Football hooliganism is back in the headlines with the cabinet approving a new bill allowing the government to take “decisive” action, including banning away fans from football matches.

The recent violence had caused tensions to rise between the Cyprus Football Association and the police over the summer after the former unilaterally decided last month to allow away fans to attend games again during the coming season.

Away fans had been banned from all competitive football matches from January last year until the beginning of this season in the summer after a firecracker launched from a stand hit a player in the head.  

The state had been in favour of extending the ban reminding the clubs that they also have responsibilities but to no avail.

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The new legislation would also empower police to conduct breathalyser and drug tests at stadium entrances and inside the grounds, applying the same alcohol limits as those for motorists.

Other measures involve upgraded training requirement for stewards who are to be required to be registered security guards.

The measures were not without their detractors. Akel MP Aristos Damianou cast doubt on the effectiveness of the new steps, calling them “reheated food” and arguing that similar proposals had been discussed and dismissed in the past. He said some basic measures previously approved had yet to be implemented.

Damianou said the real issue was not new measures but the failure to enforce existing ones. He cited the lack of CCTV at stadiums and the absence of numbered seating, which makes it difficult to identify offenders.

Police have said that stricter measures inside stadiums has now pushed the violence outside after the games. The most recent case involved hooligans hiding Molotov cocktails and flares outside, creating a new problem.

While violence within stadiums could ultimately be resolved with effective technologies, properly utilised with the will of clubs and authorities to do so, hooliganism on the streets is another matter.

Everyone knows there is a psychological and tribal component to football hooliganism and the fact that clubs can be a breeding ground for anti-social behaviour and worse, there is a deeper and more concerning societal issue that needs to be looked at.

Only two months ago without any football match being held, groups of minors aged 12 to 17 went on an “anti-cop” rampage in three towns, throwing flares, setting fire to bins, car tyres, trees and Christmas decorations, probably sparked by a social media post.

Police arrested 23 troublemakers, 21 of whom were underaged.

Maybe that incident was a one-off… for now but there has been more than one report on gangs of youth attacking and robbing foreign delivery drivers and also increasing incidents of school bullying.

These are all symptomatic of something else.

If children are so easily riled into committing violence there’s something seriously amiss both with parenting and with the education system in the country. Kids who are not being taught right from wrong are being failed by society and society will reap what it has sown.