No Pyro No Party

Pyrotechnics seem to be making a return to English football stadiums. Whether it be flares, smoke bombs or fire crackers, fans across the country and across the football league are setting these devices off at the match. Liverpool fans in particular have led the way with this trend, sparking debate amongst supporters and media alike whether this is right or wrong.

Liverpool at Fulham

As a Liverpool supporter, I have noticed this debate become particularly prevalent after the reds trip to Fulham at the weekend, as the pyrotechnic trend seemed to reach it's peak. I watched the match on the internet (yes, I wasn't there unfortunately) I thought the displays from our fans looked great, and added to the fun end of season atmosphere. However, as I was watching the co-commentator (I can't remember who it was) criticised the supporters for their behaviour, labeling it as dangerous. I have since seen Liverpool fans agreeing with this around the internet, causing a divide in the support.

I believe the issue with pyrotechnics comes from a problem in modern football and the way modern football fans are being manufactured. If you watch a European match on English television, with some of the biggest teams in Europe, you will nearly always see some sort of pyro at the games. If you take, for example, the two Champions League semi finals from a few weeks ago, both teams who are no finalists, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, set off smoke bombs, fire crackers and flares regularly at their home games. When this happens the English commentators praise them for it and say how great it looks and how good the fans are. Why should it be different for English teams? If the media in this country believes pyrotechnics are dangerous in football stadiums, are they basically saying it's okay for them because their foreign? Because that's not right is it.

Pyromaniacs in Dortmund

A lot is often said, and particularly in recent weeks with German teams doing so well in Europe, about how good it is for fans of German teams, and how the clubs are run properly and care about the fans. Likewise, the fans are often praised for their behaviour. It wouldn't fit the script to criticise supporters for their dangers pyrotechnic displays. On the contrary, modern football has raised an attitude and a breed of football fan in this country totally different to what they have in Germany. The Sky Generation as they are known. These fans are middle class, and want go the game and stay seated for 90 minutes and enjoy the show, just like they are going to the theatre. In the majority of cases, it is this type of supporter that is not happy about Liverpool fans and their smoke bombs. It goes against the Super Sunday script.

Now, I know it's not quite as black and white as that. There may well be a safety issue when it comes to pyrotechnics, it probably won't be a nice experience for a young kid trying to enjoy a football match to get caught in a load of red smoke. However, this is where football in England and countries like Germany is different. In Germany, they allow the fans who want to take part in this behaviour to have their own section of the ground to do this in. The same goes for standing at football, which is another issue that throws up questions about safety. In Germany, if the fans want to stand they can choose to go in the standing section. The fact they have the choice is very important. In this country, the powers that be try to make everyone conform to their way of thinking. Pay your money, sit in your seat, stay quiet, and don't make any sudden movements.

Football in England is like a dictatorship, football clubs are a law to themselves when it comes to controlling the fans, they try to blanket ban everything rather than try to work out resolutions to suit everyone. When smoke bombs started getting popular, Liverpool issued this statement to supporters:

The answer to everything is ban them. Again, it's the same with standing at the game. If people are standing in the Kop the stewards go to them and tell them they'll get kicked out. Now, it is unfair if you standing up effects someone's view who wants to sit down, the same way it's unfair that someone should have to be around pyrotechnics if they don't want to be. But again, people should be given the choice. Liverpool have had a problem for years, whereby they have sold the Kop to tourists on the atmosphere, so the tourists buy their Kop ticket and there's no atmosphere, because all the regular fans are being replaced by tourists like themselves who don't sing. Similarly, a tourist will want to be in the Kop then they will be unhappy if they can't sit down and watch the game in peace. But anyway, that's just a bit of a side note that kind of leads on to my next point...

The reason other European countries such as Germany allow their fans to stand up, and set off flares and take part in other behaviours such as this that are outlawed in England, is because they know that these fans are the loyalest and most hardcore group of supporters. These fans, who are sometimes referred to as Ultras, but have different names in different countries, may act in such a way that does not always make the club look great to outsiders, but they will always be there. Football goes in cycles. At the moment Germany is a major European footballing power, so the stadiums are always full, but it hasn't always been that way. Around 20 years ago even the biggest teams in the counrty weren't attracting fans. You'd often see the likes of Bayern Munich's Olympic Stadium almost completely empty. But the ultras section was always full and bouncing. The same applies to the likes and Italy and Spain who have also gone through bad patches. Without these hardcore groups of supporters, many clubs wouldn't be here anymore as they would have gone bankrupt. But the hardcore supporters were always there, buying their tickets, and just about keeping the clubs afloat. The clubs haven't forgotten this, so even now when they're going through good times, they still aim to keep the hardcore supporters happy because they know it might not last forever and they'll need these supporters to stay loyal in the future.

England has been a major European power in football for the past 15 years or so now, and has used this to try and get rid of the old fashioned hardcore football fan rather than keep them. Football clubs believe that by replacing the traditional working class fans who have followed the teams for years, with new middle class fans, they will be able to make more money from it. The Liverpool fans who are letting off the smoke bombs at the games are the hardcore supporters. They're the ones who are going to every game, whether the club are doing good or terrible. The club has no issue giving these fans banning orders, as they know they can sell their tickets for more money to the middle and upper class fans, or even to corporate sponsors. But what the club has to ask themselves is will those fans and those sponsors be there in the bad times. And I'm not just talking about bad times for the individual club, I mean for football in this country in general. It can happen, it's happened in major countries in Europe only recently, the biggest clubs in the world have had empty stadiums game after game. The Sky Sports supporter might complain about the dangers of the smoke bomb, but he's probably watching the game on the telly anyway.

I have gone off on a bit of a rant from the original subject of this blog, but I'd just like to conclude by saying that it is important for clubs to allow fans some breathing space in regards to how they behave at the match. Not all fans are the same, some want to stand up, some want to sit down, some want to show their support by letting off a smoke bomb, some think smoke bombs are dangerous. However, the people who do want to stand and set off smoke bombs, the ones you try to ban, may just be the fans who will still be there when you need them the most.