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And the violence begins again as a big England match looms in Euro 2016!!!
#91
well hes obviously talking the truth thats why Russia have the next WC and i dont believe for one minute that the Russians are fighting a war in the ukraine ! or that putin is a bad person !the best thing to do is give them a WC and trust them to have what will be a very memorable wc maybe they can do us a favour and make sure rooney never comes back or send sterling to sibieria ?
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#92
Interesting article in the Guardian, you do wonder now if the Welsh supporters are next in line from these Russian gangs, and with the England-Wales game being only 24 miles from the next Russian game, this could spill into the north of France very easily this week.  The police in France need to step up their presence around all the fan areas.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/201...are_btn_tw
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#93
Imre this is why yer scum

http://www.joe.co.uk/sport/the-single-mo...-man/66203
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#94
(13-06-2016, 07:22)Fredstersafool Wrote: Imre this is why yer scum

http://www.joe.co.uk/sport/the-single-mo...-man/66203

Every time i have been at a major tournament the atmosphere has been great among the other countries fans until the england fans turn up with their superior attitude "come and have a go if you think your hard enough" ,then their obsession with the war and xenophobic songs. And then they get all shock horror when other countries fans decide to ...have a go,because they are hard enough. A lot harder than england.

Theres a lot of great england fans that follow their country,but every time an element of their support have soured the atmosphere. Anyone who thinks england fans weren't involved in serious disorder at the weekend and it was all the nasty russians fault is delusional.
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#95
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Home » News » FSF statement: attacks on English fans in Marseille
Posted by The FSF 12th June 2016
FSF statement: attacks on English fans in Marseille


Following events in Marseille ahead of, and after, England's opening Euro 2016 game against Russia on Saturday the FSF has issued the following statement:

In Marseille, England fans were subjected to numerous pre-planned, organised and brutal attacks on several occasions in the days preceding the game against Russia, in the stadium itself, and after the match.

Dozens of England fans have been injured, some seriously. Many more, including women and children, have been affected by tear gas or water cannons deployed by the police. It has meant for many a very unpleasant beginning to what should be a thoroughly enjoyable carnival of football.

With a few honourable exceptions, the knee-jerk first response of many in the media and in politics has been once again to cast blame on us, lazily or to suit their own agenda falling back on out-of-date stereotypes about English hooligans abroad.

Whatever the history – and there has been plenty in years gone by which earned us a negative reputation – this time, those accusations are wide of the mark.

We’re not claiming that all England supporters are angels. While the big majority of us come and party in the real spirit of football, making new friends as we go, there are still a number among us who drink maybe more than is wise, or who sing songs that aren’t to everyone’s taste. But what we can say with confidence is that to the best of our knowledge, none of the many violent incidents that took place in Marseille during our time there were initiated by England fans.

We have witnessed groups coming together – sometimes Russian hooligans, sometimes Marseille ultras, sometimes simply gangs of local youths – with the deliberate aim of attacking England fans eating and drinking in and outside bars and restaurants or making our way to the game. Some of them have been tooled up, some of them have had their faces masked, but all of them have been intent on starting trouble and initiating violence.

The attacks have often been brutal, and in that context, we can hardly condemn those England fans who were left with little option but to defend themselves and in some cases their families. But of course those are often the images that end up on TV and are used out of context to demonise England fans. The media talk of “clashes” between fans, as if there were two groups determined to confront each other. That wasn’t what happened here.

These were cowardly attacks on groups that included families, on innocent people minding their own business and trying to enjoy the tournament. That kind of behaviour and its perpetrators have no place in football, and it’s with these people that the blame for the Marseille events clearly belongs.

That these attacks were allowed to happen at all raises crucial questions about the role of the French police. Surely the first responsibility of a police force in a country hosting a tournament is to make sure that those who have come to enjoy it can do so in safety, protected of course as far as possible from terrorism, but also from attacks by local thugs or visiting hooligans?

And yet we have witnessed these groups come together to prepare their assaults on crowds of fans while the police watch and let it happen. If they can see a potential problem developing before their eyes, why do they do nothing to stop them getting near their target?

Time after time, the first intervention of the French police has been to use tear gas and then water cannons. It’s in the nature of tear gas that it doesn’t discriminate between perpetrators and passers-by, between attackers and victims, and it often lands when the villains of the piece have already run off – leaving those who have just been attacked or in the vicinity with eyes stinging and streaming, and struggling to breathe.

The other consequence of this police approach is that while it may look dramatic and effective, with people running for cover, it actually leaves the hooligans free to fight again another day. None of them are arrested, they get to slope off and re-group ready for their next assault, or to travel to their next venue.

All the trouble on the streets of Marseille was then followed by the appalling scenes inside the ground at the end of the game: illegal pyrotechnics, a huge banger, political and far-right flags, and then finally the frontal assault on England fans in the adjacent blocks – a neutral sector containing also French fans and many family groups. All of it entirely unacceptable.

At Euro 2000, the England team were threatened with exclusion from the tournament because of the behaviour of our fans – and yet the problems we admittedly did generate then were small beer compared to what has unfolded with the Russian hooligans over the last few days.

We opposed the expulsion of England from Euro 2000 on the grounds that to expel the team would be to punish the majority of fans as much, and arguably even more, that the guilty minority – and we would argue the same principle applies to any threat to expel Russia from the tournament now. Any sanction should isolate and punish the perpetrators; the majority of fans are part of the solution, not the problem.

One significant difference however is that after Euro 2000 and that expulsion threat, there was a concerted effort in England, involving everyone across the game including government, police, the FA and fans’ organisations, to address the problems that we had. This resulted among other things in new laws and the creation of football banning orders, and it worked: the result has been, over time, a huge improvement in the behaviour and reputation of England fans, which has seen us rightly praised on more than one occasion for our contribution to a tournament’s atmosphere.

If Russia wants to be taken seriously as a football nation, competing in and indeed even hosting major international tournaments, then surely there has to be some serious action taken within Russia to stop their thug element carrying out these cowardly violent attacks? As things stand now, the prospect of a World Cup in Russia looks less appealing than ever.

Maybe that’s for the future. But now, with immediate effect, we need the French authorities to ensure that England fans are able to enjoy Euro 2016 in the carnival mood at which we excel, safe from aggression and encouraged to party.

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Read the full FSF statement on attacks on English fans in Marseille: https://t.co/B8ZL0cnOQm #Euro2016 https://t.co/YuTdUPQ8ud
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Imre varadi and Lord Snooty like this post
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#96
I agree with St Charles Owl that, if, as I suggest England simply withdraw now for the good of sport, that does run the risk that in future other countries might try to get us to do it again by mounting attacks similar to those that have been happening, BUT if you don't go there and act like arseholes in the first place then you become neither a target, nor a thug.

INNOCENT BYSTANDER ATTACKED IN HOTEL BEDROOM BY RUSSIAN ULTRAS -

- It ain't going to happen.

We withdraw from this tournament. We actually win a lot of admiration. Next time we make it to a tournament (and the authorities will probably be daft enough to penalise us for withdrawing this time) even our divviest fans will get the message.

What do some of our football fans think they are doing? Do they imagine it is acceptable to the French people hosting the tournament for them to be drunk, chanting mindlessly and smashing bottles at any hour of day and night? If I want to hear some chanting I'll climb a fcuknig mountain in Bhutan.

We are behaving as if we think we have the right to colonise France. Their feelings don't matter, when in fact they are welcoming fans from all over Europe to their country, they are staging a tournament for us all to enjoy and deserve our gratitude and good behaviour. (If they choose to use Riot Police that is what they do, it is their country, we follow their rules.)

Would you go round to your Uncle's house for tea and smash his tea service against the flying ducks? So why do we offer any kind of understanding to these people?

I only just read Wakey Terrier's excellent piece after writing the above. Lots of innocents obviously have been caught up in what happened, and I've no sympathy with the creation of media storms, BUT unless we believe INNOCENT ENGLAND FANS ON QUIET NIGHT OUT ATTACKED SEVERAL TIMES IN MARSEILLES we learn nowt. White men go abroad and treat the world to behaviour they know is unpleasant and wrong. They don't offer the French much respect or thanks. If you add baking powder and stir it is going to rise and that's the trouble. Who is fairly innocent, slightly or obviously guilty is largely irrelevant. I've a feeling if all the England fans were as capable of putting together a piece as Wakey Terrier for whom I've loads of respect we'd not be hearing about any trouble at all ......... but that's snobbish and elitist of me.

One final thought, allowing the Russians to host 2018 will be a recipe for disaster ......... but ask yourself why would you even go other than a deathwish?
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#97
I suggest you read the FSF statement I posted above
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#98
Why?? we have all seen the England fans violence,no matter who started it they are only to happy to oblige.

You had a look at the link I posted in #98 Wakey,that xxxx should be taken and have the shite kicked out him by his own fans.
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#99
Sounds to me like the French can't cope, what with the ISIS threat and now this.
Imre varadi likes this post
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Good comments again Devon and 'spot on'. When you visit another country, even for a game of footie, you respect the culture and the people/authorities who are welcoming you to their town/city! That code of behaviour has never been followed by certain factions of England fans and you clearly recognise that fact as well. I noticed that a previous poster made an unwarranted 'pop' at Scotland and it's fans (we're deservedly not there anyway!) but indeed, even though the Scotland int team is piss poor these days, the travelling reputation of it's fans has been excellent for decades. Indeed, the last time Scotland played in a major tourney, it was in France '98 and the city of Bordeaux formally recognised the Tartan Army in it's party spirit (win or lose) and issued a city award to them before they left - that's the good code of conduct that you are alluding to! Compare that scenario with the mess/damage that has been left behind in Marseilles!!! Thumb down
I dread what is coming next for England and it's fans as, bizarrely, many of them are being directed to Lille by UEFA and that's where Russia is playing it's next game v Slovakia and apparently there is talk of England fans seeking retribution!! Rolleyes As said previously, ban them if this situ escalates again and protect the Euro tourney from further damage!!
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