Column: Motocross riders are so good
This morning it was heard on the radio that football supporters have been banned from stadiums for no less than 1.800 years. What makes a sport like football attract so many incidents?
It is difficult to keep up with the infringements in football stadiums. A massive number of cameras are being placed in the stadiums to catch the perpetrators. The police have their hands full to keep the hooligans in check and legislation is being amended.
It costs our State (you and I) a lot of money to guarantee good citizens a quiet football Sunday. Where do I want to go? Well, I wonder out loud what fact ensures that no hooliganism can be detected in such a rough sport as motocross. There is no need for a police force there, they don't know Bengali fire on the cross and there is no fighting either.
Ok, the occasional shout-out from a drunk just after the awards ceremony is the exception that proves the rule. And those chainsaws at the GPs are noisy, but not harmful to life and limb. By the way, I hope that this trend is not adopted by football fans. There are also some cyclo-cross fans who bring chainsaws to the races. Personally, I don't like that.
Motocross riders are chased away everywhere because too much noise is made with those mopeds. A sport such as cyclo-cross simply involves a lot less noise pollution. Chainsaws do not belong there, even without a bar and chain. Or it should be to “surgically” remove the two arms of Michael Vanthourenhout's mechanic.
Not that cyclo-cross can be proportionally compared to football, but Mathieu van der Poel also knows what hooligans do. It seems that the period of his compatriot Richard Groenendaal has begun again. As usual, middle fingers are raised, spit, shouted obscenities and throw beer. Where do I want to go? That there are a lot of incidents in sports such as football and cyclo-cross and that you don't find any of that in motocross.
You would think that those rough motocross riders would bring in just as many idiots to expertly screw things up every Sunday. None of this can be found in the cross. On the contrary, in the riders' park, riders help each other with a drop of oil, a spare chain and a water bottle. There is war on the track, but off the track the camaraderie is so great that we could set an example.
Over the years, so many circuits have disappeared and yet we do not destroy everything in the streets of Brussels. Motocross riders and their supporters are good people, they do not carry violence unless they brutally kick their kick starter when the machine does not want to give a sign of life. No protest marches, no petitions, not even a pie in the face of the ruling Minister of the Environment. We are also very kind to all those other countries at the Motocross of Nations. Beer is often drunk there, but that never leads to violence.
No, we continue to passively watch as some people go to the Council of State again and again to criticize a training circuit. Lille, Genk and Lommel ……. that's all that's left. Even though I wish Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert all the best, I don't think those cyclists can ever reach the ankles of our motocross riders in terms of the number of victories. It's not a good comparison either. The race is ours, but it seems that the slogan for our beloved sport may be adjusted to “motocross WAS ours”.
Joël Robert, René Baeten, André Malherbe, Georges Jobé, Eric Geboers and all the others standing above the starting gate must have turned in their graves several times. Motocross has to deal with an audience that has been undergoing this torment for years without complaining. It will never be the same again. The motocross riders and their supporters are so good. It is to your credit to process this almost unbearable suffering in silence.
May I nevertheless wish every party involved a fantastic motocross season with a pinch of pepper in the back of Sacha Coenen, Lucas Coenen, Brent van Doninck, Liam Everts and Florent Lambillon. And I wish the same to Jago Geerts with a perfectly dosed extra pinch of Radja Nainggolan.
Words: Danny Hermans
Photos: Infront Moto Racing and Jefr098
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