Burnley v Arsenal – Let’s name and shame these hooligans and thugs

If the FA need help investigating the crowd trouble that occurred at Turf Moor, they could do worse than spending a few minutes on YouTube.

That will make it quite easy to identify grown adults throwing bottles and other objects at each other. You can even watch fighting continue outside the stadium in the car park.

The Football Association will hand out a fine to tick a box and, in a few weeks, we will pretend it never happened, boast how England has the best League in the world, while putting our noses up to the likes of Italy and judging them for hooliganism.

My attitude is no one should be going to a Football match and fearing for their safety. Even if one person gets hurt, that’s one person too many. Make no mistake, a bottle being thrown can cause a serious injury.

We should have zero tolerance towards this kind of behaviour and yet what’s the likelihood that Burnley will now be asked to play behind closed doors?

That will never happen because the priority is the Premiership’s brand which wouldn’t look as idealistic if it were handing out stadium bans.

Zero tolerance means you simply won’t accept it happening. If you do nothing to show a serious consequence, then you can’t say you have zero tolerance.

I’m sure there will be a few clubs’ lifetime bans, etc but nothing that these thugs can’t find their way round.

Instead let’s name and shame these people.

Most clubs have an online ticket system where you have to register for a membership to have access to tickets. That means for the majority of seats taken at any ground, information on that customer has been logged into a database.

So, it should be simple to identify a face from many of the images available, locate where they were sitting and humiliate them.

I would love to tell you these are just yobs with nothing better to do. In reality many have families, jobs, responsibilities, etc.

Some live in their bubble called Football and think that they can say and do things that they wouldn’t dare say or do at their workplace or in their local shop.

Next time you attend a fixture, listen to the language around you. Grown men and women will say words they wouldn’t dare say anywhere else.

So, let’s help them. Let’s teach them that there are consequences. Let’s ensure their employer knows that this is what a representative of your company gets up to on their day off.

Let’s get your child to see Mum and Dad throwing objects because they are having a tantrum that their team lost at sport, something they knew was a possibility to begin with.

This isn’t just to punish cowards, it’s to help them mentally. Because let’s be honest, if you feel the need to hurt another individual over a game of football then you do have something wrong with you?

Today some will be having chemo, a marriage will break down, there will be a funeral. If those people can grieve without the need to attack a stranger, then I’m sure coping with your team losing a game of football is doable?

I’m going to the North London Derby next Sunday. If we lose I will be gutted, but I can assure you the thought of charging towards the away end wouldn’t enter my head.

I could be goaded nonstop by a Spurs fan and can guarantee you that nothing could be said that would make me take it so seriously that I would need to pick anything up and throw it.

Been to loads of games, highs and lows. Never has it entered my head to break the law based on a football match.

But then I’m educated. I was brought up the right way with values. I was taught right from wrong. Quite simply, I’m better than that.

What I want to do is teach the next generation that it’s not okay to take law into your own hands based on a score line.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the opposition celebrating. It doesn’t matter if you are sitting too close to the opposition supporters.

These are just excuses…

Quite simply if you can’t watch football without breaking the law you have something not quite right with you.

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Dan Smith