Ignoring the analogies, etc. above - I think this is the most important point. Whether it is right/wrong for police to deter people against breaking the law by way of using force that is in excess of what is necessary to detain offenders.
It might seem like a joke question, but why would you stop at rubber bullets? If deterring people is the one and only goal, then surely killing all intruders would be the best solution, no? I can assure you that there would be no pitch intrusions if such a policy was introduced.
If you need to deter people from invading the pitch, then fines/imprisonment should be the deterrent, rather than gratuitous violence meted out by police officers. Punishment is a matter for the courts and not police (for many good reasons).
As for your question about whether we like baseball -- I'm not sure how it's relevant, but I am a big fan of cricket, which is similar to baseball and also commonly involves pitch intrusions. In cricket (as well as AFL, etc.) the intruder is chased by security/police and tackled and then punished according to law.
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05-05-10, 08:24 PM
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