Aberdeen fan view: One fan's hooligan cowardice has damaged the reputation of the club and Red Army

Press and Journal

19-05-2025

Unacceptable. Totally intolerable.
The job of a football supporter is to do what they can to propel their team to victory, and unsettle their opponents. It is accepted by all sides this is not a passive undertaking – and nor would anybody wish it to be.
Much too often, though, people appear to forget that a football ground is not some magic haven beyond the boundaries of consequence, where the blur of the crowd paints over individual responsibility.
The laws of basic social cohesion – and of the land – do not cease to have jurisdiction at the turnstile.
Nobody realistically expects rivals who have just vanquished the favourites of a fanbase will be showered with three cheers.
But to resort to the Doric version, and make missiles of the stadium furniture, is – among the politer descriptions – abhorrent, futile, hooligan cowardice.
It matters not if an injured party was not the intended target – or even if there is none.
The act of preparing and delivering a projectile on to the pitch is reprehensible under any circumstances: if you would not like someone coming to your workplace and throwing solid objects at you unannounced, do not do it to others. It really isn't hard.
It is desperately sad what may turn out to be the last act of Jack MacKenzie's Aberdeen career was to be smashed in the face by a large slab of plastic.
May he be treated far better by the supporters of his next club, and may his physical wounds heal quickly even if the internal one understandably festers.
The damage done to the reputation of the club and the fans will take longer to heal, and fairly so. For what truly is it that Aberdeen is now standing free of? Viewing these scenes: its senses, and little else.