Sydney FC and Wanderers FC CEO’s have warned anti-social behaviour and those who undertake it will be “obliterated” from the game.
Sydney FC CEO Tony Pignata, Western Sydney Wanderers boss Lyall Gorman and the Hyundai A-League have today stood united in the face of anti-social behaviour and football hooliganism, which raised it-s head at Sydney FC-s pre-season trial against Macarthur Rams at Campbelltown Stadium.
In a joint press conference, Pignata and Gorman were both sincere and stern in their warnings that the type of behaviour which occurred at Campbelltown will not be tolerated; Gorman was particularly frank in his warning.
“Throwing a flare is an automatic five-year ban, and if we can identify the culprits we will hit them as hard as we can and we will obliterate them from the game,” said the former head of the Hyundai A-League.
“There are such things as life bans and there has been a couple of those put in place in the last five years, but if you look at the history of the Hyundai A-League since inception the minority of big incidents that have occurred has been remarkable.
“The A-League has had zero tolerance towards anti-social behaviour, last night is not about fans from Western Sydney Wanderers or Sydney FC… these are thugs that will come in and infiltrate any area to express their anti-social behaviour.
“We won-t have it in our venue, our venue is to be one where mums and dads and kids can feel safe and we support the comments Tony has made.
Pignata, who attended his team-s first trial of the pre-season was not only disappointed at what had happened but backed up Gorman-s stance.
“I-m very disappointed with what happened at the game last night, I was at the game with the 2300 people who attended and 10 people spoiled it for everyone,” Pignata said.
“It is something we won-t tolerate and the A-League won-t tolerate, we will identify the culprits and ban them from any A-League games.”
A FFA spokesperson also weighed into the debate, warning fans the league backs the stance of the clubs and that anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated at football games in this country.
“Football Federation Australia fully supports the swift action the Clubs have taken in dealing with these matters and will work with all Clubs to ensure any kind of violence or anti-social behaviour is stamped out of the game.
“Any act of anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated in football and anyone found to be involved in this type of behaviour will not be welcome at football matches.”
