Time for the Authorities to step in

Paul Johnson is sick of Canterbury Bulldogs supporters causing trouble in the stands - what asks what can be done about it?

With ongoing fan violence at Canterbury Bulldogs games continuing to rear its head, it is time for the NRL, league fans, and the police to step in and seriously do something about it.

After crowd violence once again marred a Bulldogs game last Friday night, the question must be asked, why?

The answer is simple, some of the hooligans who support the Bulldogs are not at the game to watch the football they are there to cause trouble.

What was seen on the TV was just part of the violence, from all reports the worst of the violence occurred outside the ground, where Tigers fans were attacked by larger groups of Bulldogs fans.

The incident that seemed to spark the violence was when Tigers prop Bryce Gibbs, dropped his elbow on Mark O'Meley in a tackle.

Granted it was a cheap shot and Gibbs has proved himself to be a very antagonistic character, with Kane Cleal last season, and already Jason Ryles in round one of the 2006 season; but incidents like that happen in just about every other tackle, what was not warranted was the response of O'Meley to get up and throw a flurry of punches at Gibbs.

Worse was the reaction of the Bulldogs resident child Willie Mason, who got up on the sideline from the bench itching to get involved in the fight.

Yet none of this has anything to do with the crowd, what happens on the field is between the players and it is left on the field.

For some reason a select group of Bulldogs fans always think it is their fight, playing Rugby League is physical, watching it from the stands is not meant to be!

So their reaction to start picking fights and beating up on Tigers fans who wanted no part of it is not only completely irrational and unnecessary but disgraceful behaviour of the worst kind especially when it is a group picking on individuals.

While it is not necessarily true that the actions of others make other people think it is right to act in a likewise manner, with some people it can go a long way to making them think ‘hey if he acts that way then maybe I can too’.

This seems to be exactly how some people think, for when Willie Mason later on stood over an unconscious Bryce Gibbs and seemed to be taunting the unconscious player, and was seen to be allegedly saying “f--- him”, one wonders what kind of message he is sending to the fans, especially the ones who look up to him and are easily led. The message he is sending is it is OK to perpetrate this kind of reprehensible behaviour.

And the fans follow suit with their own disgraceful behaviour.

There are a very small percentage of these supporters who attend the games and seemingly constantly make trouble, and as crowd control issues have been prevalent at Bulldogs games for a while now, perhaps it is time to take a look at how these people continue to get into the games and how to stop them.

The violence leaves rival fans feeling less than safe when they go to a Bulldogs game, and no matter what he thinks Malcolm Noad will not succeed in solving the problem unless he allows more police and security guards to patrol Bulldogs home games.

The only way it seems to be able to stop the violence, is with a hardy squad of riot police at the games, with the right to use necessary force in apprehending the culprits and charging them with heavy penalties, similar to those which have been put in place in the wake of the Cronulla riots.

Furthermore perhaps the players should take a greater responsibility for their actions, particularly loose cannons like Mason, his actions now and in the past have always spoke loudly in condoning poor behaviour, and it is now time to enforce a change in the culture of the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs players and fans, through a joint effort between the NRL, the Bulldogs and the NSW police force.

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