For the Love of Football

Fighting hooliganism with…lollipops

I love to watch football, but I hate the football hooliganism that comes with it. If your team lost, get over it! Don’t start fighting with rival fans over a game! Rant over. Football hooliganism is a complicated crime, with fighting, drunkenness and stealing often involved (could this have fuelled the rise in the cash for gold market?).

One London council however, opted for a rather unusual approach to deal with the yobs, when the World Cup occured, which was to hand out lollipops! No, the cuts in spending haven’t got to their heads, according to an article, which was published by The Alarm, the London Borough of Sutton Council took a different approach to deal with yobs, instead of using truncheons, riot gear and tasers, football hooligans will be given lollipops and bottles of water in an effort to calm down angered fans, which potentially reduce such crimes after matches.

Councillar Graham Tope said “Sutton is a popular place to have a night out and we want everyone to enjoy an exciting World Cup and come together. Noise and aggro coming from pubs can be a pain but a lolly or drink of water can calm things down. The whole thing looks like common sense. Rehydrated fans quietly sucking on lollies means cheaper policing and quieter [hospital] accident and emergency departments.”

Martain Furtauer-Hayes, Chairman of Pubwatch, an organisation that monitors pubs in the Sutton area have reported that the lollipops have had a good effect on crime in the area, he said “The lollipops really do work. If people are sucking on a lolly, they’re too pre-occupied to cause a disturbance. The sugar also helps keep people’s heads clear. The water will be really handy for people who need to rehydrate, especially if they’ve been out for a long time after watching an afternoon game.”

5000 bottles of water and 5000 lollipops were donated by ASDA for this cause.

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