Post by Neko Bazu on Jun 26, 2007 13:16:25 GMT -1
www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2450359,00.html
So English fans are unfairly treated because of the past and because we tend to drink a lot - fair enough, I agree entirely with that statement.
But wtf?
Words just do not describe...
UEFA have admitted English fans have sometimes been "unfairly targeted" by foreign police prejudice in the past.
European football's governing body embraced a Government proposal on Monday to increase stewarding and limit the use of riot police in matches on the Continent.
UEFA director of communications William Gaillard told BBC Radio Five Live: "I understand the feelings of English fans and it's true that sometimes they are probably unfairly targeted because of the past and because of lingering memories of what happened in the 1980s."
However, Gaillard insisted the drinking culture among many English supporters had also contributed to recent crowd trouble in European games.
He said: "It is also true that such patterns of behaviour of English fans abroad cause problems that are different from the problems caused by foreign fans.
"Drinking, for example, is often absent in southern Europe. In southern Europe, you have another type of violence, linked often to extremist political movements or racist groups, which are really serious problems.
"But some southern European police forces are just not used to fans that have been drinking a bit too much.
"It's a different way to celebrate, if you like."
UEFA yesterday agreed to series of new security arrangements at European matches after several instances of crowd trouble involving English fans last season.
A review by the Home Office has been completed, which also included recommendations to develop pan-European training for stadium safety officers, stewards and police.
It follows problems involving Manchester United fans in Lens and Rome, Tottenham supporters in Seville and Liverpool fans at the Champions League final in Athens.
Gaillard believes the solution to such problems is far from straightforward.
He added: "The issue of stewarding, which is much more developed in the UK in general than on the Continent - or at least in some parts of the Continent like the south and the south east - of course deserves a lot of attention.
"But one has to also take into account that even when stewards accompany fans abroad, they are in a different environment and also in a stadium that they don't really know and also with fans they don't really know.
"What works beautifully in most English stadia is that the stewards are always stewarding the same area of the stadium and they know the fans by their first name. That makes things a lot easier.
"It's a question of both sides understanding where the other is coming from."
However, Gaillard insisted such tolerance should not be extended to those who partake in racist chanting, which reared its head at the recent European Under-21 Championships.
He said: "There should be no tolerance to racism.
"In north western Europe, the issue has disappeared - at least, it has been repressed so hard."
Gaillard believes Serbia - whose fans racially abused England players at the tournament in Holland - is still struggling to recover from the effect of the 1990s Balkan conflict and conceded this may have fostered racist attitudes.
But he added: "It means we have to do work with these people."
European football's governing body embraced a Government proposal on Monday to increase stewarding and limit the use of riot police in matches on the Continent.
UEFA director of communications William Gaillard told BBC Radio Five Live: "I understand the feelings of English fans and it's true that sometimes they are probably unfairly targeted because of the past and because of lingering memories of what happened in the 1980s."
However, Gaillard insisted the drinking culture among many English supporters had also contributed to recent crowd trouble in European games.
He said: "It is also true that such patterns of behaviour of English fans abroad cause problems that are different from the problems caused by foreign fans.
"Drinking, for example, is often absent in southern Europe. In southern Europe, you have another type of violence, linked often to extremist political movements or racist groups, which are really serious problems.
"But some southern European police forces are just not used to fans that have been drinking a bit too much.
"It's a different way to celebrate, if you like."
UEFA yesterday agreed to series of new security arrangements at European matches after several instances of crowd trouble involving English fans last season.
A review by the Home Office has been completed, which also included recommendations to develop pan-European training for stadium safety officers, stewards and police.
It follows problems involving Manchester United fans in Lens and Rome, Tottenham supporters in Seville and Liverpool fans at the Champions League final in Athens.
Gaillard believes the solution to such problems is far from straightforward.
He added: "The issue of stewarding, which is much more developed in the UK in general than on the Continent - or at least in some parts of the Continent like the south and the south east - of course deserves a lot of attention.
"But one has to also take into account that even when stewards accompany fans abroad, they are in a different environment and also in a stadium that they don't really know and also with fans they don't really know.
"What works beautifully in most English stadia is that the stewards are always stewarding the same area of the stadium and they know the fans by their first name. That makes things a lot easier.
"It's a question of both sides understanding where the other is coming from."
However, Gaillard insisted such tolerance should not be extended to those who partake in racist chanting, which reared its head at the recent European Under-21 Championships.
He said: "There should be no tolerance to racism.
"In north western Europe, the issue has disappeared - at least, it has been repressed so hard."
Gaillard believes Serbia - whose fans racially abused England players at the tournament in Holland - is still struggling to recover from the effect of the 1990s Balkan conflict and conceded this may have fostered racist attitudes.
But he added: "It means we have to do work with these people."
So English fans are unfairly treated because of the past and because we tend to drink a lot - fair enough, I agree entirely with that statement.
But wtf?
"Drinking, for example, is often absent in southern Europe. In southern Europe, you have another type of violence, linked often to extremist political movements or racist groups, which are really serious problems[...]
"It's a different way to celebrate, if you like."
"It's a different way to celebrate, if you like."
Words just do not describe...
One by one the penguins steal my sanity.
