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Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow): On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I ask my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms Walley) to acquit me of discourtesy, but the rules of the House dictate that points of order must be raised on the dot of 11 o'clock. Has Madam Speaker received a request either from the Foreign Office to make a statement on the bombing last night of Montenegro--a state that has tried to distance itself from President Milosevic--or from the Ministry of Defence on what instructions the Secretary of State has issued to British ships of the Navy, should they come into contact with those Russian ships and submarines now in the Mediterranean having passed through the Bosphorus?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: I have had no notification of any statement.
Ms Walley: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I entirely understand the on-going concern and it is quite right that the House should be at all times the place where such issues are discussed.
Let me return to the Bill. It is important that the courts should have the powers to impose longer restriction orders and deal with international and domestic football banning
orders. If we can deter hooligans by making it clear that they will be required to report to specific police stations on the match days of their home and international teams; if we can give the courts powers to impose tighter controls and extend those powers to the Crown court; if we can succeed in requiring courts to make a presumption in favour of imposing an order and, if a court does not make an order, require it to explain why not; and if we can extend the period during which people can be charged with football-related offences and apply them over a longer period of time, we shall have made further progress in the interests of football safety for all.
I see that the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) has now left the Chamber--perhaps he has been given the red card by his hon. Friend the Member for West Chelmsford, who anticipated his right hon. Friend's kicking this Bill into touch, as he has so many other important Bills. However, I have to give a word of warning to the hon. Member for West Chelmsford: I would be extremely concerned if, in Committee, we went further down the road of giving greater powers to the police in cases where convictions have not been confirmed. Only in the past few weeks, I have dealt with a constituency complaint about police behaviour at a football match. It is important that we exercise great care and take lessons from such cases and from Hillsborough as well.
We have to address such concerns squarely, and I appreciate the hon. Gentleman's honesty in giving advance notice that he might go down that road in Committee. It is an issue that all the members of the Committee should take into consideration. We cannot simply hand over powers to the police where no offence has been committed. We should allow nothing that returns to the House after Committee stage to compromise our commitment to civil liberty and to the European convention on human rights. I presume that the extensive discussions that will take place with my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department will draw on all available expertise to ensure that, if such a proposal is mooted in Committee, the right advice is taken into account. We have to ensure that safeguards are in place.
All that presupposes that we can deal with continuing problems of football-related disorder through a Bill of only a few clauses. If passed, the Bill will make a huge difference, but the House must understand that the problems facing football will not cease simply because the Bill has been enacted. What about effective enforcement and policing resources to cover existing responsibilities, as well as those new responsibilities that the Bill would impose? Only last weekend, one of my constituents witnessed an extremely ugly incident en route from a football match, and he has yet to be convinced that the police response to that incident was adequate. We have to ensure that existing legislation is being properly implemented and enforced and that we are monitoring it. At the other end of the spectrum, there will be further cause for concern if complaints persist about over-zealous policing at matches. What is being done to promote proper training of police offices who carry out those duties? That is an issue that should be addressed in legislation.
I fear that, sooner or later, we shall have to address the enormous frustration that is welling up inside football and that, in some cases, is nearing the point where it breaks through in clubs whose fans are becoming more impatient as they see the success that is attached to so many of the Premier elite clubs eluding their own club. The Nationwide league and the network of clubs stretching the length and breadth of our country are unique--they do not exist anywhere else. Local passions and loyalties matter to an extent that is unknown in other parts of Europe.
The inequalities that have swept over the national game ever since the break away of the Premiership have to be acknowledged: we must recognise that there are now as many clubs facing the wall as there are successful clubs riding high on the crest of the wave, with everything to play for and undreamed of riches and rewards for their players. Everyone should be concerned: football players, many of whom now demand huge wages; the football task force; my hon. Friend the Minister, who understands football; my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, who showed only last week that he will uphold the public interest as opposed to wider business and broadcasting concerns; my hon. Friend the Minister for Sport, whom I was pleased to see present earlier and who commands great respect in the world of football and wears his love of football on his shirtsleeve; and the Government as a whole.
Frustration at the bad behaviour of hooligans who have no part to play in football and whose actions wreck the sport for the rest of us will be largely addressed if the Bill is passed. However, while supporting the Bill, we should be in no doubt that we shall have to organise a return fixture in the near future. We must address in greater detail commercial inequalities, the wider implications of the current Office of Fair Trading inquiry, and the European dimension to further proposed mergers involving broadcasters and the other business interests which combine to boost the fortunes of a few successful clubs at the expense of the majority of smaller clubs.
Mr. Roger Gale (North Thanet):
Last Sunday, my alarm went off at 4 o'clock in the morning. I got up and took my youngest son, Tom, to London to put him on a team coach--team coach? I wish--a supporters coach to Villa Park. He chose to spend his 18th birthday watching his team, the Arsenal, play Manchester United. Many hours later, a young man came back happy and exhilarated having had a great day out and having seen a tremendous game of football. I have to say that, after Wednesday, he was not quite so happy--I am told that my household is still in mourning, although it is the measure of his sort of supporter that he concedes, as all must, that it was a fair result.
I am grateful to my son and I mention him and his exuberance because it is infectious. My sporting religious preference has always been for the summer game, played with bat and leather; and, for many years, for winter
entertainment I turned to the game played with an oval ball. I enjoyed, if that is the right word, many of the prejudices of those who support those two games rather than soccer, which some rather precociously describe as the national game. My wife and I used to own a home within walking distance of Craven Cottage, and my prejudices were heightened by the fact that, on home match days, it was impossible for those who lived in the area to park within 100 miles of their own home and that, for some time after the game, the streets were filled with fairly raucous and--to some--fairly intimidating singing and chanting crowds, some of whom were over-excited by an excess of alcohol.
That is where I came from until Tom--at 13, I think--discovered, for no reason that I can understand, the Arsenal football club and latched on to it as his team. His enthusiasm was infectious. I bought him a ticket for a Boxing day match at Highbury and took him--because someone had to--to see the Arsenal play Queen's Park Rangers. I am delighted to report that the Arsenal won on that occasion.
That experience was a revelation. I found a stadium full of enthusiasts in good humour who supported two separate teams and who were, in the main, perfectly prepared to get on well with each other. The stadium--I appreciate that it is a Premier league stadium--was equipped with far better facilities than I had anticipated. Several times since then, I have enjoyed similar experiences with my son. We have even attended some minor league games. For example, a year ago, Margate looked momentarily as though it might become a giant killer by beating Fulham. Special stands were erected at Margate football ground. The ground was packed and the gate money was, to a team like Margate, riches beyond the dreams of avarice. Sadly, that dream ended fairly swiftly.
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