Fancy a punch-up?

I’ve been thinking a bit more about the TV
drama, “Life on Mars” in the past day or two,
which had themes of football violence and
police violence, and the rivalry between the
two football clubs in Manchester.

February 6th 1958 is a date engraved in the
minds of Manchester United supporters. It was
the date of the Munich Air Disaster. Eight
of the players were killed, Matt Busby the
manager was badly injured and was hospitalised,
and Bobby Charlton was among the survivors.

It was a dreadful time, which I remember well
as a young lad (I was 10 at the time). I was
a supporter as were all my schoolmates, (but
in name only as I’d never been to a match).
I enjoyed playing football at school, and on
and off over the years, but have in fact been
to very few professional matches.

I became disillusioned about being a follower
of any particular club after that air crash,
though I know a lot of people who are ardent
supporters.

One of my daughter’s ex boyfriends was a keen
Newcastle United supporter, and told us about
his strong feelings of belonging to the club,
as if he belonged to a clan or a tribe, and
his hatred of members of other clubs.
Basically he enjoyed a good punch-up, which
is something I’d avoid like the plague.

I came across this attitude many years ago,
when I went along to CND meetings in Reading
(we lived there for a few years before I went
to Leeds Uni). The vast majority of members
were pacifists, but there was one young member
who really enjoyed a punch-up with the police
at left-wing demos - someone who was an
anarchist and proud to be so. He boasted of
having pinched a policeman’s helmet during one
of these fights, which he kept at home as a
trophy. Well, anarchy pops up from time to
time in the demos we see in London, as does
police violence towards the demonstrators.

What would I do about conflict? Well, I’m all
for a peaceful and fair compromise, rather
than having a punch-up or worse.