Grealish, Tavernier and Smalling: Football safety in crisis

David Cotterill has been keen to stress that he does not “condone guns”. The former Birmingham City midfielder has, however, announced his support for the deployment of armed police officers at football matches in the wake of last weekend’s Second City Derby between Birmingham City and Aston Villa.

With the game poised at 0-0, Birmingham City supporter, Paul Mitchell, invaded the pitch at St Andrew’s and attacked Jack Grealish from behind. Mitchell has since been sentenced to 14 weeks in prison, ordered to pay Grealish £100 in compensation and has been banned from St Andrew’s for life. Magistrate Alison Fisher was clear that Mitchell’s sentence “must act as a punishment and a deterrent to others in order to send a message to the public and fans and players like Mr Grealish who should be protected at all times.”

Fan violence, directed towards opposition players, is not a new phenomenon

However, Grealish’s assault did not take place in isolation. James Tavernier was confronted by a Hibs fan on Friday night, while Chris Smalling was pushed by an Arsenal fun on Sunday afternoon. Fan violence, directed towards opposition players, is not a new phenomenon. In 2012, Chris Kirkland, while playing for Sheffield Wednesday, was attacked by a Leeds United supporter. In 2007, Frank Lampard was attacked by a Spurs fan as his side celebrated a 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win over their cross-city rivals.

We have come a long way since the dark days of football hooliganism in 1980s. But we mustn’t be complacent. Violence between football supporters is now largely a relic of the past. The overwhelming majority of football fans attend games without harnessing any ill-intentions and yet the football community in this country has again been humiliated by the thuggish actions of the few who do.

Increase the size of the deterrent and supporters will find a way of controlling themselves

David Cotterill’s suggestion to send armed police officers to football matches is extreme. Although his logic is clear: increase the size of the deterrent and supporters will find a way of controlling themselves. The execution of this logic is questionable. Imagine there were armed police officers by the pitch at St Andrew’s, the Emirates or Easter Road: would the police have shot the invaders? Certainly not. What if they’d missed and shot Grealish instead? The answer to football’s issues is not guns, they’re never the answer to anything.

So people are now wondering where should the footballing authorities turn. Suggestions have ranged from increasing fines and extending bans to point deductions and stadium closures. The enforcement of personal stadium bans is, at best, flimsy, and as such any moves to increase the length of the bans handed out for invading the field of play would seem redundant. Fines have been proven not to work. We already target the perpetrators and it doesn’t seem to work.

Honest fans miss out on the football they deserve

Stadium closures benefit no one. Honest fans miss out on the football they deserve, clubs lose out on revenue and – perhaps most importantly to decision-makers – sponsors hate empty stadiums. Likewise, administering point deductions just wouldn’t work. If the authorities started to deduct points for the poor behaviour of fans, insidious clubs could, in theory, plant “fans” with the aim of causing trouble.

In 1993 Monica Seles was stabbed while on court in Hamburg. It was suggested that the perpetrator was simply a fan of tennis rival Steffi Graf. This is an extreme example but it is illustrative of the immediacy of the danger that the footballing world must eradicate.

The current situation, however, is simply not good enough.

Players’ and fans’ safety are of paramount importance. You cannot have one without the other, and as such fences should never be erected at football stadiums ever again. The current situation, however, is simply not good enough.

Regardless of the backlash, the footballing authorities must insist that rigorous screening of fans takes place as they arrive at stadiums around the country. Football clubs must invest heavily in training and equipping stewards to do their jobs properly, and they should be duly compensated. A greater number of stewards must be stationed around the perimeter of the pitch, and they must be athletic enough to prevent anyone from invading the field.

The police and the footballing authorities must clamp down on the thugs that desecrate our sport

In mitigation, Mitchell’s defence referred to the “highly-charged” nature of the fixture. That simply is not an excuse. The police and the footballing authorities must clamp down on the thugs that desecrate our sport with their dangerous idiocy. Events at the Emirates, Easter Road and St Andrew’s are emblematic of football’s darkest days, days we must not return to.

Jack Grealish and his Aston Villa teammates administered Mitchell with the perfect punishment. But it shouldn’t be up to the players to silence the thugs and the footballing world must learn from Grealish’s attack.