UEFA to regulate class?

[Kaiddin]

UEFA considers fining fans for jeering national anthems

Aren't sports fans supposed to be the great unwashed?

Bet this wouldn't be popular in Montreal!

[Sea Tyger]

Originally posted by Kaiddin
Aren't sports fans supposed to be the great unwashed?

Bet this wouldn't be popular in Montreal!

That may not be fair to Montreal fans. I think they just hate US.

While it's a noble idea to encourage fans to be respectful of their opponents' nation, I think the deep rooted rivalries and hooliganism amongst the most radical of fans make it difficult to enforce. I seriously doubt that just the warning will be enough. Perhaps more players should be like Fernando Couto and be more proactive in helping their fans be more respectful of the opponents' anthem.

Or, maybe UEFA should just go to playing the European anthem, "Ode to Joy," before every match.

[Ezri's Toy]

I think if stadium owners start ejecting people in a public spectacle without refund, other people will fall in line.

[Balok]

I see something like this and am glad I live in a country that (at least in theory) respects free speech.

Fines for jeering at someone? Jeering says more about the person doing it than it does about the target. This sort of thing legitimizes it, though. Far better to grow a thicker skin and simply ignore it.

I've heard Germans can be fined for saying unkind things to others. I didn't really believe it, but if this sort of action is typical of the European approach, maybe it's true.

[Tas II]

I cant really see this being implemented. I mean, how is going to be policed?
If you have 50000+ fans at a sporting event, would you be able to pick out the ones that are whistling and jeering.

Cheers

Tas

[Kaiddin]

the football associations of those countries can incur fines

I don't think they would be able to loacate and remove individual fans in a statium of 50,000 people.

Didn't the NFL penalize the home team 5 yards when their fans made too much noise the visiting team couldn't hear the signals at the line of scrimmage for a couple years? Didn't they remove it because it was unworkable and open to abuse?

The NHL threatened once to penalize a team for their fans throwing multi-legged sea creatures on the ice during their games. Nothing has come of it from what I've heard.

Many states and provinces still have profanity laws on the books but they are never enforced.

You can't legislate class or etiquette.

[REG]

Originally posted by Kaiddin

The NHL threatened once to penalize a team for their fans throwing multi-legged sea creatures on the ice during their games. Nothing has come of it from what I've heard.

AFAIK, there haven't any more of those incidents since the threat.

Many states and provinces still have profanity laws on the books but they are never enforced.

There are even sillier laws still in the book that are never enforced. Such old and strange laws are probably the products of colonial time. Yeah, I've seen PBS's Colonial House.

You can't legislate class or etiquette.

No, unfortunately. Again, a child-like, savage race indeed.

[Kaiddin]

Originally posted by REG
AFAIK, there haven't any more of those incidents since the threat.

Okay, I have followed hockey in a long time but are you sure of this? Red Wing fans really quit doing this 10 years ago and the hockey people are still talking about this.

[REG]

As long as people are talking instead of throwing, the threat has become an effective deterrant.