Football Policing - One Rule For One....

We've all seen it repeated on Sky Sports News over the weekend, amidst the shots of Berbatov jogging about in training, or embarrassing images of Man City fans with tea towels round their heads, held together with black tape. I'm on about the image of Newcastle Chairman, Mike Ashley, standing at the back of the away end and knocking back a rather freshing looking pint of lager in the manner of which Paul Gascoigne would be proud.

As much of an idiot I think he his, "King Kev" on the back of his replica and other such nonsense, there is something pleasing about a man in such a position as he, preferring to stand with the away support than sit in a box, and drink pints of lager rather than sip champagne with the know nothing hangers on in the posh seats. Yet does his status as a football chairman make him different to the rest of us when it comes to obeying the laws of the land?

This weekend, numerous fans up and down the country will have been arrested in football grounds for drinking alcohol in view of the playing field. Fans are arrested week in, week out, for drinking alcohol while watching the game. For some reason, it's illegal for football fans to do so, but not so for rugby fans, or fans of any other sport for that matter. But the law is the law, and while I don't agree with it, I'd like to think it was being enforced consistently.

I know of one fan that was arrested for drinking alcohol in view of the playing field, as mentioned in a previous blog, and ended up with a 3 year ball and chain around his ankle, banning him from all football grounds in England and Wales for three years. Having to surrender his passport to the local police station and sign in, every time his club side played away from home in Europe, or every time the England side went on their travels. 3 years of inconvenience on top of the restriction of going to the game, not being allowed in the city centre 4 hours before or 4 hours after a home game.

There is another Liverpool fan I know of that has been arrested this weekend for drinking during the game. He is due in court next Monday to answer his charge, and faces the same 3 year banning order that are being handed out like flyers for a strip club at the minute. So can you imagine how he feels this afternoon watching Sky Sports News, and hearing that Mike Ashley has been warned for his drinking, but will face no further charges?

The law is the law, and if it is going to be enforced on the apparent "dregs of society" that us mere football fans seem to be treated as, then it should also be enforced on others, no matter who they are. Mike Ashley has to conform to the same laws of the land as you and me. Or does he?

He has released a statement this afternoon, that he was told the drink was non-alcoholic when being passed to him by a friend. Now can you imagine a regular football fan using that excuse when turning up in court to answer their case? They'd be laughed out of court and be handed a 3 year banning order before Ashley could finish his pint of Kaliber.

Mike Ashley didn't even have to attend court to make his excuses. It will have been emails or a phone call from "his people". If the police had any balls whatsoever, they would have arrested Ashley and had him up in court next week, as they would do with your average football fan. But would that have put the cat among the pigeons with regard to the farcical law that it is? Why highlight another discriminative law against football fans, when you can just sweep it under the carpet?

I wonder if he's been warned about persistently standing in seated areas as well? He stands for 90 minutes at every away game with the rest of his support. Nothing wrong with that in my eyes, and it's brilliant to see him doing so. But while many other fans are having videos taken of them standing and being threatened with losing their season tickets over their behaviour, Ashley seems to be immune to ground regulations.

Or is it all because Ashley is not thought of as a sub-human hooligan, and is therefore treated differently? It's just a shame that the authorities seem to class every other person that follows a football team as just that, with reasoning or without. We're all labeled in that way and treated as such, isn't it about time things started to change?

Mike Ashley; if you really do care about your fellow fans, why not step onto the stage and speak out about how farcical these discriminative footballing laws are, and try to make a real difference?

I won't hold my breath.

Paul Jones