Football violence - do you think that England will eventualy be banned from such events as the world cup?

Question

In light of the internet providing meeting places etc for football hooligans who dont even go to watch the matches, do you think the only solution is to ban? Maybe this is inevitable as all actions esp violent ones cause consequences. What do you think?

Answer 1

i certainly hope that england never get banned and i do believe that FIFA and UEFA and various football associations around the world are well aware that this is not just an english problem.i think the only way to totally stop football violence would be to ban football,which will obvioulsy never happen!

as long as internationals take place there will always be rivalry.this, unfortunately, is nothing really to do with football,it's more to do with nationalistic pride,possibly old history,and man's natural urge to fight each other!

In many sports now there is violence,i just feel that it comes out more in football because most men are more passionate about football than other sports.

Also although england is accredited with inventing football hooligans,we are no nowhere near to being the worst in the world.look at matches played in the middle east,africa,poland,holland,south america,the derby between boca juniors and river plate,in argentina is more like a small war than a football match,resulting in over 200 deaths related to football violence in the last 100 years!el salvador and honduras went to war a few years ago after a play-off match between the 2!over 1000people died.

polish,german and russian fans have been meeting in the woods recently to fight and to practice for this year's world cup.and mainly they want to fight the english.

in the past english fans were responsible for many bad incidences of football violence.but on many occasions have been the victims of un-prevoked attacks and very bad and very heavy handed policing.

i was at the uefa cup final in 1984 between Spurs and Anderlecht,in Rotterdam.i was 18 at the time,travelling with my father,sister and friends.we were sat in a bar the night before the game with about 50 spurs fans,all behaving well,just having a few beers,when about 150 local dutch fans came in and attacked all the spurs fans,they weren't even fans of anderlecht who are from belgium!! there were many incidences like this all over the city that night.all the spurs fans were talking about it the next day.so about 5000 spurs fans rioted after the game because of the way they had been treated.who got blamed...the spurs fans!!

this happened in france 98 when the tunisians attacked the england fans.when they retaliated.they were blamed.

i have been following spurs and england all over europe for 30years now and have witnessed a lot of bad behaviour from our fans,but probably 3times as much aggression has been directed towards us when we have done nothing wrong,from other nationalities.but always english get blamed.i don't condone football violence in anyway,but english are probably the proudest nation in the world,we never surrender and will never just stand by and take abuse if directed our way.if attacked we will respond.we will always defend ourselves,which i believe is right.so if police in germany want england fans to behave they should watch the hooligans from other countries and keep them well away from us!

if you were to compile a list of the top 20 occasions of football violence ever to have occurred in the world..england would not be in it.more people have died in mid.east,africa,south america,even italy and holland!!

in many of these countries they attack the players and referees as well.unheard of in uk. a columbian player was killed after returning from the world cup because he scored an own goal!

so get off englands case.we are doing everything we can to stop hooligans.banning orders for all convicted fans,sending undercover police.so they cant travel to games.if other countries were as tough on their hooligans the problem would have virtually disappeared long ago.

but i think you have answered your own question..fans arrange to meet over the internet.they don,t even go to the games,so it will happen anyway!the sort of person who loves to fight will always find someone to fight.

i hope this year's world cup is violence free,but when you put together thousands of people from different countries,add alcohol,a few world wars in the past,,,,,sounds like a pretty good receipe for disaster!!

Answer 2

Very provocative question - DO YOU THINK that England will EVENTUALLY BE BANNED from such EVENTS AS the World Cup?
--- I'm under the mistaken impression that England is going to be banned sooner or later .... Why ??!!
Because they can't perform on the field? That's too much to ask for ....
Because of their fans ? HAH ! That would be a first !! I suppose banning true fans of the game will accomplish a wider audience!

Who am i kidding?! This whole post is absurd ... Football has always had supporters and some tend to get a lot more involved than the average fan - So they're passionate about the game !!

If it's violence you're worried about - try a caged environment, or private viewing booths or a STRINGENT security system that lets only those with nothing to hide enter ....

You get the idea by now, don't ya?

Answer 3

In honesty, I cant see England being banned from major competition. I think this will be because:

a) As an FA, we have potentially the biggest domestic league system in the world and the funding that FIFA would lose by our FA being cut off could be catastrophic.

b) Although it is stereotypical that English fans are the troublemakers, it is also well known that it is not just English fans. For example, The Middlesborough fans who were attacked by Italian fans in the UEFA cup were just sitting in a cafe having a drink, there was no provocation from the Middlesborough supporters. This would lead to that if one country is banned for violence, then any nation with any sort of history of violence would need to be subject to the same bans.

c) If bans are going to be dished out for things such as violence, then surely there would be a case for further bans for other offences such as racism. Everybody is aware of the current problem is Spanish football, highlighted most recently by Samuel Eto'o threatening to leave the pitch during a league match, and the problems with the international friendly between Spain and England when monkey chants could clearly be heard throughout the match, yet the fines that were handed out were so pitiful that no progress was made.

I think that the preparations being made and precautions being taken by English police, German police and FIFA are currently adequate, and since the last bought of trouble in France '98, there has been much less hassle. Taking passports off hooligans, and even people with violent convictions not linked to football is the most effective way of preventing problems.

Answer 4

Problem is, hooliganism isn't that simple. It isn't just an "English disease", and frankly, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Sweden (just to name some countries off the top of my head) all have hooligan "firms" that are just as violent, if not moreso, than any group that's in England right now. Every team has hooligans, and the reason they don't go into the stadiums on most occaisions is because they've been busted for hooligan activity in the past and can't get in there. It's not true that hooligans don't care about football - in fact they "care" about it so much that they're willing to get in fights and riot over the results.

Football is a high energy sport that evokes a very powerful response from its fans. Hooliganism is one of the natural, albeit unfortunate, results of a sport that arouses such great passions from its fans. To a degree, hooliganism in football illustrates the beauty and power of the game. Honestly? What other sports would evoke people to such behaviour?

I wouldn't be so much worried about England right now as I would be Poland and Ukraine. Germany is easily accessible from both countries, both of these countries have a terrible hooligan problem, and I know for certain Poland has no database of hooligan offenders at all (I'm not sure if Ukraine does or not.)

Anyway, banning teams won't do anything to curb the problem. They already did this with English sides in wake of the Heysel disaster.

Answer 5

Maybe, but I wish people would enlighten to the fact that hooliganism ISN'T JUST the English disease. Hooliganism is a problem in lots of other countries: Holland, Turkey, Greece, Poland etc.
English clubs were banned in the wake of the Heysel stadium riot and rightly so, but I think English hooliganism gets an unfair amount of bias and coverage. What was done when Spanish fans racially abused English players in the 2004 friendly? What did UEFA do when two Leeds fans were stabbed before a game against Galatassaray in 2000? Nothing it seems. Galatassaray were allowed to continue participating and won the UEFA Cup outright a month later. If there had been English teams involved in the trouble there would have been outcry.
And a lot of hooliganism is political. The thugs WANT attention. Look at Combat 18 latching onto Chelsea games in Europe. If the media didn't act like muppets and keep filming them, or giving them that kind of exposure, their deeds would eventually become a bit pointless.

Answer 6

Once again, the England "Paranoia Wagon" is set in motion!
Before moving to Johannesburg in '95 I was an avid Chelsea season ticket holder and, as many other England supporters will agree, whenever their supported team travelled away there was often intimidation from the home fans ....
The same is true internationally .... A reputaion precedes you & you then become a target .... It is exactly because of comments from people like Will's Mum!
I was in Cagliari in 1990 & this was the case, with opposing fans (& authorities!) making a "B-Line" for us in the pubs & cafe's ....
Look around & you will see far higher instances of violence elsewhere ... Italy, Holland, Spain, South America and even here in Africa!
The British/English authorities have done much to improve the situation for us, don't keep bringing up the past when there is so much more positive attention that could be given to the team & the game!
Go England - Take No Prisoners!

Answer 7

The odds of England being banned from events such as the World or Europe Cups, is slim and none. England has a been in FIFA since the beginning. One may try to ban their fans, if you can find the ones who cause the trouble. To ban the team is completely out of the question. It would be easier to find an invisible needle in a haystack.

Answer 8

I think this World Cup is a big test. There has been a great deal of effort gone into trying to stop these people travelling to Germany but if there is violence it is clear that nothing can be done to stop it which could mean England become banned from these events. Whether this will help as since these people aren't there to watch the football they'll probably go to the world cups etc whether England are there or not.

Answer 9

No, I don't believe so. England has made great strides in combating hooliganism, at home and abroad. Their efforts are noticed throughout the world and have set a standard others are trying to follow. Many countries have serious problems with football violence and seem far less capable of dealing with it. The English authorities make every effort to be "proactive" rather than "reactive", it's too late in the day if you're having to rush in and crack heads.
I now live in the States and got nothing but positive feed-back during the last competition regarding the numbers of supporters (I believe they had the most outside the host countries), the volume of the vocal support and the general behaviour of the fans.

Answer 10

To be fair the British authorities have done an awful lot in the past few years to stop known hooligans from being able to travel to international matches and tournaments.

In comparison, I don't think other countries with hooligan problems, such as Turkey and Poland, are doing nearly as much. Also factor in countries with significant problems of racism, then I'd hope there would be a couple of countries excluded from events before England.

Answer 11

If the hooligans don't go to watch the matches then what is to stop them going if their team isn't even playing??!!??
It isn't a case of football violence any more it's more a case of just violence as the football is just an excuse for a meeting. Take away the football and they'll find another way/excuse to meet and cause problems, this maybe via other sporting events, political events or even at music events.
I don't believe that is is just the English either, as they tend to organize these things with other hooligans from the opposing teams (like you said, via the Internet and mobiles) so if there wasn't anyone to organize a meet with then their would be less trouble.

I don't like the way that these hooligans use football as reason to get together and ruin the atmosphere for the rest of us as it looks bad on us just for enjoying football. I go to a lot of rugby matches as well as football and the atmosphere is completely different, it's so friendly that you end up meeting so many new people from all sorts of different countries, it's fantastic. I fear that if you take the football away from these hooligans then they'll just turn to rugby or something instead and ruin that as well.

Sorry for rambling!