Maccabi Tel Aviv FC has received with great dismay the decisions handed down by the Israel Football Association (IFA) Disciplinary Court in response to the incidents that took place during the Tel Aviv Derby.
Despite all the efforts made by the club in conjunction with the security firm it employs and with the police to apprehend and punish fans who were involved in the unruly incidents during the Derby, the Court nevertheless decided to punish the club in a harsh and unprecedented manner that completely undermines the tireless efforts that the club has undertaken in recent years to battle unruly fan behaviour.
Such court rulings not only show a lack of support for the club in its efforts to isolate fans whose only intention is to disrupt order, it also completely ignores, indeed, it dismisses the club owners’ unflinching efforts in this regard. The owners allocate large funds to battle unruliness and specifically to ensure fans’ safety and law and order through the deployment of security personnel and technological means.
We find it bizarre that the Court has completely ignored the fact that a club’s vicarious liability for its fans must only be ascribed when no efforts have been made to identify and apprehend offenders, and clearly, this is not the case.
A decision such as the that handed down prompts honest and dedicated fans who have purchased season tickets in good faith with hard-earned money, and who did not attend, or were unable to attend the away match to turn their backs on the game through utter frustration at the actions of the Disciplinary Courts, the League Management and the Israel Football Association.
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC presented clear evidence of the efforts it has made to apprehend offenders and the Court should have taken these efforts into consideration. Moreover, it should have shown support for the club and its pro-active approach to tackle unruly fan behavior. But rather than show support, the court chose to punish the club with several penalties that we will appeal vigorously in the coming days.
The club has committed itself honestly and enthusiastically to take all required actions to tackle violence and these have yielded results, indeed the club should not have been expected to act any differently. Even if incidents such as those that occurred in the derby are repeated in the future, the Court’s decision cannot be seen as anything other than populist lip service that is detached from all reality and it sets a very poor precedent that makes no sense at all.
