STOP YOUNG THUGS
Veteran England fans must curb new breed of hooligans, say police
Senior British police officers insist that older england fans must enforce good behaviour from a new young breed of hooligans to prevent violent scenes at next summer’s russia World Cup.
The FA have revealed a zero-tolerance approach to a generation of 18 to 25-year- old men by issuing life bans for two fans who made nazi gestures during a friendly international in Dortmund in March.
But police say that a return to criminal behaviour among a minority of england fans cannot be solved by bans alone. They want the older fans, who carry the most influence, to help regulate this new breed.
The supporters whom police see as crucial are those who recall being greeted by guard dogs and riot police in the 1980s. These individuals are uncompromising enough to tell the younger ones, who approach away trips like stag weekends and enjoy notoriety, that they are an embarrassment to themselves and england.
Police have seen a rising trend of disorder over three years now. Matches in italy, Scotland, estonia and Switzerland in 2014 and 2015 saw serious anti-social behaviour — with an uplift in reported incidents, including a tram being bounced off its tracks in Basle in 2014.
A fundamental change in behaviour is needed ahead of the russia World Cup. in an initial preparatory visit to Moscow last month, British officers discovered a high-level russian commitment to make sure that the World Cup passes off without the kind of clashes and hooliganism which soured euro 2016 in France.
Police chiefs in Moscow were mortified by the level of violence faced by england fans in Marseille before the nations played each other a year ago.
There were also discussions with russian officers who were on a fact-finding trip in Cardiff at the Champions League final. The BBC documentary Russia’s
Hooligan Army, broadcast in February, has been noted by the host nation and many russian ringleaders are likely to be taken out of action.
But officers from both countries believe there will be little chance of preventing reprisals if england fans continue to sing nationalistic songs, boo anthems and act like an occupying army.