Violence from European football ultras towards English supporters has reported to have increased when English sides take on European opponents in UEFA competitions. We take a look at the situation.
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00:00 In the 1970s and 80s, football hooliganism was rife in this country, ravaging the streets
00:11 around stadiums and the terraces. And whilst football violence in this country has reduced
00:16 since then, on the continent, a new wave of football ultras are taking over that unwanted
00:23 reputation. For example, earlier in the year, when Newcastle supporters were in Milan, one
00:30 unfortunate fan was stabbed whilst walking back to his hotel. And whilst no ultra group
00:36 of AC Milan has claimed responsibility for the incident, the supporter did miss the match
00:42 at the San Siro the following evening. Furthermore, other incidents such as Newcastle supporters
00:48 being attacked in Paris and Legia Warsaw supporters causing violence before their game against
00:55 Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League show that the problem is starting to become
01:00 more prominent.
01:07 The Daily Mail's Adam Patel wrote recently that unlike in years gone by, it is not so
01:12 much English fans misbehaving when abroad, but gangs of attention-seeking ultras who
01:18 align themselves with European clubs that are now the frightening norm, making life
01:23 incredibly uncomfortable for real fans. Football hooliganism expert Geoff Pearson commented
01:30 that English fans have been attacked pretty much wherever they've gone in Europe. So,
01:37 why is this? Well, as noted by Patel in his article, according to author James Montagu,
01:43 the one who actually surrounded himself in the culture of football ultras, the far right
01:48 of the political spectrum has become ingrained in this culture as a way of perpetuating extreme
01:54 ideologies that go hand in hand with violence. Policing this can require huge operations
02:00 and intelligence as to how events might unfold. UEFA, the governing body of European football,
02:07 have not yet acted to try and quash this issue. And with more European fixtures set to be
02:13 played next week, we look more into the ultra culture when European teams come to play opponents
02:20 in this country. For now though, it seems that the ultra culture of European football
02:31 is here to stay. This will be a worry to football supporters who simply want to watch their
02:37 team play in the biggest UEFA competitions, with no intentions of being involved in violence.
02:44 Whilst ultras themselves might argue that they show the highest possible levels of passion
02:48 for their teams, others would say that causing violence and disorder over a football match
02:55 is never warranted, and that they should stick to simply watching the game like the rest
03:01 of the fan bases.
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