Let fans have their flares, says Socceroos veteran

West Australian

2 days ago

Socceroos veteran Milos Degenek wants to see flares back at Australian soccer games, saying travelling teams now have it too easy due to fans being over policed.
More than 50,000 fans are expected to turn out on Thursday night when Australia host Japan in a crunch World Cup qualifier at Optus Stadium in Perth.
The match will be played less than a week after riot police were called in to control unruly fans walking to the game in the lead up to Melbourne City's A-League Men grand-final win over arch-rivals Melbourne Victory.
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 faced 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 due to restrictions being placed on them.
"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.
"I don't think we're going to a war. We're just going to a football game. You're making it out to be a lot worse than what it is."
Degenek believes by tightening down on people's rights with a huge police presence, it leads to more problems.
"That has a counter effect, in my opinion," he said.
"Because you are paying so much attention to those things - fans or flares and this and that - in the end, you're going to force an issue, because you're narrowing down corridors where they can walk.
"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.
"Once they're in, you close them off. No one's going to walk out onto the pitch, no one's going to walk out to the other side and fight with the other fans, because by the time you get from A to B, it's a 150m walk."
Degenek believes more people would attend games if they were policed less.
"You need to give the fans the freedom, the joy," he said.
"Because the more you do that (police them), the less people are going to go to the stadium.
"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.