NY Coed Soccer

Hammers Fans In Night Of Violence

At least 20 West Ham fans were arrested and another six injured after "a huge battle" with Palermo supporters in Sicily last night. The violence started around midnight and continued for more than an hour as rival groups threw bottles and chairs at each other in Palermo's Teatro Massimo. Palermo police spokesman Virgilio Alberelli said 500 people were involved in the brawl, and when officers tried to break it up they also came under missile attack. One eyewitness told Guardian Unlimited: "West Ham fans behaved like animals, roaming the streets, bottles in hand searching for anyone to fight":  Violence

World Cup Focus: Hooligans

More than 3,000 English football hooligans were required to hand over their passports to police by 5pm on Tuesday to prevent them travelling to the World Cup. The deadline was set for 3,286 people currently subject to football banning orders, who were required to submit their travel documents at their local police station.

They will also be required to attend a police station each time England play during the tournament.

A huge security operation will also be launched at UK ports and airports ahead of the tournament and police have a watchlist of fans who are not subject to banning orders but against whom they have intelligence. Bryan Drew, head of the UK Football Policing Unit, said officers would use all powers available to them to stop high risk supporters leaving the country.

"We've put a lot of effort into working with our German colleagues to say let's get this right," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

Police hope banning orders will prevent the hard core of hooligans from travelling to Germany, although hundreds of orders have lapsed over the last year and those fans will be able to go. Those who are subject to banning orders and who fail to comply with travel restrictions could face six months in jail and fines of up to £5,000.

And Crown Prosecution Service lawyers will be travelling to Germany to liaise with local courts when English trouble-makers are charged. They will send back paperwork from German police stations and courts which will be used to obtain banning orders when convicted fans return home.

© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2006

The Face of English Football

Actor Ray Winstone is seen as the right man for the job of persuading English fans to behave this summer. And we're not going to argue:  Ray Winstone

Violence Escalates Into Gunplay

You're in Argentina and you hear a fan scream "shoot!" Unfortunately, it may not be directed at a player on the field. Get ready to dive for cover…  Argentine soccer fans' gunfight injures 15, 123 arrested

Biggest World Cup Threats: Neo-Nazis and English Hooligans

Whether right-wing radicals, or English hooligans, Germany is putting in place a major security operation to guard the World Cup from terrorism and thuggery.  Germany is admiting that of particular concern are the estimated 100,000 England fans who are expected to travel to the country. 

England fans have a reputation for violent behaviour abroad, including at previous European championships and the 1998 World Cup in France. Some also cultivate a particular rivalry with Germany, egged on by some media which still hark back to the two world wars.

British authorities are doing their part by having "barred 3,200 known troublemakers from traveling to Germany during the tournament, and sending four prosecutors and 44 uniformed police officers to assist the hosts in dealing with any disruptions."

Germany alert for far-right disruption to World Cup

The Slammer

Most conventional lodgings in Germany may be booked, but if you're a soccer hooligan, Hamburg will have 150 beds just for you.  And a nice man with black leather gloves and a baton will even escort you there.  No word yet on whether these rooms, um, jail cells, will be outfitted with High Definition Plasma TVs.

Jail for Cup hooligans in the works

Stabbings in Rome

Ahead of this evening's UEFA Cup second leg between Middlesbrough and Roma, violence erupts leaving English supporters in the hospital.

"These people were carrying sticks, they had axes, we later discovered they had knives, they had firecrackers and paper firebombs." English fans are stabbed in Rome

Political Own Goal

Politicians really should learn to think before talking. But they don't. And fans are left stereotyped.  Just a few qoutables:

“When the Iranians arrive we will take a very close look to make sure there are no religious fanatics among them." & “I don’t see why we need to tolerate savages and idiots.” Soundbites leave fans stereotyped

Germany Set to Receive More Than a Little Polish

While we refuse to make cheap references to World War 2 in the run-up to the World Cup, we couldn't help but see the irony in the legions of marauding Poles set to invade Germany this summer.

"It was the middle of the night and pitch black," Berlin's police spokesman Kai Nolle explained. "The hooligans then started beating each other up with clubs. By the time we got there a lot of people had been injured, several of them badly. There was loads of blood.  New breed of hooligan slips under the net