Gordon Smith: Time to step up and name and shame vile ‘fans’

IT is sad that, in this day and age, we should have to tell football fans the difference between right and wrong.

Not all of them, just the anything-but-silent minority who bring shame to Scottish football and tarnish the reputation of the clubs they follow.

I am talking, of course, about the shocking incident at East End Park which has dominated the sports pages of our newspapers.

Dunfermline’s Dean Shiels, a player who’d had an eye removed, had fake eyeballs thrown at him from the part of the ground housing the Falkirk support.

It was just the latest example of bad blood between the two teams.

Shiels was sent off in a Challenge Cup tie back in October for reacting to alleged taunts from Falkirk’s Kevin O’Hara and Joe McKee about his disability.

Both Bairns players were later given severe bans for “excessive misconduct” – O’Hara for eight games, and McKee four.

Falkirk thought about contesting the length of O’Hara’s suspension, but then decided against it.

Publicly, Bairns boss Paul Hartley has called the punishment harsh, arguing that although his player had made a mistake, he was “not a bad kid”.

That may be so, but given the severity of the offence, you would hope that privately the two players have been put on their final warning by their club.

What followed last Tuesday was even worse in my book, and flags up an even more pressing requirement for education.

The players at least had the excuse they had acted in the heat of the moment. Those who threw the fake eyeballs carried out an act that was clearly premeditated.

It was malicious, beyond irresponsible, and the culprits should be identified and banned from attending football in any ground in this country for life.

Just as importantly, in future the onus must be upon Falkirk and all other clubs to make it clear this level of abuse against an individual player is as unacceptable as sectarianism or racism.

Education has been proven to make a positive effect in this regard, so it should be pursued.

Spare a thought here for Falkirk.

This was the very last thing they would have wanted to find themselves dealing with.

The club have had a tough time of it already, what with the closure of their Youth Academy.

That was a step they felt they had to take because they didn’t feel they could get the numbers to add up.

Nobody wants to be lecturing fans. Football is an entertainment, with rivalry between clubs and individuals all part of the scene.

I took plenty of abuse from opposition supporters when I was playing, and it never bothered me. In fact, I used it as a motivation to score or help us to a win, so that come full-time I would be the one with a smile on my face.

There has to be a line, though.

It is one thing to mock a player for a lack of skill, or the poor form of the team he plays for. Quite another to make fun of a disability.

We have seen other reprehensible examples too, with chants about the Ibrox Disaster from rival fans at certain Rangers games springing to mind.

These are just wrong and cannot be tolerated.

Fans have to be proactive in these instances. If you are at a game and witness an instance of behaviour that will bring disgrace to your club, you should speak up.

Listen, I accept confronting the guilty parties at the time could be asking for trouble.

The people we are talking about are committing idiotic acts. It is not a stretch to imagine they could easily be the type to welcome confrontation.

If challenging them directly is not on, then it should be possible to go and report them to the stewards.

Or, if it is serious enough, to come forward and help the authorities after the match.

This might be required in this case. Dunfermline are supplying CCTV footage to Falkirk so they can see if they can identify the culprits.

Should this not be successful, it is going to be down to those travelling supporters who were at the game to do what they can to help.

There will be plenty who know who they are.

It is time for the real fans to stand up.