Past Hooliganistic Behaviour Comes Back to Haunt the English

Hooliganism in England is reported to have started as far back as 1880 when "Roughs" would attack referees and away team players, yet it was not until the 1960s that Football hooliganism grew to become a major part of society’s moral panic which was present at the time.

As travelling to away matches became more popular, supporters began to organise themselves into large gangs to intimidate opposition fans and it became common-place for fights to break out during a game.

Football gangs—or firms—started to appear up and down the country at many high profile clubs, gaining popularity and notoriety within society. After two major incidents during the seventies, crowd segregation and fencing at football grounds in England was introduced.

This led to football hooligans moving away from the stadiums and into the streets, arranging fights against rival firms in secluded areas, away from the watchful eye of the authorities.

As the problem of football related violence and large scale riots increased during the eighties, the Prime Minister created a war cabinet in order to eradicate the seemingly out of control hooliganism issue.

One particular incident that is seen as a major contributing factor towards the negative aspect of English football supporters was The European Cup final of 1985. The event took place in Brussels between Liverpool and Juventus.

It was reported that some Liverpool supporters charged a group of rival fans they believed to be the Juventus hooligan firm, breaking through a police barricade as they moved towards them.

The Juventus supporters—mostly made up of families and neutral fans—retreated to an unstable section of the stadium that resulted in a crumbling wall collapsing and killing 39 people.

This led to international outrage and a ban for English clubs in all European competitions.

After the disaster in Brussels and a previous incident earlier that year where riots between supporters led to the death of a 15 year old boy, a government report suggested that football may not be able to continue in its present form much longer, unless hooliganism was reduced.

The idea of banning away supporters from football matches was even considered.

The Football Spectators Act was introduced in 1989 after 96 supporters lost their lives during the Hillsborough disaster. Although the incident was not a direct result of football hooliganism, the act was brought in to ensure the safety of crowds and the good practice of authorities during football matches.

Crowd trouble at games has decreased a great deal since the act has been in place, however the violence and organised fights between supporters continued away from the stadiums and within surrounding areas, as well as hooliganism worsening at tournaments abroad.

This lead to the English National team being threatened with expulsion from the European tournament of 2000, due to the behaviour of a large group of travelling English supporters.

Although it is a problem that has been seen around the world, many European countries have, for some time now, considered the United Kingdom to have had the earliest and most severe trouble with football hooliganism—England is the only country to have had all its domestic teams banned from European tournaments.

Over the last few years, a considerable improvement has been shown from travelling supporters—compared to the hundreds of fans that were deported during the European tournament of 2000.

Despite the outdated view of English supporters from its European counterparts, Home Office statistics show that only five English supporters were arrested at games abroad last year.

The Football Supporters Federation has reported that, in a surprise U-Turn, English supporters are now the target of football violence from rival fans.

However, due to the stereotype that has been created over the last 30 years, foreign police departments consider that the English are still the cause of any violence that takes place—mostly ignoring any idea that maybe they are instead, the victims.

The Football Supporters Federation suggest that travelling supporters need better protection from foreign police, as it appears that rival fans are singling out the English in order to make a name for themselves—if they beat the reputedly violent English, then the rival fans will become more notorious as a group.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has said that the English supporters will be singled out by foreign hooligan groups who consider them to be the "ultimate" hooligans. The threat of violence during football games in other countries is now aimed at the English fans.

The United Kingdom has lead the way in the development of control measurements with regards to football hooliganism. Technology and banning orders are two successful aspects that have played a major part in tackling the problem—with high quality C.C.T.V. assisting in the arrests of several supporters over the recent racial abuse of a player in England.

The European Commission has recently given the green light for a multi-million pound, pan-European football police training programme. This will aim to educate police departments from other countries in how best to deal with supporters, maintaining a consistency in handling football related violence across Europe.

These new steps will hopefully remove the reputation that has been assosciated with English football supporters for many years.