Code damaged by failure to admit problem Wanderers fans let off flares during the A-League match between Melbourne Victory and the Western Sydney Wanderers at AAMI Park. THE inferiority complex that afflicts soccer in this country has been on full display in the past two weeks with the usual pattern of fans tarnishing the sport with their violent antics and then blaming the media for daring to report on the lawlessness. The violence may be perpetrated by a tiny minority of thugs but the wider soccer community's propensity to play the victim and pretend that the sport's ugly underbelly is a figment of the media's imagination is integral to holding back the competition. Too often the soccer community appears far more outraged by the criticism of the hooligan minority than the antics of the hooligan minority. Soccer is doomed to remain a second tier sport in Australia if administrators don't take serious steps to stamp out the anti-social elements that continue to plague the A-League. Last week the FFA charged both Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers with bringing the game into disrepute after brawls before, during and after their December 28 clash. The clubs have until 5pm today to appeal against the sanction; the deduction of three competition points suspended until the conclusion of the 2013/14 season. However the suspended penalty is "subject to the proper conduct of supporters for that period," meaning that if either set of fans stuff-up again this season, their team will lose competition points. A-League chief Damien de Bohun has warned fans that there'll be tougher sanctions to come if they don't moderate their behaviour. We are saying that maintaining the Hyundai A-League as a safe, family friendly environment is of paramount importance. One can understand why the head honchos have had enough. The footage of Wanderers and Victory fans rioting in the Melbourne CBD armed with metal poles was a new low. Quite an effort given that last year soccer fans disgraced themselves by destroying 170 seats at Etihad Stadium during a Victory v Heart derby. The latest trouble started hours before the game with fans setting off flares, pelting each other with rocks, bottles, chairs and other debris before Wanderers supporters marched to AAMI Park, with a heavy police escort, chanting obscenities. Can you imagine what a tourist witnessing this spectacle would have thought? There was more trouble at the game with no less than five flares set off with one coming close to the field of play. And the bedlam didn't stop there with police forced to intervene to separate fans after the match. So far two men have been charged but remarkably, despite the unruly behaviour of hundreds, only eight were ejected during the game. Police have acknowledged that soccer troublemakers behave differently from fans of other sports and pose challenges that they do not face with footy or cricket crowds. It appears that authorities treat soccer supporters differently too, with a leniency that is lacking in other sports. If you throw a beachball at the cricket you are escorted out of the stadium to chants of "you're going home in the back of a divvy van" but you can pelt security with bottles and coins, as happened in a 2012 Melbourne derby, and police will retreat rather than take on a maddened mob. The police verdict on the unique issues confronting the sport may be a case of stating the obvious but it is news that many within the soccer fraternity refuse to acknowledge, maintaining that crowd behaviour is no worse than at AFL games and that the media is to blame for "beating up" stories of misconduct. That is a falsehood so comically deluded that it shouldn't need a rebuttal. The truth is that if any of those incidents occurred in the AFL, the coverage would be significantly greater. The smallest misstep in footy receives saturation coverage. Imagine the breadth of coverage if it was Carlton fans that destroyed dozens of stadium seats or lit flares that endangered life and limb. Or if it was Collingwood fans that rioted in the streets with their faces covered and armed with makeshift weapons. And can you envision the outcry if Port Adelaide fans needed a police escort to attend a game? A story on Brendan Fevola tweeting "crawl back under your rock" to a website operator was the most read item on the Herald Sun website just over a week ago - imagine if he wasn't retired. And yesterday Essendon was contacted for comment after being linked to an increase in peptide use among young men even though the club had no knowledge and could not reasonably be held responsible for the actions of a few gym junkies. Delusional soccer folk also believe that other codes are terrified of their sport becoming the biggest game in town. But for all the talk of its supposed popularity, soccer's TV ratings are minuscule and dwarfed by just about every other major sport. The highest rating A-League game last weekend had 83,000 viewers on free to air TV and 94,000 watching on payTV. Contrast that with the Ashes 1,550,000, Big Bash League 681,000 and tennis's Brisbane International, 260,000. The fact that a meaningless, hit and giggle form of cricket achieves ratings that the A-League can only dream of illustrates the gap between the sport and rival competitions. One look at the BBL crowd, full of families and young children, and you can understand why the FFA is keen to eliminate the ugly minority that continue to damage the game.