The ugly subject of coin-throwing has once more been thrust upon Scottish football in recent days.
First off, it was Neil Lennon getting whacked by a pound coin from a Hearts supporter. This came immediately after Lennon goaded Hearts fans after a disallowed goal in the Edinburgh derby last week. The coin-throw was petulant and a disgrace to Scottish football.
Then, of course we had the incident yesterday against St Mirren. Alfredo Morelos went to goad the St Mirren supporters after taking abuse all game. Much like Lennon, he was simply giving it back to those who scrutinised him for 90 minutes. He was also therefore struck with a coin.
So, once more this negative light as been put upon Scottish football in a highly unwanted fashion once more. The solution for many? Club policing.
Apparently, if clubs are to self-police then it will solve all of these incidents from happening once more. Except, in truth, it won’t make much difference.
Where it does help is that they can easily find the individual by doing a self-investigation and using all of their resources to find out where the coin came from. If they can narrow it down to a few seats, then fantastic.
Will it truly stop people from doing it again? Highly unlikely.
Football supporters who act in this manner simply aren’t scared of being banned by their club. Of course they aren’t. They know their actions will almost always result in lifetime bans if they get caught. Football clubs have been banning supporters for years for incidents like these.
Granted, the likes of Manchester City and Cardiff have, in the past, only banned supporters for three years for similar incidents. More often than not, however, lifetime bans occur.
A sentencing
That hasn’t been anywhere near enough to stop it. The only way it can stop is if these thugs receive jail sentences.
Last season down in England, George Ashworth was sentenced to 20 months in prison for injuring a Liverpool supporter with a 2p coin. That, most certainly, is the way to go.
It is, at the end of the day, assault. If clubs are to self-police, give them a slap across the face and tell them to never return, then that’s useless. At face value, you would think it would be enough to put people off. History proves, however, that it certainly doesn’t.
In order for this to stop, in my view, jail sentences have to start being sent out for it. Is it harsh? No. These people are causing incidents that could very easily end with serious injuries.
If you bust someone’s head open like the linesman at Livingston several weeks ago, you’ve assaulted them. You should get the jail and be forced to serve some time for it. Spare me the “we don’t grass up our own” nonsense. These people are endangering those who try to entertain us, and deserve to be punished suitably.
It feels like there’s a zero-tolerance policy from the media and right-minded supporters on this issue. That also needs to be rectified by the police in order to prevent these issues from happening again.
Banning people for life? That’s not working. Sending them to jail? That just might.
