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00:00 Fan violence is spreading like wildfire and it's a vice that desperately needs to be
00:07 curbed.
00:08 We dive into this episode looking at how it affects teams and also players going into
00:12 their next games.
00:14 My name is Amine Shetubo and this is The Knotmeg on Guardian TV.
00:24 It's a sad scene when we see fans and their outrage pouring out like wildfire against
00:32 teams and players that they supposedly came to support.
00:36 This episode is dedicated solely to talking about this phenomenon, not a wanted one anyway.
00:43 But then Tochukwu joins me in this and Tochukwu, it's been a while really but how have you
00:47 been?
00:48 Thank you, I've been good.
00:49 It's good to see you again.
00:51 We've already seen fan violence in the African Cup of Nations.
00:54 Sadly, Chris Hughton, although that's not the cause of the loss of his job, but he's
00:58 lost his job.
00:59 But after the first game against Kivurd, they lost and then a fan got right however way
01:06 he got into the dressing room.
01:07 It's funny, but he got into the dressing room and then there was an altercation between
01:12 the fan and then Chris Hughton.
01:14 It's not an African thing, that's something we need to sound out.
01:17 But really, I begin to imagine how do players, or in this case coaches, how do they react
01:24 in the next game?
01:25 What sort of pressure is on their shoulders after these sort of things happen?
01:30 Well, for one, I would say the first thing on my mind is violence is not necessarily
01:35 the way because you can't expect your players to give you 100% in a very, very toxic environment.
01:43 So that is one aspect.
01:45 Secondly, I think in most cases, it will act like a catalyst positively to make the team
01:53 or the players want to work harder.
01:56 Because let's assume we are talking about the players and their welfare and their health
02:01 status.
02:02 Let's consider the fans that gave up some of their team's personal time to come and
02:07 cheer the team after the ginger and everything.
02:10 You don't give them the value of what, like we usually say, the fans are your 13th player
02:15 or 12th player.
02:16 Tough man on the field.
02:17 So imagine after all the old hustling and bustling, they are there and you don't even
02:21 give them any fighting spirit or so.
02:23 That disappointment is one thing.
02:25 But you say it's a positive sometimes as a motivation going into the next game.
02:31 But we don't necessarily need this as motivation, really.
02:34 I mean, we're talking about lives of people at stake.
02:37 These are all occasions that can lead to injuries, that can lead to death if we're not careful.
02:42 So how do you go about educating the fan to motivate?
02:47 Interestingly, yes, the fans always want to win.
02:50 You cannot end that spirit in the fan to want to win.
02:55 There's that anger that is natural, really.
02:58 But how do you educate the fan to strike a balance between violence and desperation and
03:06 then motivation?
03:07 OK, one thing you need to know is that football is one of the most passionate sports ever
03:12 in the world.
03:13 Yes, it's very, very passionate.
03:14 It's like there's a thin line between being friends in football and being enemies.
03:21 Sometimes people lose that emotion when they're putting out the emotion.
03:25 People tend to overdo it.
03:27 So one of the things they need to do is to keep fans in check, make sure that they have
03:31 securities on ground to try to normalize and stabilize violent acts.
03:37 On the side of the players now, for example, let's take foreign-based players now that
03:40 want to represent their country.
03:42 Now with this kind of scenario, they will start having to rethink, is it something I
03:47 want to engage in?
03:50 Like now, apart from the physical injury that comes in contact, then talk about other fans
04:03 that take it their charm by going to visit players in their houses.
04:07 Their family members are no longer safe again.
04:10 So this is how it is that most players consider it, consider it again and want to like, okay.
04:15 I was really coming to the players, right?
04:17 I was coming on what happens to these players mentally, physically, and you dive into it
04:22 already.
04:23 Ivory Coast, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, Ivory Coast are hosts, but we've seen photos from
04:29 Abidjan from Ivory Coast where the team bosses were stoned, fans were showing their outrage,
04:36 glasses shattered, and what have you really.
04:39 So going into the next games, because now these aforementioned teams, Ivory Coast, Algeria
04:45 and Ghana, you say it was motivation, but does it really motivate and is putting the
04:51 African Cup of Nations into context now.
04:53 Ghana out, all right, and look at the journalists in Ghana.
04:57 I mean, the way they have reacted has been well, in my opinion, yeah, I know this is
05:02 my opinion, it's been unprofessional in my opinion, but also it reflects the anger
05:07 of the fans as well.
05:09 But you know, as a player, how do you see all of this and want to be motivated when
05:16 you know people who are supposed to be, I mean, I don't want to link this with club
05:20 football, but I'm tempted to do so right now, all right, because if you know I played
05:25 badly this weekend and next weekend I'm going to be in the same stadium behind the
05:31 same people who are supposed to be fans cheering me on, how does this help my form?
05:37 How does this motivate me as a person, as a player to want to be better?
05:41 Okay, first things first, I'm not saying it's like a positive, it's not actually
05:47 a positive instrument or two.
05:50 Okay.
05:51 Like from the angle you came in now that after playing badly this match and you get the bashing
05:55 from the fans, you're thinking of the next game, you tend to forget that when you're
05:59 playing very well, it's your fans that give you the extra motivation you need, even when
06:02 you're tired, even after playing the whole 19 minutes and you're playing into extra
06:06 time.
06:07 There are situations whereby even when you're losing badly, but the fact that you're putting
06:11 on the fighting spirit, your fans will be cheering you up.
06:14 Those are cases I'm talking about whereby they are giving you the extra motivation and
06:18 positivity to know that, okay, despite we performed badly, we didn't perform below
06:23 par.
06:24 There are some things that you play against and one thing is that no matter how good you
06:27 are, they are better than you, they're just better, or maybe that day was just not in
06:31 favour of you.
06:32 So that's team motivation, that's fan motivation now, that is the positivity I'm talking
06:36 about, not necessarily that, okay, when you perform badly and the fans come and attack
06:40 you now, it's like a positive motivation, no, no, no, that's not what I mean.
06:43 Fan violence is never a good thing in football.
06:45 And to those watching this video, really, there's a need to educate fans and even those
06:49 watching us right here, right now, really.
06:53 Fan violence is not an African thing, it's not a Nigerian thing.
06:57 We see it in countries, even in the best systems.
07:00 If I want to say, oh, it happens in Nigeria Premier Football League and that's the only
07:04 place it happens, it's not really the case.
07:06 You check around, it happens even in the English Premier League.
07:08 Even outside football, it happens.
07:10 It happens, it's just a human problem.
07:12 But how do you go about now, educating these fans, I mean, talking about a fan who is overtly
07:19 passionate, right, and wants to see the best of his team, someone who probably has even
07:25 stake an interest, a monetary interest.
07:27 I get you.
07:28 You know what I'm talking about, probably a punter.
07:31 How do you go about educating them to motivate their players better than throwing stones,
07:38 shattering glasses and doing all sorts of negative things?
07:41 Yeah, I want to educate fans on is to be patient.
07:45 I know football is a very passionate sport and in the heat of that moment, things can
07:49 just escalate from zero to 100.
07:50 You can't catch your blood to boil.
07:51 So, there are things we cannot control.
07:53 We cannot control somebody's emotion.
07:55 When the score is good, somebody will be shouting "Goal, goal".
07:57 But when the score is bad, somebody will be shouting "Goal, goal".
08:01 So, those are different kinds of people.
08:03 We all want to focus on is for the federations to work better on their security protocols.
08:11 Okay, yeah.
08:12 You know, most times...
08:13 I mean, I begin to wonder how someone can go all the way into the dressing room and
08:18 then have an altercation happen.
08:19 How do you get past to get to that place?
08:20 Oh well, we really, really have to stop somewhere around here.
08:24 We heard you, right?
08:25 Patience is a virtue in all phases of life, really.
08:28 It's a virtue, alright?
08:30 And we heard you to support your teams, your players, support them responsibly and then
08:36 just try and motivate them positively.
08:38 I thank you very, very much, really.
08:40 Thank you for having me.
08:41 For the conversation and the education as well, really.
08:45 And of course, thank you very much for watching.
08:47 You can be part of the community as always.
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09:01 And that's how we wrap it up here.
09:04 Support responsibly, even our show.
09:06 And we'll see you in the next episode.
09:08 Goodbye for now.
09:09 See you next time.
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