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DOUBLE STANDARDS 30-8-07
Udayan Mukherjee
After attending one of the most important games of our admittedly fledgling season against local rivals Newcastle, I was struck by the double standards in the policing at the Riverside.
What I love about going to games is the passion. I love being able to vent a bit of spleen at someone, have a laugh and enjoy the camaraderie. Instead the stewards, whom I had reasonably close contact with during my time as a turnstile operator at the Riverside, seem to have been instructed to make our ground the most bland, passionless place that it can possibly be.
We are supposed to go and read our club programme, clap politely in between munches of lukewarm 'fries' and £2.50 botulism burgers while watching cheerleaders dance inanely to some run of the mill R'n'B shitfest.
During Sunday's Tees-Tyne derby, the number of times that people were told to sit down by stewards - even in the instances where the supporters in question were on the back row - was approaching ridiculous levels. Indeed two lads sitting near me got removed from the stadium for seemingly being too vociferous in their support of our team.
The way that the Riverside has been stewarded is consistently pilloried by opposition fans and moaned about by Boro supporters. There surely has to come a time where the club makes it acceptable for fans to stand up and sing and make an atmosphere at the Riverside, albeit in certain locations and with certain restrictions and ground rules.
There is a problem with attendances at Middlesbrough having diminished considerably over the last few years, and this has been worsened by the inability of stewards to allow supporter activity that is commonplace at other grounds.
The whole operation seems to systematically piss off the paying public while failing to control real dangers to public safety and the conduct of away supporters. It may have been Newcastle supporters this week, but seemingly every group of away supporters that visit the ground are allowed to stand with very few repercussions.
On the other hand supporters who encroach onto the field of play, potentially dangerous ones at that, are hardly ever stopped in time. The failure to stop the bloke who threw a season ticket at McClaren two seasons ago could well have been fatal, yet ordinary supporters are told to sit down and shut up.
Indeed, 3,000 moronic Geordies racially abused Mido were not dealt with - I saw very few of the away contingent thrown out of the ground for vile abuse that is reminiscent of the banana throwing xenophobia of yester-year, while Boro fans get banned for falling asleep. It is surely the wrong way to approach things completely.
I heard that the Three 'Legends' on Century seemed to dismiss the taunts as 'just part of the banter' that footballers have to deal with. Many of us have joined in with chants that are out of order sometimes - in no way am I trying to say that Boro fans are saints - but the way that the likes of Malcolm McDonald are paid good money to speak such garbage is beyond me.
For instance, for someone in the public eye to say something like "Not a lot rhymes with Mido. The Newcastle fans found something that did and used it to wind up the Boro fans." is surely unacceptable.
I am of course referring to the Newcastle fans rhyming Mido with 'Peado', which some readers may find funny, and many others will find grossly offensive. Whatever the case, a public broadcaster expressing such sentiments is out of order. Indeed, this 70's relic seemed to applaud the actions by saying that they were designed to wind up the Boro fans and Mido and that "what a good job they did of it".
As a football fan and a Boro supporter I imagine that many of my views regarding the game are biased and quite possibly incorrect - I can say this because everyone has their own opinion but the way that they ( McDonald in particular) jabber on like morons while being sexist, racist without having researched their topic as much as the average fan is beyond me.
As I have alluded to previously, we have probably all joined in with or laughed at risqué chants and in a sense it seems almost churlish to condemn other sets of fans that do the same. However, there are instances where it was far beyond normal decency, as in the case of the Newcastle fans on Sunday.
It is a curious phenomenon when normal people join in the mob mentality and become absolute zealots who foam at the mouth and become someone who utterly hates the opposition supporters and players.
Seriously folks - its good to let off steam, but opposition fans aren't all scum (apart from Leeds United obviously). Show some common sense and make the chants witty rather than crassly offensive.
Apart from a few chants that were beyond normal decency, the atmosphere was electric, with Boro fans' adulation of Mido more than making up for the "Mido, he's got a bomb, Mido" chants aimed at him by the Geordies.
The match itself was exciting to watch and showed plenty of promise in the way that Boro played attacking, attractive football, with Arca and Rochemback being particularly effective. The skill and passing ability of the two South Americans drove Boro forward without play slowing down in the middle of the field as it has done in the past. Simply put, these two can keep the ball and pick the right pass, and in some instances through balls from the pair were nothing short of spectacular.
There was a collective groan from the stands when it was announced that George Boateng would be played out of position on the right hand side of midfield, but fair play to him, he worked tirelessly and provided width, tenacity and discipline. Indeed the performance from the Dutchman was brilliant, having had to track up and down the field all game due to right back Luke Young being clearly short of match practice.
It was an encouraging performance and one that shows that Boro may well do better than expected. The key is to carry on the same level of commitment in the games that aren't as high profile; whether the likes of Rochemback can play with the same drive in the nothing games and refrain from messing up simple passes.
The Birmingham game on Saturday is a perfect opportunity to show whether we can be consistent. If we can do that then we have the basis of a upwardly mobile side.
Up the Boro
Udayan Mukherjee
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