Fri 24 May 2013 | 
Explain what "family friendly" means again, Tim?
Email to friend
Print
Enlarge textEvents at Hindmarsh Stadium have one sports writer shaking in his boots.
Intimidating Adelaide United fans at Hindmarsh Stadium [GETTY]
- 20 Comments | Join the discussion
The bloke's name is Tim Hilferty, whom I'm told is the sports editor of the Sunday Mail, a News Limited newspaper in Adelaide.
The blog is The Punch, a welcome attempt at something a bit more highbrow from the same news organisation, a sort of Crikey.com.au Lite.
And the target? Well, take a wild guess. What sport does News Limited fear and loathe more than anything else?
Football. Or as News Limited would prefer you call it, "soccer".
Forget Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In News Limited's world, the A-League, Socceroos and Tim Cahill are the true axis of evil. Like the Americans wanting to protect their oil interests, football represents the biggest threat to News Limited's considerable investment in rugby league, so part of the mission statement of its newspapers and websites is to peddle anti-football propaganda however flimsy the premise.
Ray Chesterton used to lead the way. Then Phil Rothfield joined him. Now we have Hilferty, who has penned a blog for The Punch called "The Myth That Soccer is a Family Friendly Sport".
Despite claiming it is a "sport I love", Hilferty says he won't go to an A-League game with his son because of what he "witnessed at the Adelaide United-Melbourne Victory game at Hindmarsh Stadium".
In the tradition of the great war correspondents of yore, Hilferty is not afraid to put himself in harm's way, so "took a seat in the southern grandstand, behind the Adelaide 'ultras'".
"I deliberately chose that spot," he writes, "so I could keep an eye on any trouble, but there were many young families around me who just had the misfortune to be sitting near the idiots…
"There were over 15,000 people at Hindmarsh… in the south-east corner, near the fence, there were about 150 travelling Victory fans. Maybe 50 of them were looking for trouble. Sitting behind them, in the grandstand, were the United heroes. About 80 boys, some barely old enough to shave, having the time of their lives.
"The offensive chants were one thing. But knowing they had safety in numbers, they started throwing objects. Mainly soft-drink bottles (most of these guys weren't old enough to drink beer), but there were also reports of coins being thrown…
"The strange thing about this atmosphere of hate that both sets of supporters tried so hard to create, was that I never felt intimidated by it. It was just so comical, so staged. It was like a pantomime."
That wry amusement, however, soon turned to naked terror for our man on the frontline.
"Towards the end of the match I walked along the concourse behind the Melbourne supporters. Adelaide was about to take a corner kick so I stopped and peered over the Victory fans," Hilferty writes.
"The Adelaide 'ultras' wanted to let them know that although they may have won the game, they wouldn't win the fight. 'You're dead, you're dead,' they chanted.
"I couldn't believe it. I turned around, and a Reds fan, leaning over the fence, stared at me, pointed at me, and snarled, 'You're dead, c***!' I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Among all this baying for blood, there was very little actual violence. There was one fight between rival supporters, quickly broken up, and a few people asked to leave the ground tried to wrestle with the police."
Thank heavens you brought your flak jacket, then, Tim. This ain't the City of Churches any more. It's Baghdad!
"After the match, most of the hardcore Adelaide fans were content to dance around a flare (small minds seem to be amused by bright lights), while the Victory group slipped out almost unnoticed.
"As they walked down Manton St, some Melbourne fans did their best to draw the attention back, chanting the score, and reminding everyone of their record over the Reds…
"There is a song rival supporters sometimes sing at Manchester United games about Munich, with lyrics referring to flames and burning bodies.
"As these two groups of idiots shadowed each other… a Reds supporter launched into the song, with lyrics changed so it referred to the Victorian bushfires.
"It was the lowest act I have ever witnessed by a fan at a sporting event. And if the A-League, and United, want to continue to grow, these idiots must be identified and banned."
I'm amazed you got out alive, mate. Remember to bring a United Nations escort next time. Your experience must have been so harrowing you should turn it into a book. It's got Gold Walkley written all over it.
And you know what? I think you may be right after all. Football's no place for families. I'm going to switch allegiance to the sport News Limited would prefer me to watch.
After all, what better environment can there be for myself and my child than a sport where group-sex scandals, physical assaults, drunken violence, harassing women and dropping turds in hotel hallways is considered so old hat it's not even newsworthy?
And that's just the players!
Yep, you've got me convinced. I can't believe I got sucked in so bad.
There's just one problem: the other 3,999,999,999 people who don't think the same way. But if you can convert this former die-hard devotee of the "world game" so quickly, it's going to be a doddle.
Good luck!
:: For more Fink musings on the big issues in football, check out Half-time Orange on The World Game.
top
Blog Home 
Comments (20)
Previous 10 |
30 Sep 2009 13:13 AEST
From: Melbourne
God help us...
I am genuinely disturbed by the synopsis offered by this clown. However I shouldn't be surprised, because it's hauntingly familiar to the rubbish that AFL devotees in Victoria dish up in the press, around the water coolers and on the streets. I personally know of two people that were 'king hit' at AFL games this year, one ending up in hospital. Can you imagine if that happened at a Victory game!?
25 Sep 2009 18:28 AEST
From: Adelaide
Real Rivalry
What is wrong with people??? I was sitting about 7 seats away from the Victory Fans as I have been for the last 5 years! The southern end has become my home as the northern end is full of young boys with mindless un original chants ripped off from English Football! Now from the outset I knew there was going to be trouble as one certain Victory supporter rocked up wearing a black hoody sporting black wrap around sunnys to a 7:30 pm night game. Suss?? My 13 yo daughter sat next to me as we always have and watched as Victory supporters at half time decided to have a go at the weslo security which in turn erupted into an all in with the sapol! Now this fellow I mentioned earlier had leaned over 4 rows of chairs to have a dig at one of many sapol officers trying to restore order! Now can some one please tell me why are Adelaide supporters being blamed for this encounter when clearly before the game had even finished unruly behaviour had emergerged from the melbourne camp. And why is it every time Melbourne come to hindmarsh a flare is lit? When other travelling teams come to Adelaide, there is never any problems afterwards, we give them heaps before and during the game and after we shake hands and wish them the best! Melbourne no such luck! Their supporters are straight from house of uneducated. They seam to think its Millwall v Chelsea or something! But here is my point! The a league is young and has no such history! This riavalry between united and victory is the only true rivalry in Australian Football. History starts with these sorts of incidents. And for the uneducated sports writers out there! When attending a game of football, don't sit behind the goals as this is where you find the true football supporters not the ring ins! To hot for you? Take your knitting needles and go to a crows game or something!
25 Sep 2009 8:03 AEST
From: Brisbane
News Ltd.
I am an Australian born Football lover now in my early 50's and I have had enough of this anti-football media, the prejudice this game has got the years is rediculous. Can someone post a list News Ltd. products so I don't inadvertently give them any of my hard earnt money.
24 Sep 2009 18:32 AEST
From: adelaide
dont read the papers
if u think thats bad why is there police on horses & roit gear waitng for channel 7 news to setup their cameras before pushing people around before the game & paper insighting roits before the game its just kids with the big mouths do what we do if they r close tell them to shut up & they will walk away back to their mummys as for melb supporters most r fine when u talk to them but there not saints, afl & rfl are die'n sports the papers know that roits in aust please!!! when r us real football supports going to stand up & spot buying papers & talking to media like u that dont know jack!!!!!!!!!
24 Sep 2009 13:34 AEST
From: Melbourne
we'll be okay thanks tim
Compared to the violence seen in an under 16's rugby league game recently (which was glorified by watching parents) i don't think the GLOBAL game should lose a wink of sleep over this fool's tripe
24 Sep 2009 7:44 AEST
From: Rothbury, NSW
LOVE IT...
...Jesse and spot on. Typical News Ltd. Agree with bert, will be extremely interesting to see if the World Cup gets the 10-page-a-day coverage it deserves in every major national paper during June/July or whether News Ltd relegate it to a few inches sandwhiched between rowing and badminton.
23 Sep 2009 23:50 AEST
From: Perth
my opinion
who cares about this persons opinion. some of the melbourne supporters who came over might of been looking for trouble, but most probably not. Things like this happen in AFL, I have seen plenty of violence in the standing areas on level one of the southern stand and even the mcc reserve sections of the mcg. IT HAPPENS!! If australian football went through the hooligans stage england had during the 70s and 80s, then what people would consider games here are just drunken people looking to be tought, the chants about the victorian bushfires etc is disgusting, but i very much doubt the person doesnt really mean it, and would be intoxicated. here in perth families dont run the club, families come and go but dont run the club, the few thousand band of supporters who go to everygame since the old nsl days which coincidentally happen to be the vocal 'drunk' supporters who yell semi-graphic chants. ofcourse we need the families, fathers and sons etc to get to the game to help it develop, but pre-existing culture and history isnt going to change to protect your 6 year old from hearing the words bastard and wanker etc
23 Sep 2009 23:11 AEST
From: melbourne
news ltd is scum
their absolute dirt that should be spat on. a-league is family friendly and the only ppl that can cause what shouldnt even be known as trouble are a group of 15 y.o, the funny thing is in the worlds worst sport (cricket!!!!) you get 50 drunko's get evicted and it wont even make the news. football isnt an alcoholics game, rugby league is and so is cricket because you need alcohol to enjoy it. their not family friendly!
23 Sep 2009 22:24 AEST
From: coast
Lucky this guy isn't in the Ku Klux Klan
This guy is more Bias to football than Fox News is to Democrats! I like the "Axis of Evil" comment, you have quite a good political knowledge and perceptions :)
23 Sep 2009 22:17 AEST
From: Adelaide
I was sooo scared...
...I almost dropped my hotdog. But seriously, I walked behind the Victory fans at half-time and it was so quiet I was surprised. I got turned back by security though, obviously preventing the outbreak of mass violence. Then I went and sat with my kids (18 & 16) and their friends. No trouble. Few flares. No issue. I normally take my four year old with me as well. Never had a moments problem with the crowd (ok, barring the loud, idiotic voices of teenage girls on their mobile phones - they can do your head in). He loves it. My wife loves it. My friends love it. If there is a safe place to watch football in this country it is Hindmarsh. Great stadium and atmosphere. Now I'm to frightened to go back. Not! Mr Hilferty is a sensationalist and a liar. If he wasn't scared then what was the issue? Or maybe, just maybe, could he have had an agenda.....?
Join the discussion
PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.
Most Popular
- Shame on the ABC and Nine for their wrecking of Matthew Johns (125)
- The fight for truth, fairness and the restoration of Matthew Johns (59)
- Give it a whirl? I'm giving it the flick (46)
- Why is Kevin Muscat a protected species? (38)
- News Limited's treatment of football is bottom-of-the-barrel stuff (35)
- Who's fooling who? (30)
- Old hands won't win new fans (24)
- America: who are you? (23)
- Four Corners running out of excuses in the Matthew Johns saga (22)
- Explain what "family friendly" means again, Tim? (20)
About this Blog
The Finktank is more of what you've come to expect from Jesse Fink, The World Game's enfant terrible, but with a bent on the big issues in sport. No sport, no personality, no subject, is off limits.
Jesse Fink Jesse Fink is one of Australia's most popular football writers and sports columnists. He is the author of the book 15 Days in June: How Australia Became a Football Nation (Hardie Grant, $29.95) and writes twice a week as "Half-Time Orange" for The World Game and weekly for ESPN Star Sports in Singapore. He lives in Sydney.
Other Blogs
TV
- Living Black
- Italian Food Safari
- Thalassa
- Luke Nguyen's Vietnam
- Behind the Scenes: The 2009 Deadly Awards
- My Family Feast
- Costa's Production Blog
- Eurovision 2011
- Swift and Shift Couriers
- Global Village
- My Bogan Diary
- The Road to the White House
Food
Films
Documentary
- Britt Arthur
- Catharine Lumby
- John Birmingham
- Rory Medcalf
- Mark Jones
- Emily Booth
- Bob Wurth
- Andy Martin
World News Australia
Sport
- The Circus
- The Interchange
- The Hangover
- Lip Service
- Deep in the Dust: On the Dakar trail
- Dakar Dreams
- The Finktank
- Open Season
About SBS
Business
Internet and Technology
Cycling Central
- Joe Ward
- Tom Palmer
- Bridie O'Donnell
- Sarah van Boheemen
- Stuart Randall
- Rochelle Gilmore
- Matthew Price's Broom Wagon
- Anthony Tan's Velo Files
- Matthew Keenan
- Kate Bates
- Al Hinds
- Philip Gomes
- Scott Sunderland
- Mike Tomalaris
Festival Reports
Tour De France
