Sporting Life...

Like thousands of others, I looked on in disgust this morning at the footage on the news of the violence at the Millwall vs West Ham match last night. You can't really call them football fans as it appears that the actual sport is merely an aside to the taunting and fighting that many of them seem to have paid their entrance at the gate for.

Now it is widely accepted that I know absolutely nothing whatsoever about sport, maybe not even that much, but I think I have a solution; a bit off the wall maybe but then you should expect that by now.

If I understand correctly, half of the football grounds across the country are empty on a Saturday afternoon as their teams are playing away that weekend. In addition, most of the clubs could use an extra few quid to top up the coffers.

So I propose that every Saturday the teams go and play each other as scheduled and the fans who want to enjoy a couple of hours with their friends and families cheering their sides on, go along and do so.

We can also assume that there are a proportion of "fans" for both teams who are largely indifferent to the sport but just want to go and kick the shit out of each other for a couple of hours. So why not charge them the same price to be allowed onto the pitch of the other ground (i.e. of the team playing away) where they can merrily beat the living daylights out of each other to their hearts' content?

No police presence, no St Johns ambulance or other medical assistance, just someone to clear up the remains and usher the last few stragglers out at the end of it all. If a few of them get hurt along the way, well surely that's what they were expecting wasn't it? If they want to fight, let them do it, locked in a ground where they are no bother to anyone but each other...