class football fans as "hooligans" they behave like animals, they Hillsborough: a working class tragedy waiting to happen OMME DUANESE T FEATURE Cognonl and the football world to the The emotional reaction to the stadium on April 15 has spread beyond Merseyside However shocking and painful the images on television and in the at Hillsborough FE whole of British society. events
deaths of the 95 Liverpool sup- The Labour leadership shares with the goverment the view that football's problems can be reduced with an 'acceptable" ID card scheme in the The tendency of some on the left to treat football supporters as an irrelevance, or worse, ing the Tories, and their allies in the Labour leadership, to quite literally "get away with tion of this bipartisan approach murder"; the murder of football as a mass spec- to "football hooliganism'. Roy Hat- when he stated in a recent "Newsnight" inter- view that if he and Douglas Hurd were to be locked in a room overight they would emerge as irredeemably reactionary, is simply allow- tator sport, and of football fans in future tersley provided a graphic illustra- porters. them to travel to away matches. In recent years, however, there has been an explosion of self-organised unofficial supporters clubs and tive Football Network". An independent na- porters Association (FSA) has been growing steadily and now counts its membership in the The existence of football as a mass spec- tator sport and the self-organisation of football fans should be supported wholcheartedly by fanzines - known collectively as the "Altema- tional organisation for fans -- the Football Sup- getting into the ground and bad planning and communication by the football club - are problems which fans encounter week in, week nut at every major league ground in the country, Hillsborough was a working class Socialists need to look into the underlying causes of the disaster and to propose ways in which the working class, through its own ac- tivity and organisation, can provide solutions, On one level, Hillsborough was typical of the tenth year of Thatcherism. In common with press have been, the disaster at Hillsborough will have come as no porters. The immediate causes of the tragedy - inadequate and incom- petent policing, fans being crammed into cages like animals, huge delays surprise to many football sup- tragedy waiting to happen.
Instead of ignoring these issues we should be developing a political programme for the 'People's Game'. Some of the elements sif developed inside the foothall supporters movement. Arguments against racism and sexism are common in football fanzines. They tion to any for of ID card scheme, and so on. luence on the football authorities on some of these questions. Socialists need to have an input into these debater where it mattes - in the supporters organisations themselves, as well as raising them in the Labour Party and transformation of football into what it has al- sentation on boards, better facilities, opposi- The FSA has begun to exert some real in- ways had the potential to become - the such a programme are already being also raise demands such as supporters repre- tragedies such as Hillsborough. nationalism - are deeply rooted in the mass of all socialists. In some cases, football provides the only collective experience which young porters organisations represents a gain for the Predictably, as with all working class social formations under capitalism, football crowds are contradictory phenomena. Foris of ruling football supporters (most of whom are white and male). Consequently, fascist groups have had some limited success at recruiting on the terraces, although fascist influence (with a few The ruling class, in the shape of the Thatcher government, encourges extreme nationalist sentiment among football fans, and is at least benevolently silent on racism and working class people have available to them. The collectivity of the terraces and of sup- class ideology - sexism, racism and notable exceptions) has declined recently. working class as a whole. combined with cuts in the emergency services "accidents' and other environmental causes new sport. Most of our larger clubs were. Piper Alpha, the Herald of Free Enterprise, Kings Cross and the Clapham train crash, the disaster was a symptom of the unfettered operation of market forces. The frantic search for short term profit - whetherit was by British Rail, Pan Am, P&O Ferries or football club owners - micans a further decline in arcady in- adequate health and safety provisions. This, ture necessary for a healthy and safe environ- ment, means that the loss of life from has increased significantly in the lifetime of Football in its present form is a relatively founded in the early years of this century, and the English Foothall League itself has only just celebrated its centenary. Huge crowds al fool- und the general detenioration in the infrastruc- the Tory govemment.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 15 May 1989 We should be arguing for supporters" contml of football clubs, women- only sections in every stadium, nationalisation (or municipalisation) of football grounds, porters themselves - police out of football tinuc to abstain on the important questions hal Glenn Sutherland opening the facilities of clubs to local com- important point is that socialists cannot con- The Forthall Supporters Amnociation can he con- munily use, matches to be stewarded by sup- 1um sure that the list can be added to. The Lacte at 59 Oakwood Road, Liverpool 1.26 IXD are raised by football supporters themselves. (membership £2). trade unions. grounds... perience and organisation of so many working The proposed introduction of compulsory ID cards is precisely an attemptto exert social The ruling class regards the loss of more lives in crushes outside and inside grounds as an ac- ceptable price to pay. The knee-jerk reaction of Douglas Hund and Colin Moynihan to the scaied foothall grounds -thus trying to destroy much of the collective emotion and spirit to be Football supporters alto provide a useful sexism. Their views on the collective ex- costrol over (much smaller) football crowds. Hillshorough disaster was to propose all- sc upegoat for the Tories — an 'enemy within' class peopic, however, are another matter. enjoyed on the terracer: Over the years, most official supporters. clubs have been transformed into appendager ball matches only became common in the 1920h. From then to the present day, foothall crowds have been almost entirely working class in composition Working class nothall fans formed their own supporters cluhs carly in the development of the League. Thene sup- travel, social and sporting events, fundraising and, in some cases, elected representation to the boards of of the footbal cluhn themselves, and have lost any accountability to or mass involvement hy the funs. In many cases, they are just a means for fans to ohtain membership cards to enable porters clubs organised their football clubs. Page
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