Just cancel Aston Villa’s match

[olderandnonthewiser]

A massive waste of public money policing a game where violence is so expected that schools have had to close early.

It’s just a game. Just football. Shouldn’t be a drain on public services.

Just a game? The ticket revenue is probably approaching £2m, let alone the tv rights, advertising, catering, parking etc etc. not to mention they are in a completion with millions of pounds of prize money riding on it. It’s hardly a kick about in a park. A match can’t just be cancelled without breaches of contract all over the place. The VAT income alone will more than compensate the additional cost of policing, I’d have thought (given that the police are being paid anyway).

I completely agree with you. Why should taxpayers fund the policing of these things if people can’t behave reasonably? Just make it a televised match on BBC.

The clubs should cover all of the security costs. I believe they contribute but needs to be 100%.

It’s not just the cost of the policing, it’s the resource being taken away from other crime responses eg domestic abuse.

If clubs are making big profits, then they should contribute the lions share of the cost of policing.

And wasn’t there a statistic that crimes such as domestic abuse rise during football games?

The police are being paid anyway? So the 700 they've deployed for this game, plus horses, dogs, drones, is just using resources that would have been sitting there wasted otherwise?

They pay 100% of the cost of policing property they own. They don't pay for policing outside the match itself which is somewhat questionable. But you could also argue e.g. all the pubs and bars filling supporters with booze before and after matches are at least as culpable.

I am fuming about it. Yesterday Muslims were putting up banners about Israelis not welcome in Aston over the tunnel bridge. The match should be played with no spectators. It is really unfair to make Israel team play with no supporters whilst Villa have their cheering for them. Clubs should pay for additional security if they have rabble fans who threaten opposition.

The clubs could easily afford it - they can pay the fellas who kick a ball around thousands a game so they could pay the highly skilled police.

The club didn’t make the decision to ban Tel Aviv fans. They also didn’t make the decision to play them. If you’re using that logic then it should be UEFA footing the bill, not Aston Villa.

It would make the most sense to just cancel the live tickets, let the match go ahead anyway, and make the money back on TV rights. It would maybe teach those bloody hooligans that watching the football in person is a privilege not a right, and that other people’s right to safety and adequate policing for actual crime takes priority. Maybe that’s what would stamp out more of this sort of behaviour.

So first off Aston Villa - easily afford it well not so much!
Secondly they do pay for all of the security within the ground and shouldn’t be penalised for this

because this isn’t about football is it - football is simply the means here that trouble is potentially going to be made and isn’t one suspects anything to do with the fans who turn up week in and week out

Aston Villa aren’t to blame here and neither should they be the ones punished for it (and either cancelling or not allowing fans would be punishment)

given what happened in the city last night it is hardly calm there is it?

Or just stop the away fans. Like they usually do when away fans have form for violence. But we can't do that can we...

I am not sure Aston Villa or football in general can be blamed for this. There is plenty I don’t agree with, that doesn’t give me the right to go and cause trouble.

It's not Villa's fault that they are drawn against them. And of course the club is responsible for its fans but they can't be held responsible for wider public unrest or trouble.

Agree OP. I actually think in general
the cost of policing football matches should be paid by the clubs. For many years I lived near a Premier League football ground and the amount of extra policing that goes into every single match costs ££££

@TheGrimSmiledo not read the news at all?

Nothing to do with who they’re playing. All clubs should cover all costs, above the board. They can afford to.

I saw a Hasidic Jew being verbally and almost certainly racially abused on a train yesterday.

He was about 60, walked past a young black man, who screamed in his face that he needs to say 'Excuse Me' and show him some manners. It was totally over the top aggressive and for show. The older man looked terrified. The younger man thought he was in the right, presumably because the man was a Jew.

The younger man was with two women on a work trip and they both looked embarrassed. One of them said the Jewish man had been nice to her on the train earlier in the journey

To be fair I think even if they played the match behind closed doors there would still be trouble outside.

@Cinnamon77 Revolting behaviour. What a mouthy little prick.

This really isn't about 'nasty black people' and Jewish people 'being nice earlier' or vice versa, and these anecdotes serve no useful purpose. Anyone with half a brain knows that the majority of people from ALL ethnicities dont go rampaging round cities assaulting other people and destroying property, and that every ethnicity has its share of nice people and horrible people.
The last thing we should be doing is deciding the good guys and the bad guys based on ethnicity or religion.
Yes, there will be people using this game as an opportunity to be anti semetic. Equally there will be people using it to be Islamophobic. Protests have started already from both sides of the underlying debate.
Angry violent young men from both sides will pose a risk to the safety of people tonight. Meanwhile the vast majority of law abiding people from all groups in the Aston area will be picking their DC up early from schools that have closed early, and getting home as fast as they are able.

That’s nothing to do with the fans, it’s the local residents. The fans don’t arrive the day before 😂

I am ambivalent about this - on the face of it, yes, it’s just a game. Cancel it. BUT where do we draw the line? Do we close the shops in London when there is a large demonstration planned, or stop going out at night because there’s a high chance of a mugger or gangs being out in the area? If fear of crime and disturbance means we curtail normal life, then society is broken.

If I had tickets, though, and had been planning to take DCs I’d probably not take them in this instance. I think you have to balance the risks and decide on an individual level.

It’s nothing to do with fans, it’s the locals who are the threat. The ground is situated in a predominantly Muslim area.