Football Ground Safety

August 2001 - 6 of us aged between 17 and 20 head out to a Champions League football match to be played out in the heart of a country many of you know nothing about, or even where it lies in the world. Just to fill you in, I live (some of the time) in Azerbaijan, which is an ex-Soviet Republic near to Iran and Turkey, due to my Dad's work (oil). It's an interesting place, very corrupt as you will find out as I get deeper into this op, but I like Azerbaijan, and I generally like the Azeri people, a seemingly kind Muslim race who don't make you feel unwelcome. While in Azerbaijan in the summer, it turned out that Semkir, one of the Azeri ...

After the scenes at Cardiff City and Villa Park on Sunday the issue of ground safety has arisen again in the media. When, I was watching the Cardiff and Leeds match I thought it was over exuberant and sheer delight that their team had beaten the Premiership leaders and that coming on the pitch was no big think. You see it when teams win divisions and this was arguably the greatest moment in Cardiff City’s history. But, when I watched a report on the violence the full picture was revealed and it did shock me that such hooliganism exists still in the football ground. On the replays it was clearly evident that the Cardiff City fans were taunting Leeds fans, ...

Oh dear. I suppose it was bound to happen eventually, but reports from yesterday's Cardiff City v Leeds United match have brought to the public attention that football hooliganism in the UK is far from dead. It's a shame, because no-one who loves football wishes for it to be dragged through the mud (sorry, that metaphor works just a little too well) but, perversely, I'm pleased. Of course, I'm not happy that Leeds fans and players and the officials were subjected to a barrage of projectiles and abuse - perhaps that should NOT go without saying! However, I am pleased that football violence has hit the headlines once more in this ...