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Infantile soccer

Whenever the former Newcastle Jets player Mark Bridge came into contact with the ball in Sunday's game, Jets supporters would chant "f--- off Bridgey, I hope you die" and "Bridgey's a fat c---". And they had a few words to say about his mother. The foul-mouthed abuse was well audible from one side of the ground to the other and, apparently, in television's coverage.

They were not drunk louts who'd arrived on a coach; they were among the Newcastle Jets' core supporters, a group known as The Squadron. And many have come out in support of their right as soccer fans to behave as they like after they've paid the entry fee. At 5pm yesterday the poll on The Herald's website was 72 in favour of their right to behave offensively and 55 against their offensive chants.

As I write in my column today, a great deal of the behaviour of soccer's fans and players can be fairly described as infantile. And that description covers, too, the histrionics, the melodrama and the diving of the players. This puerility is soccer's culture and it is a more pronounced difference between soccer and real football than the shape of the ball. At a Jets game your children are subject to the crowd chanting obscenities; at a Knights game your children will be respected as children and young Knights fans.

But why is this immaturity so rampant in soccer? Did the people of soccer become infantile

after they took up soccer or did they take up

soccer because they are infantile?

Posted By: By Jeff Corbett on 9/12/2008 4:01:34 PM | Comments (108)

comments

Date: Newest first | Oldest first

i agree, take the puerile behaviour out of the hands of the fans and put it in those of the players where it belongs. real football, (i assume this means rugby league) seems to be leading the way in this case where a national coach can call a referee a c***, a national player can receive oral sex in a nightclub toilet along with two of his mates and newcastle's, and arguably the game's, greatest player admits the use of illegal drugs.

Posted by action directe, 9/12/2008 6:42:42 PM

i'm so sick of this pro rugby league crap we have in the herald. football, the one and only true football, is the greatest game on earth. it is the most popular sport on the planet and it deserves respect. rugby league on the other hand is a sport for meatheads who just like to "run at" and "smash" other meatheads for fun. it is only played as a serious sport in about 4 countires around the world and is a miniscule dot on the global sporting landscape. and in regards to this whole swearing stuff you herald people are harping on about, I've heard worse stuff coming from 80 yr old women at the Knights games to be honest.

Posted by Heath, 9/12/2008 7:11:22 PM

But were the 80-year-old ladies chanting it?

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 10/12/2008 1:55:27 PM

I've attended my fair share of Knights and Jets games, and they are pretty similar overall. Most fans are well-behaved, but you hear you do hear obscenities at both. The Squadron are the main difference between the two codes. At their best, they are fantastic, bringing a great atmosphere to the game and putting on a great show (e.g. the Grand Final last year). At their worst, they are teenage yobs who chant obscenities and throw projectiles at players. Hopefully the attention that they have gained over the past few days will cause them to moderate their behaviour, rather than spurring them on. As for the difference between codes, I don't see it. Fans (with the exception of the Squadron) are similar, and both codes have their fair share of player misbehaviour and immaturity.

Posted by Jim, 9/12/2008 7:35:09 PM

Corbett, you sound like a one-eyed bogan Knights supporter! You base your impression of a Jets crowd on the behaviour of about 10 fans loosely attached to the Squadron. You will only loose readers respect when you become biased towards a sport which involves voluntary violence against other players, incorrectly calls itself "footy", and whose players regularly disgrace themselves in the media, and in our local Newcastle pubs, particularly during the League season - and they call themselves professionals!

Posted by bonkers, 9/12/2008 7:48:08 PM

"As I write in my column today, a great deal of the behaviour of soccer's fans and players can be fairly described as infantile. And that description covers, too, the histrionics, the melodrama and the diving of the players." ....as a rabid human headline and as a supposed journalist, I think you should look at your own inadequacies before having a shot at others.

Posted by Dazza, 9/12/2008 8:32:29 PM

"at a Knights game your children will be respected as children and young Knights fans." sorry mate there are always people swearing at knights game.

Posted by marty, 9/12/2008 9:44:03 PM

Mate you are a joke. How do you call yourself a journalist? There is only one football! Rugby League is gone why even make reference to it? I use to be one of the biggest Knights fans there was but mindless people like you ruined it for me. Don't write about something you know nothing about. I've seen more violence and swearing at an NRL game then i ever have at Newcastle United. The problems at the Knights game some how never get mentioned in your little column??

Posted by parko86, 9/12/2008 10:21:31 PM

this is one of the worst blogs i've ever read. Well done Jeff for creating one of the most terrible article ever to published on this website

Posted by andyj, 9/12/2008 10:56:57 PM

I remember quite a few Wally's a W*****, Gordo's a c*** and Hopa's a F***** q***** c*** often when i went to the League, so why isnt this infantile Jeff. Because being a League hypocrit you have a short memory. Is this language worse than being broken into or the graffitti all around town. Put life into perspective and get one. (Please dont edit it is succinct and very fair)

Posted by Donald, 9/12/2008 11:47:41 PM

Wait, Jeff, are you kidding? Have you even been to a (for the lack of a better descriptive word) Thugby match? I've heard nothing but obscene chanting and yelling from many drunk brutes who enjoy other men "feeling up" other men. I suppose this is what "SOKKAH" fans in australia are used to, getting the media beat up. It's the real football, while rugby is just an alternative.

Posted by noremac, 10/12/2008 1:17:26 AM