Of course, Tokolosh. Nor was I attempting in any way to defend, or deny the severity of, incidents involving the foul monsters whom we produce; and it does indeed seem that the larger incidents at this World Cup involve English fans. I'll never understand how our culture - sometimes so tolerant and lovely - manages time and time again to produce this problem.
In the current isuue of
Private Eye, a German corrspondent writes:
Travelling non-white football fans who are the target of an official leaflet campaign to warn them of the dangers of straying off the beaten track - into areas where they might recieve a less than cordial welcome - might wrongly conclude that they are the potential victims of a hate campaign specific to the World Cup. This is, of course, the government line. It is equally nonsense.
I think the point is that the racists and thugs do not exist because of football - football is merely a convenient focal point for them to create a throwback 'community' around their beliefs, with regular opportunities to meet up. They are not just violent around football events - they are in town and city centres most nights, and somehow dealing with football will not deal with the problem, because in the final analysis football is by no means the problem. The governments, of course, are happy to have the problem seen as a football one, when in reality it is anything but. If the attitude and behaviour of the yobs were truly football-related then football indeed would have been banned, and organisations like the British BNP or the German NPD would not exist. Nor would countries like Austria and Italy give a parliamentary mandate to those with suspect views.
The hateful undercurrents run very deep.
It's also worth noting that in most cases the number of incidents is proportional to the number of fans from the respective country - more English fans = more English incidents. The media, of course, highlight incidents of English hooliganism with salivating, morbid joy; the reputation that English yobs created 20 yeras ago has not died, or even improved as our behaviour has improved (and for all our remaining faults, it
has improved enormously).
THe English fans have been praised by the GErman police at this World Cup on a variety of occaisions; the general feeling amongst the German authorities is that the English fans have been amongst the best-behaved. It says a lot about the progress that has been made that a World Cup
in Germany can witness that kind of respect for English fans. However, if Portugal knock us out on Saturday (as they should, all things being considered), then we shall see how our reputation stands on Sunday morning...
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Originally Posted by Tokolosh
Should FIFA ban football hooligans altogether?
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These people should have no access to the World Cup, at all, ever. Or to any event whatsoever where other people might reasonably expect to have a good time. Or indeed to any right-thinking community. It's sad that they exist at all; even sadder that normal people have to share the same planet with them.