LALALALALALA!

The A-League is in crisis but it’s not the crisis that Joe public believes it is.

If you read the paper you might well think our sport is being brought to its knees by a brigade of “suburban terrorists” and their whinging supporters throwing their toys and storming out of stadiums till they get their flares back. The reality however is a very different story.

Let’s be clear upfront, no fans are backing criminals. No fans want to see anti-social behaviour allowed at games but right now the most anti-social behaviour isn’t coming from the fans but the FFA. To describe it as a Kafka-esque regime might seem extreme but honestly it’s not far from the truth.

The FFA maintain a guilty until proven innocent mentality towards their fans – with no access to supposed evidence to even attempt to prove their innocence. If receiving a lengthy bans from the sport you love wasn’t already enough your details are then leaked so you can appear listed as a criminal and “grub” on the front of major metropolitan paper despite never facing charges let alone being convicted of any crime.

But don’t worry an appeal process has always been in place to correct these injustices, right? I can see how you’d be confused about that given the statement from the Head of the A-League on Nov 4 that  “fans that cause trouble face long bans with no right of appeal” and emails stating that “procedural fairness and natural justice do not apply to our organisation”.

The grandstanding and rhetoric are at an all-time high while fact and reason remain absent. If these processes are as iron-clad and evidence based as claimed then why is the FFA so afraid to open the doors to even the slightest transparency. After all you are banning the people that pay your salary, would it really hurt that much to tell them why?

Perhaps it the numerous accounts of incorrect banning orders. I mean heck you can even be out of the country and still be banned. I’m sure some of 198 are guilty as all heck but a ‘finger in the air’ test says there are good number of football fans that have been forced to stop supporting their team through no fault of their own and no remedy has been in place.

If this was the system for parking tickets down at the local mall I really doubt Susie O’Brien would be calling the people who stopped shopping there “suburban terrorists”. Now imagine it’s the only mall in the country. Wouldn’t you protest till the system changed too?

The Yellow Fever is in an odd situation however given our licence extension. If we don’t turn up we might lose our team completely. With the full support of other fans groups across the league we will be at QBE Stadium this Saturday. As one member from another fan group said “will be when the Nix get the highest crowd of the round” – empty stadiums across the league in protest of appalling fan treatment and a bumper crowd for the one club that apparently doesn’t get enough people along.

The one simple fact that should tell you this isn’t just a few spoiled brats throwing their toys is how united the football community is on this issue. The fans rarely stand together on any issues but try to ruin the sport and treat the customers poorly and you are going to hear about it.

This all active fans groups – with the support of non-active fans (as shown by how the North Terrace walkout was applauded), the football media, the players, the former players, the club owners, the back office staff, the coaches and even the State and Federal Privacy Rights commissioners looking into the treatment.

This is a united call for reform. This is seeking a change of culture at a governing body that has lost touch with the fans and has become drunk with power at the expense of the sport.

The FFA executives have had their chance over the last week to come out and support their fans, to back their sport, to show some leadership. Instead they have trotted out hollow statements and half-truths. The time for talk is over. Football in this region needs some action to survive.