Nick Bendel
Newcastle fans have been Conned
January 20th 2009 13:10
Instinctively, one would have to assume that it’s been the coaches. After all, Miron Bleiberg has been boasting about the qualities of a squad that has yet to play a game, Frank Farina has been baiting John Kosmina (admittedly, not a difficult thing to do), while Kossie has been behaving in defiantly Kosminaesque fashion.
Yet the antics of the owners cannot be ignored. Barely a day goes by without Clive Palmer, the billionaire behind Gold Coast United, making some grandiose statement about his new toy. So far, we’ve learned that his team will win the title in its first year, that it will go through the season undefeated, that it will win the Asian Champions League, that its Brazilian imports are “the cream of the cream”, that it will supplant the Titans as the city’s favourite entity, and that it is being courted by Everton and Fulham for a pre-season friendly. And, of course, no discussion of United would be complete without reference to Palmer’s fleet of aircraft.
As if Palmer wasn’t entertaining enough, Con Constantine has just taken it upon himself to further amuse us. Perhaps unwilling to surrender his role as the competition’s pre-eminent rich eccentric, he opted to behave in astonishing fashion during Sunday’s home match against Perth. The Newcastle owner may have less money than his Queensland counterpart- after all, he’s a mere multi-millionaire- but he seems to have an even greater capacity to shock.
When he discovered that the Squadron (the group of fanatical Jets fans) were protesting about Newcastle’s poor season and the manner in which the club was run, he summoned its commander, Tim Versheleden, and four wingmen to his corporate box. They were then abused, before Versheleden was threatened with being thrown off the balcony.
Given such a strong reaction, one might assume that the protests were in some way offensive or defamatory. In fact, the opposite is true. One fan was brandishing an enormous wooden spoon, others were waving white handkerchiefs, while a trio of banners was being hung upside down. There was also another sign declaring in big, bold writing: “WE’VE BEEN CONNED!”
The reaction to such harmless demonstrating was grossly excessive. Not only were the banners removed, but some supporters were warned that they risked being banned from future games. Then there was the vitriolic attack launched by Constantine on the five Squadron members- which, ironically, was far worse that their supposedly unacceptable behaviour.
“No one should ever have to put up with that sort of abuse, let alone the most loyal supporters of the club,” one of the men, Nigel Bosworth, declared. “It disgusts me to see a club that I support…be so low to people over an issue as trivial as a few banners turned upside down”. Gavin Austin, also of the Squadron, got to the heart of the matter when he revealed that “the thing that upset us the most was the way we chose to demonstrate [our unhappiness] was in a pleasant way”. Yet Constantine has been unrepentant, arguing that such public shows of disaffection “killed the credibility” of Newcastle, and that “when you’re upset with someone you say a lot of things. I swore at them because I knew they were wrong”.
It is breathtakingly hypocritical that Constantine should stake a claim to the moral high ground while acting in such a tyrannical way. Yes, he has put his heart and soul into the club; yes, he has thrown away millions of dollars just to keep it afloat; yes, he has delivered it a championship- but that does not mean that he is entitled to instruct its followers how to think. “I don’t like people telling me what to do with my club”, he once proclaimed. Well, people don’t like being told what opinions they are and aren’t allowed to hold. We live in a free country, so if spectators are allowed to display banners at EnergyAustralia Stadium- which they are- then all those that are not offensive must be respected. While the removal of anything distasteful is reasonable, what is unreasonable is the idea that messages that Constantine deems to be “wrong” or damaging to the “credibility” of the club should be censored.
Besides being ethically egregious, Constantine’s behaviour is also commercially stupid. As a self-made man of humble origins, the Cypriot immigrant owes his fortune to a sharp brain. Yet when it comes to professional sport- and he is far from the only eminent businessman to have fallen into this trap- reason seems long ago to have given way to emotion. “I don’t play golf, I don’t go fishing, I love football,” he has previously explained. “It overrides everything else.” Evidently, his passion for football and Newcastle seems also to override his ability to think clearly. Constantine could not have turned Parklea Markets into the booming business that it is unless he possessed the ability to understand his customers, and to know how to satisfy them. However, this latest episode is a clear indication that he does not understand his footballing customers.
The A-League in general, and Newcastle in particular, is not so overwhelmed with fans that it can afford to antagonise swathes of decent folk. We are not talking about the sort of idiots who recently attacked Robbie Middleby- the sooner they are banished from anything to do with the game, the better. We are talking about the sort of mainstream sport’s lovers who the AFL, NRL and ARU are fiercely battling the FFA for. These types will follow their team through its ups and downs- though they will also get cranky when things go wrong. But as long as they vent their anger in a peaceful and inoffensive way, what possible problem could there be? The Squadron’s ‘crime’, it seems, is that its members cared enough to come along to a dead rubber so that they could stage a protest- yet could there be anything more reassuring to Constantine? He should be worried when people can’t be bothered attending games, and when they are too apathetic to voice their concerns.
The FFA has launched an investigation into what happened last Sunday. If it finds that Constantine has breached some sort of regulation, he needs to be made an example of. While a millionaire will not be worried by any fine that he might receive, it is to be hoped that he would be humbled. More importantly, it is to be hoped that a clear message is sent to owners and fans throughout the competition, a message that states that decent, law-abiding fans are to be treated with respect at all times. When a Clive Palmer shoots his mouth off, it is harmless fun. When a John Kosmina shoots his mouth off, it is harmless- if infantile- fun. But when a Con Constantine acts like he did at the Perth game, entertaining though it may be, it is anything but harmless. Supporters are much too precious to be treated so dismissively. The A-League needs every one of them.
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