Orville Higgins | Overreaction to RSPL final violence

Unlike many Jamaicans, I am not about to lose any sleep over what went on in the final of the Red Stripe Premier League at the National Stadium on Monday night.

In our haste to pour scorn all concerned, many of us have gone overboard with our criticism. I believe that too many of us have been unfair and overly emotional in our pronouncements after the game. I am by no means suggesting that I condone the actions of those who threw missiles on to the field. That was wrong.

One would also hope that players do not get into fisticuffs on a football pitch.

That is to be strongly discouraged. I also think it is a legitimate question to ask why there was a panel of female officials doing a men’s Premier League final. It is not the most common sight in world football. So yes, we can ask questions. Yes we can be concerned, but the wholesale condemnation that I am hearing in some quarters is a little bizarre.

Players involved in angry physical confrontation is not strange in competitive football. Very few leagues around the world will run from start to finish without something of the sort happening. Why are we behaving like fighting on a football field is like the pastor fighting the deacon in church? It happens!

After the game, I heard that the fight and missile throwing incidents, by the crowd, happened because the players and fans did not respect referee Odette Hamilton.

Stop the nonsense!

Please stop the nonsense! More fights and crowd trouble have gone on in games involving male officials in Jamaica, than when women are in charge. To suggest that the fight and bad crowd behaviour was caused because of a lack of respect for the female referee is ludicrous and without basis.

People are suggesting to ban Waterhouse, or fine them for the fans’ dangerous act of throwing missiles on the field. We have to be careful. This was NOT a Waterhouse home game. This was, in essence, a Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) event.

The safety of patrons at the venue is as much the JFF’s responsibility, as it is that of both teams in the final.

Probably even more so. Can the JFF sanction either team without also looking at sanctioning themselves for what went on? Glass bottles, we hear, were being thrown. That is crazy and dangerous, but let us be practical.

Who to punish?

Can the JFF punish a club for throwing bottles on the field without first admitting to negligence that the bottles were in the hands of the spectators to begin with?

Some are suggesting that Red Stripe pull their sponsorship of the league. What on earth for?! I have never quite understood why sponsors pull out after incidents like these.

I fail to see how anything that happened on Monday would damage the sponsor’s brand. As long as they feel they were getting the proper mileage for their investment, then go for it again. We all know that Premier League football is not the same thing as a church picnic. So let us all calm down a little. Let us put things in place to minimise this happening in games next season. Monday night showed the ugly side of football, but we overreact when we behave as if football at that level always comes in a nice, handsome package.