While the eyes of the nation will be fixed on the AFL grand final this weekend, a Mandurah man will be recovering from the shattered eye socket, fractured cheekbone and broken nose he received at a local footy match.
He copped a sucker-punch to the head at the Peel Football League grand final and was laid out cold.
He wasn’t playing, he was watching with his family and was caught up in a brawl that stopped play and spilled out onto the field.
Sadly, the free-for-all in Mandurah was just the beginning.
In Bunbury last weekend, players and fans were involved in another violent melee.
And who hasn’t seen the unfortunate footage of a man punching an off-duty police woman at the Fremantle-Hawthorn preliminary final?
While on and off-field violence isn’t new in Australian rules football, it seems a disturbing trend that fans are increasingly venting their sporting frustrations with their fists.
The hooliganism which has marred other football codes around the world and in Australia has never been a hallmark of our game.
Riots have erupted at Australian soccer matches, notably in 2013 when a Melbourne Victory fan was knifed by a supporter of an opposing team during a post-match brawl.
But overseas, authorities have lost count of the number of people killed in football hooligan-related violence.
In 2012 at least 70 people were killed and 1000 injured after a pitch invasion in the Egyptian city of Port Said after fans set the ground on fire.
The man injured in the PFL grand final is lucky to be alive.
Let’s call a stop to football violence before someone loses their life.
This weekend, let’s keep our football passions positive.
And remember while we’re watching the best game ever; it’s still just a game.
