FOOTBALL hacks spend much of their working lives listening to post-match appraisals which leave them scratching their heads in bewilderment and questioning if they have been at the same game as the individual who is speaking.
Teams which have struggled to make it into the opposition half during the preceding 90 minutes can often be made to sound like Brazil circa 1970 when a manager, centre-half or striker offers his thoughts in a press conference following the final whistle.
Trying to determine if they genuinely believe the nonsense they are spouting or if they are simply attempting to deflect attention away from their own failings is a constant challenge of the profession.
Being a political reporter must be quite similar.
John Swinney’s assertion earlier this week that Police Scotland officers had the violence which broke out in Glasgow city centre on Sunday afternoon “under control” was quite simply staggering.
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The videos which were posted on social media websites showing dozens, hundreds even, of Celtic and Rangers ultras clashing in running battles along Argyle Street ahead of the Premier Sports Cup final at Hampden didn’t suggest as much.
You actually feared for the personal wellbeing of the policemen and women who were tasked with maintaining public order when you saw how outnumbered they were by the large gangs of delinquent youths who suddenly materialised. There were easily 30, 40, 50 times as many ne’er-do-wells.
It was a minor miracle that only one member of Glasgow’s finest was injured during the unrest.
They didn’t look as if they were on top of the situation in the slightest as pyrotechnics were ignited just metres away from Christmas shoppers who had taken refuge in a doorway and the air was pierced by terrified screams.
It has since been claimed that the trouble erupted because the CCTV cameras in the city centre weren’t being manned due to cutbacks and because there were insufficient officers on duty both during the build-up to and on the day of the game for the same reason.
Susan Aitken, the leader of Glasgow City Council, went even further than Swinney when she was asked for her thoughts about the hoodlums’ antisocial conduct.
“The football industry seems to be quite happy to make money off these thugs while decent folk have to live with the consequences,” said the councillor. “That’s not good enough.”
It is certainly true that Celtic and Rangers have an obligation to identify and punish those who misbehave inside a stadium while they are playing. They should, for instance, seriously consider banning the Green Brigade and Union Bears ultras groups for the coordinated pyro displays which were staged at Hampden.
But how can they possibly be held responsible for what took place in Glasgow city centre? If Police Scotland were unable to do anything to stop the skirmishes how on earth could they?
The hooligans who caused such chaos might never have stepped foot inside their stadiums in their lives. Anyone can don their colours and declare themselves one of the Hoops or one of the Bears. They have hundreds of thousands if not millions of fans around the world.
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Did the balaclava-clad louts who gathered en masse and struck fear into law-abiding members of population as they tried to enjoy their festive period actually attend the final? Some, a fair few in fact, undoubtedly will have. But many won’t.
The image which is so often presented of football clubs and their followers being a scourge on civilisation after these sort of unfortunate flashpoints is an unfair one.
Scotland’s clubs do a power of good work in their communities and raise large sums for charitable causes. They also generate hundreds of millions of pounds for this country’s economy on an annual basis. They should be celebrated and promoted, not castigated and demonised.
Fan disorder is a societal problem as much as it is a sporting one. But SFA president Mike Mulraney this week bemoaned the fact that the courts have issued just one football banning order this year as he called for more to be done to extinguish the use of pyro inside grounds.
Our elected representatives should perhaps concentrate on raising their own games and stop using clubs and their supporters as political footballs.
Making sure CCTV cameras are staffed and appropriate numbers of police officers are working on the day that two of world’s oldest and bitterest rivals play each other in a cup final would be a decent place to kick off.
