The fixture list released yesterday and, with it, some exciting new for fans of Newcastle United. We will be there to see the Best Behaved Fans trophy (traditionally presented at the first home game of the following season) paraded. Good news for the winners, Sunderland, too: they could not have handpicked a finer opposition for a game in which to showcase the very best behaviour of the best behaved supporters in the land.
Consider last year’s derby and somebody from the home end running on the pitch and grappling with Steve Harper. An apology was given to Harper, who didn’t take any further action (possibly aware of what it may have meant for the Best Behaved Fans Trophy- like the Sage and the Tall Ships, this type of thing is a boon for the entire region), but none was offered to those in the away end, who were expected to accept the heightened hostility the incident both spoke to and perpetuated as just one of those things. Similar, in fact, to when Niall Quinn and Roy Keane both excused the violence of the Sunderland fans in 2008 on account of it being such a long time since poor little Sunderland had won a home derby: an attitude perfectly fitting with a club who have a turned a blind eye to a pitch invasion every single time Sunderland have scored against Newcastle at the Stadium of Light. Now, Sunderland would argue that that doesn’t equal all that many pitch invasions in total. And they would be right. But how many clubs are aware that a luxury of a team unable to score against yours is the type of thing you have to ring down to reception in advance to secure, or even ask for at the time of booking to avoid disappointment? A club as courteous as theirs really should be advertising these services more clearly.
Visually, the Harper incident was very similar to the Lennon at Hearts one, which you have probably seen on the news this week alongside the story that new hate legislation is being introduced to prevent incidents like it ever happening again in Scotland. Obviously you have to consider the Lennon incident in a wider and more complicated context of bigotry, and for that reason the two incidents are not directly comparable, but for one to be a contributory factor to a change of law, and for the other to be ignored completely when rewarding the fans of the club responsible (or the club of the fans responsible) for their good behaviour is, at best, a mite irresponsible.
Now Quinn is asking the fans what they think the club should do with the twenty grand they’ve won. Suggestion: use the twenty grand to fund a small purchase in a corner shop. It doesn’t matter what you’re buying, you’re really only in it for the change you get back. Now take that change, and distribute it to supporters entering the Stadium of Light on the 20th August, encouraging them to hurl it as gaily as possible in to the away end at any moment they feel appropriate- concession of goal, scoring of a goal, stoppage in play due to injury- any time they want to put the eyesight of a human being at risk, basically, because, as Quinn would tell you, it was a bit of pisser when we played in Europe and they didn’t.
Also, last thing, remind them to keep a bit of it back for any Newcastle substitutes appearing at the touchline. We’ve all been there and boy is your face red: you’ve used all your change hurling it indiscriminately at the away end and clean forgot to keep any back to aim at substitutes warming up in the second half. It happens but it shouldn't, and if you want to retain this award, behaviour like that isn’t going to fly.
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