Football Violence

With a fantastic sporting weekend behind us including an exciting finale to the Masters Golf at Augusta in which Australian Adam Scott eventually triumphed, and a stunning victory for Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari at the Chinese Grand Prix, it's all rather depressing to have it spoilt by the curse of our national game raising its ugly head once again. I am of course talking of football violence. At Saturday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley stadium Millwall fans erupted into violence during the latter stages of their encounter with Wigan Athletic and on Sunday the streets of Newcastle became a battlefield when a small section of rival Sunderland and Newcastle “fans” rioted. The witless Millwall supporters involved had the doubtful distinction of actually fighting amongst themselves such was their desire to cause mayhem; in the north-east the Newcastle, Sunderland, football rivalry spilled out into the city and a sort of proxy battle between supporters was set in motion. With the emergence of the shiny new Premiership and the complete transformation of the Football League a man can now take his son to see a game of football without fearing for his safety at the hands of opposition fans or a stadium that could collapse or burst into flames at any moment. That is why it is absolutely essential that the football authorities take a firm stand against the flickering flames of football hooliganism.