Our View: Banning away fans will destroy football

The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) on Tuesday bowed to police pressure and banned away fans from a match scheduled for Sunday between Omonia 29 May and Apoel. Police chief Stelios Papatheodorou had written to the CFA, warning that there would be Omonia 29 May fans assembled outside their home stadium in Peristerona and had received information that hardcore Apoel fans would also gather there. There could be trouble as a result and the chief advised that it would be safer to ban Apoel fans from the match.

Most Omonia 29 May supporters are always assembled outside the home ground when their team plays because they refuse to have fan identity cards issued, their way of protesting against the idea. This was nothing unusual and not an indication that they were preparing a fight with away fans, although scuffles could not have been ruled out. In the end, the home club would be penalised by being deprived of the revenue from ticket sales, while the match would have the atmosphere of a friendly.

After the universal criticism directed at the CFA for the trouble at the Apollonas-Ael clash 10 days earlier, the association could simply not ignore the police advice. In the event there was any trouble on Sunday, not only would the CFA come under attack, but the government idea for banning away fans from all matches would gain traction. It has played along, for now, but it is doubtful it would be able to do so again. Apoel issued a statement on Tuesday saying it would respect this decision, for “the first and last time” to protect the movements of its fans in the future. The club pointed out that its fans were not to blame for what happened in Limassol.

Despite Apoel’s warning a precedent has now been set. The CFA has given police command the right to ban away fans from whichever match it chooses. Would it be able to ignore the advice for a ban on away fans the next time the police give it? The ban threatens to destroy football as a spectacle and should be resisted. A match without rival sets of opponents on the terraces will have no passion or atmosphere and would keep even more fans away from stadiums.

There must be a more sensible way of dealing with crowd trouble. As we have written before, the bill for increased policing necessary for so-called high-risk matches should be paid by the home club and not the taxpayer; it should also hire more stewards to carry out body searches of fans. The risk of incurring a high policing cost for a match would force the cash-strapped clubs to bring their fans in line. This is the only way to make the clubs take responsibility for the behaviour of their supporters, something they have always refused to do. If there is a big security cost for the club, it would make sure its supporters behave so that the cost is brought down.

This is the only way to deal with hooliganism and trouble at matches and not by banning away fans – whenever the police decide – because this will destroy football.