Petition to criminalise tragedy chanting dismissed by government
Following years of tragedy chanting at football matches, some fans had enough, and decided to take matters into their own hands.
Chants about events like the Munich air disaster and Hillsborough disaster are becoming more and more common, so a petition was started to make the act of tragedy chanting an official hate crime.
Once a petition hits 10,000 signatures, it warrants a government response, and 100,000 over the next six months it is considered for debate in the House of Commons.
But once it hit 17,000 signatures, Westminster responded by shutting it down.
It cited the fact that laws are already in place to put a stop to stop threatening and abusive language such as the Public Order Act 1986.
Alternate solution
David Scott, director of anti-sectarianism charity Nil by Mouth had an alternate idea on how to solve the problem.
He said: “These songs are unquestionably vile and antagonistic and sadly in Scotland we have seen this type of behaviour around the Ibrox Stadium disaster.
“The question is whether we need a specific law to target those who indulge in this behaviour or if this can be done by proper enforcement of existing legislation?
“As we saw with the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act passing laws, if not thought through correctly, can cause more problems than they solve and I’m unconvinced listing these sort of actions as a hate crime would have the desired effect.
“In addition, clubs, governing bodies and fans groups need to find their voices on this issue and look at ways of addressing the problem through either education or sanctions like stadium bans or closing sections of stadium where these things take place.
“Perhaps clubs should consider donating significant portions of the gate receipts at matches where this type of garbage happens to a charity nominated by the club/community or player targeted might also prove effective – making the polluters pay.”
The petition began on April 5, following Hillsborough chants at the Etihad as Liverpool lost 4-1 to title race commanders Manchester City and in the clubs 0-0 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Both clubs issued official apologies and promised to identify and ban those responsible.
Nottingham Forest fans showed their support for the cause with an anti tragedy chanting banner at Anfield on April 22.
Return of the people’s game
In the first week, the petition gained 15,000 signatures and was well on its way to a parliamentary debate.
But with the government response on April 25, any chance of that debate was utterly squashed.
The government has said it will continue to work with police and crown prosecution service to ensure that offenders are prosecuted, under current laws, the sentence for this behaviour peaks at six months.
The same is currently true of racist chants at football matches under the Football Offences Act 1991, meaning the petitions goal was fruitless.
Yet some of its supporters are adamant that this is a matter of principle.
Patrick Burns, chairman of the Manchester Munich Memorial Foundation said: “It’s very important to reaffirm some boundaries of decency and hopefully reintroduce the element of sportsmanship.
“You want to see people enjoying football and banter, rivalry is a part of sport and always has been.
“But clearly there is a need to reinforce some demarcation lines and I don’t think pleading to people’s better nature is going to cut through.
“If this becomes a hate crime and people face sanctions because of it, it would be a strong tool in changing behaviour.
“It used to be the people’s game and we need to get it back to being the people’s game.
“I think it’s a matter of principle and I think all football institutions should now be saying ‘we’ve got a policy, we will not entertain it’.
“For the government, when it comes to behaviour of football going fans, I can see that they have much more important issues to worry about.
“But you can’t keep waving the flag saying please behave, that’s got to transcend into clubs employing police, not just stewards, so they can properly enforce the law.”
