THE EUROS

[hallamblue]

Daft thing is I cant help wonder uf Britain wanting to exit Europe has just stoked up yet more "anti-English". Lets face it the Frence have hated our guts since Medievel times...100years war an all that! The Russians are as bad as the Americans in trying to achieve World domination, and will attack anyone.

[Bluemike]

There is no doubt that what happened within the stadium was down to Russian fans but lets not kid ourselves, a lot of the trouble that started on Friday was without question down to English fans, a minority maybe but most clearly English, go on to You Tube and watch the proof .

[marko69]

Can you imagine being at a match with the wife and kids and being attacked by idiots!

Take the family to Ibrox for the afternoon, 9. You won't need to imagine it.

Can't see this tournament finishing if I'm honest. It's bordering anarchy out on the streets if the YouTube clips are to be believed. If a probable terror event happens, it'll be utter chaos. Praying nothing like that adds to this sh*t.

[hallamblue]

The French authorities couldnt organise a P up in a brewery. Remarkable given the IS crap thats happened in that Country in recent months. This tournament is a primary target for an attack - and they dont even search people entering the stadium. Unbelievable!

[hallamblue]

There is no doubt that what happened within the stadium was down to Russian fans but lets not kid ourselves, a lot of the trouble that started on Friday was without question down to English fans, a minority maybe but most clearly English, go on to You Tube and watch the proof .

I have been watching the News footage Mike. I thought it was the French and Russian fans attacking Englush fans? It reminded me of our walk back to the station in scum city , when their fans ambushed us. The Police turned their batons on US, while we queued to get into the station!

[Tangfastic]

There is no doubt that what happened within the stadium was down to Russian fans but lets not kid ourselves, a lot of the trouble that started on Friday was without question down to English fans, a minority maybe but most clearly English, go on to You Tube and watch the proof .

I have been watching the News footage Mike. I thought it was the French and Russian fans attacking Englush fans? It reminded me of our walk back to the station in scum city , when their fans ambushed us. The Police turned their batons on US, while we queued to get into the station!

That's a pretty one-eyed opinion.

Some Englush fans have been involved in plenty of naughtiness along the way. The Russians ( some of) appear like they planned an attack and some French gangs have also been involved.

In this situation, forget about nationalities and focus on dickheads vs decent innocent folk who want to enjoy the football and a bit of an experience.
Not a time for little englanders to get all righteous about bloody foreigners. We might get some undeserved blame for this, but some of our 'fans' are knobs and they've cracked skulls and spilt blood over the years on their travels which has got us this reputation. I feel for the folk who just went there for a good time and got caught up in it - wherever they come from.

BTW.... I lived in Norwich for 10 years. That city is actually a pretty decent place to live and not a warzone. My allegiances are with Town ... Town win, City lose.... Good weekend.... But No need to build up this anti-scum hate 'them and us' fervour..... a bit of banter usually works best.

[hallamblue]

There are groups if idiots out in France right niw from all Nations, for sure. But my point is the largest proportion of blame will be laid at England's door, like it always is. I dont hear any threats to eject France from the competition despite their filmed involvement in these street fights. Why's that then?

As for your suggestion that Im stoking up any anti norwich hatred, well thats your opinion. But I stopped going to scum vs Town matches at their place morebthan 30 yrs ago , due to the "treatment" dished out to law abiding, Town fans to and from the station. Against my better judgement I allowed myself to be pursuaded to go to the play off game there, where I witnessed yet again first hand norwich fans ambushing and attacking Town fans who were quietly making their way back to the station. Town fans ( no fan) is going to allow themselves to be attacked without attempting to defend themselves. What do the norwich police do? Turn their batons on the queue of Town fans, whilst the norwich SCUM, are kicking out at Town fans from behind the police who were now facing us.

Nothing has changed in 30yrs it seems. They will always be scum where their football fans are concerned.

[marko69]

Opinion alert:......, I don't think anyone can knowingly say how things started on Thursday purely from the press. They're full of sh*t. Equally I can't believe that England fans were standing about minding their own business whilst behaving, ....., then were blatantly attacked by French youths. Sounds like BS to me, but hopefully the truth will come out.

What annoys me slightly is a few in the media playing the victim card for England. I must admit, I do believe that some England fans were getting up to no good, being boisterous, slapping a few folk around, but then the Russians turned up late to the party and basically kicked serious fking arse......, and the focus has turned to the Russians. I think the English hard men didn't expect the size of the whoop a$$ can the Russians were going to open. But the news coverage today making out Russia to be the big enemy is slightly annoying. Not saying the Russians are the innocent party, far from it......., turning up with mouth guards is bad enough,......, but don't dish out grief (at most tournaments) then moan like fk when a$$ gets kicked.

[hallamblue]

Tbh marko, as has been said by a few others on here, all of the Countries in the Euros have their element of bad guys, and England are certainly no saints in that respect. Its just such a shame that the game / tournament will be once again spoiled by the mindless few thugs that only want to hurt other fabs because they wear a different colour shirt.

Btw, Has that England fan actually been killed though ? Id heard he'd been pushed under a train!

[marko69]

I read last night it was a French woman who was killed by the train? Was it a male England fan? Thought that'd be all over the TV news if that'd happened.

[hallamblue]

I'm sure someone said it was " an England fan" , but like you say it would have been plastered all over the press wouldn't it. I don't think the French are doing a very good crowd control effort given the expected trouble which the authorities would have no doubt got wind of prior to the tournament starting.

[marko69]

As someone else alluded to either on here, or somewhere else; high terror alert means nothing apparently. Firecrackers and smoke bomb flares in the stadium? The security certainly isn't what it should be for "high terror alert".

Although I must add........, I actually think it's bordering impossible to police this properly. Maybe someone like The Don would be the person to say just how difficult an operation this is, in the modern world.

[Bluemike]

There is no doubt that what happened within the stadium was down to Russian fans but lets not kid ourselves, a lot of the trouble that started on Friday was without question down to English fans, a minority maybe but most clearly English, go on to You Tube and watch the proof .

I have been watching the News footage Mike. I thought it was the French and Russian fans attacking Englush fans? It reminded me of our walk back to the station in scum city , when their fans ambushed us. The Police turned their batons on US, while we queued to get into the station!

That's a pretty one-eyed opinion.

Some Englush fans have been involved in plenty of naughtiness along the way. The Russians ( some of) appear like they planned an attack and some French gangs have also been involved.

In this situation, forget about nationalities and focus on dickheads vs decent innocent folk who want to enjoy the football and a bit of an experience.
Not a time for little englanders to get all righteous about bloody foreigners. We might get some undeserved blame for this, but some of our 'fans' are knobs and they've cracked skulls and spilt blood over the years on their travels which has got us this reputation. I feel for the folk who just went there for a good time and got caught up in it - wherever they come from.

BTW.... I lived in Norwich for 10 years. That city is actually a pretty decent place to live and not a warzone. My allegiances are with Town ... Town win, City lose.... Good weekend.... But No need to build up this anti-scum hate 'them and us' fervour..... a bit of banter usually works best.

That for me is totally right, where these bastards come from is beginning to plae into insignificance, there are decent people from all nations currently having what should have been a fantastic experience turned into a living and very dangerous nightmare, imagine if you bloody lived there and saw all this going on too !!! Absolutely bloody horrific if you have a young family.

[Charnwood]

Marseille is one of the poorer cities in France and does have a reputation for drugs, violence and shootings and as a result of this has an aggressive policing policy. Given the reputation of our fans it's unfortunate that England's Euro 2016 campaign started here as I'm sure their will have been local gangs who welcomed the challenge of our hooligans and saw it simply as a bit of sport. I guess once it had kicked off the Russian hooligans simply wanted to show their superior fighting skills and thuggish behaviour and herewith began the battle of Marseille.

For me the biggest worry is the safety of the good fans who get caught up in it when all they want is to enjoy the tournament and savour the atmosphere.

With the Russian & English fans both moved on it will be interesting to see if either following cause problems at their next destination, sadly they may again attract local interest although the opposition fans in both of the next games will be less hostile and unlikely to attract violence.

The root of much of our problems is our British drinking culture which doesn't exist in the same way in most European Countries (except maybe Germany).. unfortunately drunk fans become overly boisterous and often aggressive and European police aren't very tolerant of it and often overreact.

Alcohol free zones around the grounds could be the answer but who wants to go to the footie without the pre and post match pint!

[herforder]

The next potential flashpoint comes on Wednesday/Thursday, in Lille and Lens. Russian, Welsh and England supporters in huge numbers, and in close proximity. A situation brought about by UEFA's scheduling.

The law-abiding (majority) invaraibly become the victims, when caught up in the mayhem caused by those whose sole intention is to inflict violence and fear. Have some sympathy for the French police and security services, who have a huge task to handle, heightened by the ever present terrorist threat. However, I think there's a difference between the levels of response required to deal with alcohol-fuelled skirmishes in local bars, and that needed to prevent and contain organised, large scale, violence within stadiums - as seen on Saturday. No easy solutions; but a start would be to prevent individuals from known organised groups, eg Russian Ultras, masquerading as supporters, from travelling. That's down to national security services cooperating effectively. Easier said than done.

[Quasar]

Also i believe a load of English Thugs, have got their bans lifted this year and will be causing a scene, idiots like these should have been banned for life.

[The Don]

There is a lot of scapegoating going on in the media at the minute, people will view footage and make their own minds up obviously. I spoke to a friend of mine the other day that was in the area it went off. The general view is that due to our past reputation, we as a country have been targeted by these ultras. As usual, it's the British hooligans that are being "headlined", when most of the time it has been in retaliation to what has been started by local gangs in Marseille or Russians.

There a fantastic picture from the game Friday that shows some of the Russian fans breaking into the English area. Not one of our fans looks to be reacting, rather parents and kids trying to get away as quick as possible.

What worries me most, is that after 2 terror attacks in France over the past year, you would hope that they were prepared for something to be thrown at them. It appears that they are struggling to contain the like of Dave and his pals from Basildon. It's worryingly laughable.

[marko69]

I'd like to see the wee guy in The French border control faced by some big hairy arsed Russian Ultra....,
"So, where you heading?"
"GOING TO ZEE FUTBOL, OPEN ZEE FAWKIN GATE, BAASTAAD!"
"There you go, have a good time with your chums!"

[number 9]

Russian MP says "job well done" to his ultra compatriots...and this is the country hosting the next WC? Further, hooligans don't give a sh*t if England and Russia are disqualified from the Euros. Come on UEFA...is that all you've got?!

Back to football, who do we play next again?...I've been distracted by the kicking and punching.

[hallamblue]

Wales....a must win game

[Bluemike]

Fantastic strike by Wes Hoolahan, 1-0 Republic.

[marko69]

Best game so far. Can't take yer eyes off it.

[marko69]

HOOLAHANS ON FIRE.....
THEIR DEFENCE IS TERRIFIED....

[marko69]

Irish goal fired them up. Was Swedish pressure past ten mins.

[arana peligrosa]

Tried to say something but decided in the better interest to edit. Sometimes you got to bite your f**king tongue, and it's a pity as never once was this tentative. Guess some things aren't worth the trouble at the end of it all.

Got news of the threats of expulsion for both the English and Russians after the behavior incidents in France, but there's no chance this will be carried through. Merely an empty threat to provide a story for some sub-standard news publication, there's more chance of the English winning the damn competition than being forced home. Furthermore, the loss of 50 lives in the Florida atrocity just recently puts some level of world perspective over a handful of inebriated fools in Marseille providing sporadic acts of questionable behavior.

Only in the first week of competition and apparently no-one has stood out above all others and while would favor a surprise winner such as we had with Greece in 2004, the chances of an upset of that magnitude this time around would seem very distant indeed. Irish played well today, the own goal was unfortunate but the team at times showed flair and creativity and with a favorable record over Italy and a Belgian squad nowhere near past achievement, the opportunity is there in the two games ahead to go on and reach the elimination stages.

[hallamblue]

Russian team now on a suspended ejection from the Euros due to their fans and the violence they had instigated. The French police , IMO "bottled" it ( excuse the pun), when dealing with tge violence in Marselle . I dont think any of the 150 highly organised Russian gang were arrested. The French just chucked tear gas at the brawl and then arrested the English fans. UEAFs judgement seems to at last focus on the real instigators of all this violence.

Next game will bd a big test for ALL the fans. I just hope our lot bloody behave themselves!

[herforder]

Apparently some Russian hooligans have been deported; whilst 6 English supporters have been gaoled! None of the 150 Russian Ultras have been caught.

The suspended ejection ban applies to Russian violence inside the stadium in Marseille - not in and around the city. Let's hope the French authorities have learned the lessons for Lillle and Lens fixtures; particularly in terms of proper searches for flares and fireworks, and effective segregation.

Just a pity that all of this spoils what should be a cracking soccer tournament. Germany, Italy and Spain all looking ominously good!

[marko69]

Italians were immense last night. Great game of football. All 3 games yesterday were superb.

[hallamblue]

It seems the Welsh and English fans are uniting and singing together regarding Russians "go home"!

[herforder]

It seems the Welsh and English fans are uniting and singing together regarding Russians "go home"!

Translated as Fuckoffski!