Not all are hooligans

MARTIN SAMUEL’S account of England fans at Euro 2016 (Sportsmail) makes very sorry reading indeed. Most of the fans depicted will not have tickets for any of the games, but are just there to enjoy the atmosphere of a major sporting event.

When so many people congregate in areas that do not have the infrastructure to cope, problems are going to occur.

England fans are not just ‘lads’, but married couples, families, wheelchair users, women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds — all of whom keep their distance from the hooligan element.

Before England fans travelled en masse, the various club supporters within the fans would fight each other! But following Euro 96, more England fans started following the team.

Instead of putting up barriers, hosts for tournaments accepted the fans with open arms with the introduction of fan parks and camping areas. But, for whatever reason, we have gone back to the dark days.

Yes, we did get ourselves a reputation which has made us a target for opposing supporters in the past, but why should we still be a target now?

A group of Russian fans clearly planned their attack on the England fans and for that they should be punished. But we need to behave ourselves as well.

DAVID PATRICK MOORE, London SE23.