Also, it's not the only item that would get snuck into a football match by spectators. Often things are hurled onto pitches like bottles and coins (I guess because more commonly that's what you have at hand to throw, if it wasn't premeditated), but there are plenty of instances of people sneaking in gas bombs & flares, which are considering more dangerous in a physical sense. So there is a problem with a variety of articles being thrown onto pitches. Even balloons and beach balls have their part in disruption... and spectators themselves it is quite common for them to storm the pitch, either singularly or as a group.JoJo said:It's not acceptable outside a small minority of racists, unfortunately they are present and drag themselves out of their caves every now and again to watch football. In very broad strokes, this sort of behaviour becomes more common as you head either south or east across the continent though it can happen anywhere. The football leagues and teams have largely tried hard to kick it out, but well racists be racist.The Almighty Aardvark said:OT: I've never heard about this being a thing before. I'm surprised that this is actually a thing that's acceptable to do. Where exactly is this common in Europe?
So, Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Aardvark, I wouldn't say it is considered 'acceptable', it has just proved hard to prevent.
Secondly, the stories I hear about in Europe tend to be from Italy or Eastern European countries like Ukraine, Poland or Russia (if you count Western Russia in this, but it could/should be seen as Asia). So I'd say it's more common there, generally.
This is also why I and a lot of people have contested the awarding of the 2018 Football World Cup to Russia, because they still have serious problems when it comes to racism, so I think they are unfit to host a World Cup. Obviously, nowhere has reached an ideal, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying to find somewhere better and the reward going to them, thus resulting in a safer atmosphere for Football to happen.