There is no place in modern football for violence.

So, it's back.

Hooliganism in football is something we thought we had all but wiped out in the early 1990's, but as West Ham Utd and Millwall fans showed last night we were totally and utterly wrong. Multiple media sources annoucned that "hundreds" of fans had been involved in pitch invasions and violence, and that one man had been stabbed and taken to hospital. I hope those fans are pleased with themselves. They have taken the first step towards ruining football for the rest of us.

The media seem to be aiming the blame mainly at West Ham fan's who seemed to instigate most of the pitch invasions and - if the media are to be belived - the violence. They are calling for the FA to ban any fans found guuilty of involvement for life. The FA have announced, through 'Director of Communications" Adrian Bevington that "[The Football Association are] not going to condemn West Ham or Millwall football clubs for any of their actions - certainly not at this stage, because we don't know exactly what's been put in place." A fair but, in my opinion, slightly kop-out answer. It is the usual stuff from the FA, the 'we will investigate and take action, but don't expect us to do too much!' sort of thing we have come to expect over the years.

The FA's problem is they are stuck between a rock (clubs, leagues and players) and a hard place (fans) when it comes to this sort of thing. They tread a tight-rope line between trying to please all of the parties all of the time, and in the end simply annoying everyone and doing very little. If they swing one way they are doomed to take flak from the other, but in the end, the clubs are where the money ultimately is, and so they usually go with them. Forgetting conveniently of course that it is us fans who fill the clubs coffers.

I tend to attack the FA quite often, but I do have an opinion on where we should go from here. I doubt it will be popular, particularly with West Ham and Millwall or their fans.

Firstly, there obviously needs to be a proper criminal investigation. Anyone found guilty of the pitch invasions or the rioting should be banned from all football grounds for life, and fined or imprisoned as the law deems appropriate. The police and there seemingly non-existant efforts to stop this rioting also need to be brought under investigation by the IPCC, simply to give them a kick up the arse and make them more careful in future.

Secondly, there has to be an investigation of the clubs and what measures they put in place to stop the violence (which in fairness to the FA is what they propose), and to evaluate how ineffective they were, and what measures must be taken in future to prevent these things from, happening again.

Thirdly, and heres the bit they won't like, the punishment phase. Both of these football clubs have to be made an example of in the same way we would hope to make an example of hooligans.

The first measure would be very simple, to ban West Ham and Millwall from all competitions they would normally enter, excluding the League for five years. Without League Cup, FA Cup, Community Shield (unlikely I know!) or European football, their finances would be hit but it is also a psychological symbol to the clubs that they are not all mighty, and have a responsiblity to make sure their fans act properly. This should be given without right of appeal, as we all know appealling for clubs will always result in a punishment being overturned.

The next measure would obviously have to involve fining the clubs. The fines should be high, but not punitive, and should be based on something that is really going to hit the clubs hard but fair. Say forcing West Ham and Millwall to give 5% of their gate receipts for the next 5 years to the FA, which can be spent on better training for stewards or to help fund the cost of policing football. The figures raised would probably not be that great, but it would hit both clubs equally in real terms. Say that a West Hame ticket costs £25, and they get an average of 30,000 a game, by my rough calculation that raises about £356,000 from West Ham over the 5 years. Its a figure that makles life difficult for them, but shouldn't threaten the club too greatly. The figure for Millwall would probably be significantly lower, but it hits them the same.

Other measures would have to depend on how bad the inquiry was, and might ban the clubs from taking away supporters to games, or force them to play matches behind closed doors. I'm not i nfavour of a points reduction though - these incidents occurred in a cup game.

Whilst I understand that these measures would not be universally popular, noone can deny that their effect would be deep and lasting, and would send a signal to clubs and to their fans that we seem to have forgotten since the early 1990's.

"Break the rules, and you will be punished."