It was terrible to see reports from Argentina about the postponement of the world famous Boca Juniors vs River Plate football match in the Copa Libertadores due to hooligans attacking the Boca Juniors team bus before the final.

The match was supposed to be the biggest in over 120 years of Argentinian football, but instead was ruined by attacks which saw players hit by missiles from fans, and by tear gas fired by police.

Football is a game that invokes passion and emotion worldwide, but it should never be affected by violence on this scale.

When players suffer needless injuries like the one suffered by Pablo Perez, who ended up in hospital having shards of glass removed from his eye, we can offer no excuses.

No amount of passion, no amount of love for your club, no amount of local rivalry can ever justify these type of actions.

We are lucky in this country to not have the same kind of problems, and it is a testament to how far we've come since the dark days of the football hooliganism of the 1970s and 80s.

I was lucky enough to see another passionate local derby on Sunday as my beloved Aston Villa beat Birmingham City.

This was a derby day done properly, with organised entry and exit times for away fans to thwart any potential crowd trouble before it started.

The atmosphere inside Villa Park was, by all accounts, electric, as should be the case on derby days and the football made the headlines, not the fans.

The great Bill Shankly once said: "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude.

"I can assure them it is much more serious than that" and, as great a manager he was, I have to say he was wrong.

Football is a game. It is a game loved by millions and a game which is at the heart of societies worldwide, but it should never be taken to the kind of extremes seen in Argentina on Saturday.

We should never allow ourselves to lose sight of the fact that however much we care for our team, however much we may dislike our local rivals, it really is just a game, and there are far more important things in life.