Anyone who has been to a Premier League football match recently will know exactly what Sol Campbell is getting at when he says abuse aimed at players and managers violates human rights.
The offensive gestures. The personal abuse. The foul language.
The sort of behaviour which if it happened in any office would land the perpetrator in front of the town's magistrates.
You would not treat a dog in the vile way some supporters believe is their right to treat today's footballers.
But it is not time, as Campbell suggests, for the Football Association and the government to get involved.
Personally I think Gordon Brown has enough on his plate with Northern Rock, the credit crisis and the fact that civil servants appear to treat sensitive information as carefully as they might dispose of a cigarette packet to be overly concerned with the verbal 'sticks and stones' hurled at footballers.
Which is not meant to dismiss Campbell's outrage after suffering distasteful vitriol from visiting Tottenham fans at Portsmouth.
Campbell says: "I am an international player who has given his whole career to club and country. I think I deserve more than this. When you get to the level of personal abuse that I and other players are subjected to, it's got to stop, now."
No right-minded individual could disagree with his sentiments.
Let's get it right. We are not talking about plain old-fashioned booing here which in itself can be vindictive as in the case of England fans towards Frank Lampard.
It can be downright brutal, too, as when Peter Crouch was jeered as he came on to the pitch in his early international career.
Essentially, however, there is nothing wrong with booing. It is one right which does come with the price of the ticket. A symbol of free expression, a measure of standards in much the same way that Placido Domingo was recently jeered for his conducting of La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
The line is crossed when booing turns into a 'blood sport.'
When it turns into the sick barracking which Glenn Roeder endured and still suffers after returning from an operation on a brain tumour.
When it descends to the sort of calumnies which Arsene Wenger endures on a regular basis from fans at grounds throughout the land and which are too unspeakable to repeat in family print.
And when it mutates into the 'filth' aimed at Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp from the family enclosures following his recent arrest.
It is offensive and loathsome and a sad reflection on sections of our society.
But turning to law is not the answer.
What are police or the FA supposed to do when 10,000 people take up an offensive chant?
The collective football fan can be a bullish, mindless beast, one not cowed by threat of litigation or the prospect that a £40-a-match steward might finger his collar.
And yet there is something footballers can do. They can stop behaving badly themselves.
If Campbell really believes bad behaviour at football grounds is a human rights issue, then what about the human rights of referees?
What about the systemic abuse they receive on a weekly basis from players who call them 'cheats' and worse and who chase and intimidate them physically with snarling faces?
What about the human rights of officials whose performances are ridiculed and whose propriety is routinely questioned by managers?
If there is an absence of respect in the stands then footballers and managers should ask themselves what example they give.
One thing is certain, resorting to the human rights argument is not the route to take in a sport which has done so much to kick out the racism which was endemic 25 years ago.
Football is a sport of opinions and passions, one which invariably brings out the best and the worst in those who play and watch it.
That is nothing new. Footballers and referees have always required the hide of a rhino.
It makes no sense to drag verbal abuse cases through the courts. There is a much better way to deal with morons. Ignore them.
Keane kind to fans behavior
Tottenham striker Robbie Keane believes players should brush off any abuse directed at them from the crowd.
Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell, a former Spurs player, spoke out yesterday against the more vicious abuse players have to contend with, arguing that in any other walk of life the offender would be arrested.
But Spurs skipper Keane has a very laid-back attitude to fans who give him stick.
The Irishman told BBC Radio Five Live: "Verbal abuse - I've had it, but nothing that would make me go crazy.
"Things like that don't really bother me. You get fans who say things in the heat of the moment.
"Sometimes fans try to give you a little bit of stick and I give a little bit back to them. It's just a bit of banter really.
"Fans say things they don't really mean. It's a spur-of-the-moment thing, getting a little bit of stick here and there doesn't hurt anyone.
"I don't know what has been said to Sol," he added. "It obviously must have been something that really upset him for him to ask the FA to intervene."
Blackburn manager believes in fan backlash
Blackburn manager Mark Hughes believes players are feeling a backlash of resentment from fans who are disillusioned with the amount of money in football.
Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell spoke out this week, claiming the abuse from crowds is worse than ever, while the England international's club boss Harry Redknapp has also complained about the number of derogatory comments that seem to be directed at players and officials.
Former Manchester United and Chelsea striker Hughes has not noticed an increase in abuse from the terraces - he feels it has always been a constant.
But he offered an opinion as to why attitudes might have changed, with players now the furthest they have ever been from the man on the street in terms of earning power and financial wealth.
"I haven't noticed it being worse than ever. I think it has always been there," he said.
"Should we accept it? I don't know - but I think we do, because it has always been there.
"I think maybe there is a little bit of disdain for footballers, more dislike from possibly the perception that they earn vast amounts of money.
"Maybe that is the driving cause behind the feeling that it is getting more personal and directed at individuals."
Unfortunately, because it is almost ingrained in the culture of football, Hughes sees very little likelihood of being able to stamp it out altogether.
But he called on supporters everywhere to help try to eradicate it by seeking to cut it out at source.
"It is impossible to police. It is very difficult for stewards or police or anyone to get involved because of the vast numbers involved," he believes.
"What needs to happen is for people in the crowd hearing these things being said by the people sat next to them to police them."
Hughes has other issues on his mind, with Chelsea Blackburn's Barclays Premier League visitors on Sunday.
His team were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Arsenal on Tuesday and have conceded 14 goals in their last five matches, winning only once in all competitions in the last eight games.
The former Wales boss has stressed his squad are working hard to sort out their difficulties rather than worry about it.
"It could be very easy for us to feel sorry for ourselves - but we're not doing that," he said.
"It's a frustration rather than a worry. We feel we're a much better team than we're showing at the moment.
"That isn't criticism just of the back four; it is a collective thing - everybody has to take responsibility for the defensive play that we are displaying at the moment.
"We've shown in the early part of the season that we can defend correctly in all areas - so we'll keep working hard.
"At the moment it is a little raw and a little bit painful for everybody, but we'll turn it round.
"We are still very much in the top half of the Premier League and we'll just have to have a run in the FA Cup now."
Cole caught for gesture at Arsenal fans
Chelsea full-back Ashley Cole is unlikely to face a Football Association charge over allegations he made a gesture towards Arsenal fans at the weekend.
The 26-year-old made his first appearance at the Emirates Stadium in Sunday's defeat following his move from Arsenal to Stamford Bridge last season. He was heavily jeered by home fans and was pictured after the final whistle apparently making a two-fingered salute towards Arsenal supporters.
FA officials had to decide whether Cole faced a charge, with the decision based on the photos and whether there is any other evidence. A final announcement is likely to be made on Thursday.
Chelsea boss Avram Grant did not feel his player had done anything worthy of punishment from officials.
"I don't think he made that reaction," said Grant.
England left-back Cole was also involved in an ugly incident at the final whistle on Sunday, grabbing Cesc Fabregas after being the victim of a late challenge by the Arsenal midfielder.
Fabregas picked up a yellow card - one of nine during Arsenal's 1-0 win - but Cole was not cautioned by referee Alan Wiley.
One tackle from Emmanuel Eboue left John Terry nursing a broken foot, and the Chelsea skipper is facing between a month and six weeks on the sidelines.
"I felt he left his studs in there and it should have been a sending off," Terry wrote in his programme notes ahead of the Carling Cup clash with Liverpool.
