Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Ian Byrne
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Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
Ian Byrne Excerpts(1 day, 23 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
Order. I know that this topic is very important, but I need questions to be short and answers to be just as precise.
Ian Byrne (Liverpool West Derby) (Lab)
First, I pay tribute to the volunteers who serve on the safety advisory groups—a thankless but hugely important task—who will be really worried about today. The safety of football fans has, at times, been at the very bottom of priorities in this place. Will my right hon. Friend reassure me that the safety of supporters is absolutely paramount in the Government’s thinking, rather than the politics around this matter?
Lisa Nandy
I am really happy to give my hon. Friend that assurance. I thank him for the work he has done over many years, and not just on Hillsborough but on football as a whole.
Ian Byrne
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) stated that Maccabi Tel Aviv have “played a game in Istanbul where there was no trouble at all.” UEFA moved the game to Hungary after Turkish authorities refused to stage it in Turkey. Hungarian authorities then had it played behind closed doors, hence no trouble.
Madam Deputy Speaker
I am not sure that was actually a point of order, and I do not want to continue the debate, but the hon. Member has indeed put his point on the record.