport by virtue of the fact that they are loud, and therefore very much in the public eye. It is very plausible that their antics that evening could have resulted in a far uglier incident, and just what if a Media representative had been there to witness it?
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