Socceroos veteran Miloš Degenek believes heavy police presence and flare ban restricts Australia's home ground advantage

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

Socceroos veteran Miloš Degenek wants to see flares back at Australian football matches, saying travelling teams now have it too easy due to fans being over policed.
More than 50,000 spectators are expected on Thursday night when Australia host Japan in a crunch World Cup qualifier at Perth Stadium.
The match will be played less than a week after riot police were called to control unruly fans walking to Melbourne City's A-League Men grand final win over arch-rivals Melbourne Victory, two-and-a-half years on from Victory's infamous pitch invasion.
About 20 flares were lit in the crowd, with one police officer taken to hospital after allegedly being kicked.
Football Australia strictly bans flares and other pyrotechnics in and around stadiums, with perpetrators facing hefty bans.
The Socceroos have played before plenty of hostile crowds over the years in various World Cup qualifying campaigns, but Degenek feels Australian fans aren't given the scope to return the favour.
"It would be a lot nicer if when countries come to Australia to play against us, the crowd was a little bit more hostile," Degenek said in Perth on Tuesday.
"Put it this way. I played in Serbia. I played at Red Star Belgrade, in the Eternal Derby where you play Partizan (Belgrade), where flares are thrown onto a pitch, where the city gets shut down on game day.
"But in the end, that's normal for me. There's no fear.
"There's a code in the footballing world: Fans are never going to attack footballers.
"I saw the pictures from the (A-League) grand final — a lot of police.
"For me, I just think it's nonsense that you have people in riot gear for guys who are going to a game.
Victory chairman John Dovaston and managing director Caroline Carnegie lashed police for their "disproportionate" presence.
"The scenes we saw prior to the grand final on Swan Street were overwhelming and unacceptable," Carnegie and Dovaston said in an email to fans.
"Instead of promoting a fun and exciting spectacle of football, the extent of the police presence created fear amongst families and football fans alike.
"We need to create and demand long-term change.
"There is a line between keeping people safe and creating fear in the first place, and we believe the latter is what occurred. This is not acceptable. We will not allow our members and fans to continue to be treated this way.
"While we would never accept anti-social behaviour, the disproportionate deployment only served to justify a narrative about football fans in this country."
Degenek believes tightening down on people's rights with a huge police presence leads to more problems.
"In the end, you're going to force an issue, because you're narrowing down corridors where they can walk," he said.
"You're pushing them to a side. Someone's going to step on someone, someone's going to push and then that escalates really quick, rather than give them freedom to move and getting them safely to a stadium."
Degenek believes more people would attend games if they were policed less.
"You need to give the fans the freedom, the joy," he said.
"In Europe, you have less police, and that's where you have more fans at the games.
"And for us as footballers, it's a lot better when you see flares in the stadium, when you see fans screaming, chanting, flares going off, because that kind of gets the adrenaline going and motivates you even more."
The Socceroos (13 points) sit second in their qualifying group. A win over Japan (20 points) would almost certainly lock in their place for the 2026 World Cup.
AAP