THERE will be many neutrals who will have had misgivings about Manchester United taking the field against Ajax of Amsterdam in the Europa League final in Stockholm last night.
I am also sure that all those associated with United will have shared those feelings after the dreadful events of Monday night. That is only natural given the enormity of the atrocity.
This column is being written before the final kicks off, but I am sure that playing the game was the right thing to do, because otherwise it would send a message to the terrorists that they are winning in their despicable insane battle against the “enemies” that they have concocted in their depraved imaginations.
It has emerged that suicide bomber Salman Abedi had been a keen footballer and a supporter of United. That is what makes his actions so utterly incredible. For how can anyone who has ever been part of a sports team not have inculcated the values that playing football or rugby teaches us – that cooperation and communal effort make us much stronger than anything an individual can do.
With the Scottish and FA Cup finals set for this weekend, the security of the players and huge crowds which will attend both matches is obviously uppermost in the mind.
It may well be that fans will suffer considerable inconvenience on their way to Hampden and Wembley, but I am sure that they will appreciate the necessity for more searches and a greater police presence, and maybe even the sight of armed squaddies in and around both stadia.
It will be a reminder, as if any was necessary, that we are all on the front line now because terrorists have made everyone their targets. Putting up with delays is the small price we will have to pay for the greater vigilance that is now necessary around any mass gathering of people.
I predict we will soon see security scanners outside every ground – they have been doing it for years at Aintree’s Grand National meeting and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow had them, so why not Hampden? The Westminster government, on the advice of the police and security services has raised the threat level to critical which means that further attacks are anticipated. In these circumstances, surely nobody can complain about the inevitable inconveniences.
The disgraceful scenes after the Scottish Cup final last year were, I believe, a one off caused by the peculiar circumstances in which Hibs had won the trophy for the first time in 114 years. They must never recur again, and I think ordinary football fans generally will use peer pressure to control the undisciplined among us.
It is even more important in the circumstances in which we all find ourselves now that all the fans at Hampden and Wembley exercise self-discipline while enjoying themselves on Saturday, and as a for instance, keep bags and searchable items to a minimum. It is the least we as fans can do following what happened in Manchester.
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