Double standards at play over football violence Western Sydney Wanderers fans let off flares during the round 12 A-League match against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park. In the week that has passed since Western Sydney Wanderers fans clashed with their Melbourne Victory counterparts outside AAMI Park, we've seen a great deal of condemnation for football in Australia, and very little from anyone to refute some of the claims that have been made. There has recently been a spate of bashings on Sydney's streets as young men struggle to handle their alcohol, and everyone is rightly horrified by young men who have ruined lives with their actions. Then, two seconds later, everyone turns around and celebrates former prime minister, Bob Hawke, slamming down a beer at the cricket. This is where the hypocrisy is most astounding. The Australian sporting public condemns the Melbourne Heart fan who king hit a Western Sydney Wanderers supporter at a game last year, but hails NSW captain Paul Gallen a hero for doing the same in front of 80,000 people in a State of Origin game. Anti-football stories will almost always paint the image of the mystery "soccer hooligan," who lives his life on the fringes of society and exists only to cause trouble. The reality is that this person does not exist. Photos of Wanderers fans amid a backdrop of flare smoke have provoked countless ignorant, xenophobic and racist comments from readers. Such reaction routinely accompanies anti-football stories, with readers saying the sport should be banned and the troublemakers "sent back to where they came from." In reality, many of these supposed ringleaders merely direct chants and routines for their rabid fan group. They are not criminals, nor are the overwhelming majority of people who attend A-League matches. I've attended at least 10 Sydney games a year since the league's inception, and have stood in The Cove for a lot of those. Never have I felt threatened, and never have I had an experience where, if I were older and had children, would I be put off taking them to the football. Do you know when I did feel threatened? When I attended an NRL game and a fan grabbed me by the throat on the train home. I hadn't looked at him or said a word - he was simply a young man looking for a fight. Thankfully the situation was defused. And do you know when I've been offended and disgusted at fan behaviour? When I hear or am told about awful words and names shouted at Brett Stewart or Sonny Bill Williams, or perhaps most heinously, a particularly insightful fellow yelling "Sucked in, your mum's got cancer" as Mat Rogers was lining up a conversion attempt. These are isolated incidents, much like the ones at A-League games. The only difference is the environment in which they occur, and why the media as a whole sees fit to arbitrarily condemn fans at one sport for their actions, but ignore or praise them at other sports. And when I head to Pirtek Stadium in my Sydney shirt next week, I'm sure that I'll cop some verbal abuse from the home fans, and nothing more. Just as the case was when I went there twice last season.