Season 11/12 - January

Russia: Free fight - 08/01/2012

Source : https://www.youtube.com

Volkssturm (Khimki) vs Looking Back + Hollywood crew (CHS)

Khimki won.

9 vs 9

Pas Giannina - Panathinaikos - 15/01/2012

Source : http://www.sentragoal.gr

Kitwe based West Africans fear soccer hooligans may attack again - 16/01/2012

Source : http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/?p=29436

The Senegalese and Malian communities in the Zambian copper belt city of Kitwe are apprehensive ahead of Saturday’s 2012 Africa Nations Cup Group B game between Zambia and Senegal.

In 2005, Zambian football fans rioted and damaged a Mosque and private property belonging to West African’s in Bulangililo Township in Kitwe after Chipolopolo lost 1-0 at home to Senegal in a 2006 World/Africa Cup qualifier played up the road in Chililabombwe at Konkola Stadium.

The West African community of mainly Muslims from Mali and Senegal in the township fear a second revenge attack should Senegal beat Zambia in their opening Africa Cup game on January 21 in Bata.

“We don’t know what will happen if Senegal beat Zambia next week,” Mamadou Sidibe told the Sunday edition of Zambia’s biggest independent daily The Post Newspaper.

“Sometimes you even start praying that your team loses or at least draw against Zambia just to safeguard our property and our lives here in Zambia.”

Last September, Kitwe’s emigrant community of predominately West Africans again witnessed as that same Mosque in Bulangililo was extensively damaged in a riot.

This time it was over allegations that a wealthy West African Kitwe-based businessman was bankrolling the former ruling party headed by ex-President Rupiah Banda, who subsequently lost to Michael Sata in the September 20 polls.

Meanwhile, Kitwe Mayor Chileshe Bweupe said at a ceremony to mark the refurbishment of the Mosque last week that the West African community’s security will be guaranteed, win or lose, this weekend.

“Zambia are good people and let me also take this opportunity to appeal to Zambians to resist from demolishing this Mosque whenever there is a perceived difference because both Muslims and Christians are God’s creation,” Bweupe said.

Kitwe’s huge Malian and Senegalese community came to the city in the late 70′s during a gold-rush for Emeralds discovered in the copper-rich area.

The city is also the hot bed of Zambian football with two of the nation’s most supported teams Nkana and Power Dynamos based there and also lays claim to the country’s biggest local derby.

Spain: CD Vecindario - CD Tenerife - 15/01/2012

Source : http://www.laopinion.es

Frente Blanquiazul Tenerife

Spain: Algeciras CF - San Fernando - 15/01/2012

Source : http://www.algecirascf.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=786:lamentable-comportamiento-de-la-aficion-del-san-fernando-cd-&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

Sporting Portugal - FC Porto - 07/01/2012

Source : YouTube

Arrests over Dundee-Hamilton Academicals match disorder - 16/01/2012

Source : BBC News

Four people have been arrested over disorder which broke out after a football match six weeks ago.

Violence allegedly flared between "small groups" of fans on 3 December in Hamilton, after Dundee beat Hamilton Academicals 6-1.

Four men - aged 26, 21, 20 and 18 - were arrested in Dundee on Friday morning, the Football Co-ordination Unit for Scotland (Focus) said.

The men are due to appear in Hamilton Sheriff Court later.

The arrests followed a joint operation between officers from the newly-formed Focus, Strathclyde Police and Tayside Police. Fans of both teams were said to be involved in the alleged violence.

Supt David Brand, of Focus, said: "This operation again demonstrates the close working partnership between the new national unit and Scottish forces to eradicate violence and disorder at football matches across Scotland.

"It also sends a clear message to offenders that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated and through post investigations, we will attempt to identify and arrest those responsible.

"We will continue working in close liaison with our colleagues across Scotland to crack down on those minority fans that are intent in engaging in this type of behaviour."

CCTV hunt for SAFC and NUFC soccer yobs - 17/01/2011

Source : http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk

THESE suspected soccer yobs are being hunted after rival football fans clashed on a packed train.

A brawl erupted between Newcastle United and Sunderland supporters as Toon fans were making their way back to the North East from a match.

The fracas broke out on a Manchester to Newcastle service shortly after the Magpies’ away fixture against Manchester City on November 19.

Sunderland were playing Fulham at home that day, but a group of Black Cats’ supporters are believed to have boarded the train at York.

Shocked passengers called police as about 20 thugs began fighting on the train as it left York station at 7.20pm.

Several frightened passengers were forced to leave the train as a result of the violence.

Now officers have put out an appeal for anyone who knows the men pictured in these CCTV images to come forward.

Investigating officer DC Wayne Green said: “On that afternoon, Newcastle United had been playing away at Manchester City and fans were travelling back by train.

“A number of Sunderland fans are believed to have boarded the service at York when the confrontation occurred.

“There were a large number of passengers on the service who feared for their safety following the actions of this group.

“A number of them left the train early at Northallerton as a result of the disturbance.

“Enquiries have been ongoing to trace the men involved and I am now releasing CCTV images of men we believe will have information which can assist the investigation.

“Incidents such as this are extremely rare on the rail network which is generally a very safe environment in which to travel.

“We will not tolerate incidents such as this – passengers and rail staff have the right to travel without being subjected to this type of behaviour.”

Last month it was revealed Newcastle supporters feature among the top three in a league of shame for violent disorder.

Although new figures show the number of people arrested for football-related disorder fell to a record low last season, Newcastle supporters still hold the third highest number of banning orders in the Premier League, with a total of 98.

Sunderland have a total of 53 banning orders – 25 being handed out last season. Middlesbrough have received 73, with 24 of those being handed out the previous year.

Chief Supt Dave Pryer, head of Northumbria Police’s operations command, said: “People in the North East are passionate about football and turn out in their thousands every week.

“However, there are a small minority of people for whom football is an opportunity for criminal behaviour. These are the ones we target to prevent them from spoiling the enjoyment of others.”

Romania: Highjacked protests in Bucharest distort democracy - 17/01/2012

Source : Setimes.com + Reuters

A nationwide protest over the past four days against austerity measures and a controversial draft law on the health system was marred after the peaceful demonstrations turned into chaos due to involvement of gangs of football hooligans.

Sunday night (January 15th) saw the worst violence in downtown Bucharest since the fall of communism, with shops vandalised and more than 30 people hospitalised.

Protesters tore out benches, destroyed bus stops, broke shop windows and set cars on fire, throwing stones and petards at the gendarmes who fought back with tear gas. One gendarme was severely injured after being hit in the head by a chunk of curbstone. Almost 150 people have so far been arrested under various charges, some of them in possession of non-lethal weapons and drugs.

The demonstrations started in Bucharest in a show of support for Palestinian-born Dr Raed Arafat, founder of the SMURD emergency service, who resigned last week as ministry of health state undersecretary, citing opposition to a bill meant to reform the health system.

On Tuesday, Arafat said he would retain his position after the government said it would review the controversial law.

The draft law would basically lead to the privatisation of the system, allowing private insurers to manage a large part of the state health budget. Arafat, a popular public figure in Romania, argued the new system would disadvantage patients. Marches supporting him soon spread to other cities, attracting many others denouncing the government austerity measures.

But what started as a peaceful democratic manifestation soon turned into a war zone in Bucharest's University Square, the so-called "zero kilometer of the Romanian democracy", the place where the frustrated have gathered to protest over the past 21 years.

"Me and my wife came here to publicly oppose the bill on reforming the health system because we feel it may end up in the jaws of private sharks," Augustin Cozma, a pensioner, told SETimes.

"But the ultras [football fans] stole our protests and what is worse, they delegitimised it. Our claims are no longer heard because everybody is focusing on them. It is a sad thing to see a nationwide action being subdued by a pack of hooligans with no other interest but to provoke," he added.

The football fans said they took to the streets not to provoke chaos, but to protest a law which sends people who light torches at the stadiums to prisons.

"These are the very same people because of whom the stadiums in Romania are now empty. This is why one cannot take his children to a football match. They have destroyed the spirit of the Romanian football thought their violent exploits," Adrian Dobre, a sports commentator with the Sport 1 TV station, told SETimes.

"They are also the product of a permissive legislation and the consequence of a corrupt national football system dominated by rigged games over the past 20 years. This is the context in which such movements have developed," Dobre added.

Analysts agree that the message of the initial peaceful protests has been distorted.

"Peaceful protests are important for democracy. But in this case, the initial goals of the street manifestations have been high-jacked and if such violent actions carry on, the protests will lose significance," Septimius Parvu, vice-president of the leading Romanian NGO Pro-Democracy Association, told SETimes.

He said that the ultras seemed to have been very well co-ordinated Sunday night, leaving the impression someone was behind their display of force.

"Part of the blame belongs to the gendarmes who organised their troops in a flawed manner that night," Parvu also noted. On Monday evening though, the security forces seemed better organised and stifled any sign of violence.

Parvu underlined though the importance of the peaceful nationwide protests. "It is a proof it can happen."

Amid the wide public discontent, President Traian Basescu asked Prime Minister Emil Boc to withdraw the current bill on reforming the health system and draft a new one to address concerns.

Amid better co-ordinated intervention by security forces, the level of violence among protestors is down. "Peaceful protests are legitimate, but street violence is intolerable and unacceptable," Boc said on Monday morning. Later, marches in downtown Bucharest went on without major incidents.

3 German clubs fined for fans lighting fireworks - 12/01/2012

Source : AP

Three Bundesliga clubs have been fined after their fans lit firecrackers and smoke bombs during separate league and German Cup games this season.

The German football federation said Thursday that Hertha Berlin had been fined €12,000 ($15,300) after its fans set off smoke bombs during the Bundesliga game at Borussia Dortmund, fireworks in the cup match at Rot-Weiss Essen and fireworks at a league game in Kaiserslautern.

Cologne was fined €15,000 ($19,100) after supporters lit fireworks during league games in Dortmund and Stuttgart and the German Cup game at Hoffenheim.

Hamburger SV fans set off fireworks in the league game at Hannover and smoke bombs at Mainz, costing their side a €9,000 ($11,500) fine.

All three clubs agreed to pay.

Scotland: Hearts fan fined and banned from football grounds for 'offensive' gesture - 10/01/2012

Source : stv.tv

Stuart Atkinson, from East Craigs Rigg, Edinburgh, was caught by stewards monitoring the travelling fans’ behaviour.

A Hearts supporter has been banned from football matches for six months and fined £220 after making "scissor-snipping" gestures towards supporters at Tynecastle Stadium.

Stuart Atkinson, 36, from East Craigs Rigg, Edinburgh, was caught by stewards monitoring the travelling Spurs’ fans’ behaviour at the Europa Cup match in August last year.

Sheriff William Holligan was told that the stadium was full to capacity and Atkinson was sitting near the away side’s fans. He began making gestures with his hands, imitating "scissor snipping" at Tottenham fans.

Defence solicitor, Graeme Runcie, said his client had acted on an impulse in the heat of the moment during the match, where Hearts lost 5-0. Mr Runcie explained the motion, saying Tottenham Hotspur were a team associated with the Jewish culture.

Mr Runcie said Atkinson accepted he had "over-stepped the mark", but he added it had been "banter and interplay between two sets of supporters".

He said Atkinson had already suffered due to his actions. He had been a long-standing season ticket holder at Tynecastle and his £400 ticket had been suspended.

He claimed that as a result of media interest, Atkinson had lost his job as a transport manager.

Atkinson pleaded guilty to breach of the peace on December 1 in Edinburgh Sheriff Court, and sentencing was deferred until Tuesday January 10.

The charge originally contained allegations that Atkinson made anti-Semitic gestures towards Spurs’ fans.

However, the Crown agreed to remove the allegations from the charge after Atkinson agreed to admit his guilt.

Football still hasn't kicked out racism - 14/01/2012

Source : Irish Times

Racism in English soccer is back in the headlines after allegations against Chelsea’s John Terry and Liverpool’s Luis Suárez. But it has long been bubbling under, writes MARK HENNESSY , London Editor

LAST SATURDAY, as their club faced Leicester City in the third round of the FA Cup, a small group of Nottingham Forest fans stood in the club’s main stand to chant abuse at visiting fans in the Bridgford Stand. First they sang, “England, England, England”, before going on, “You’re not any more, you’re not any more, you used to be English, you’re not any more.” The 53-second clip, posted on YouTube, attracted several thousand viewers.

Ten people were arrested on the day for public-order offences, but none of them was involved in the chanting, though Nottinghamshire police have begun to scour copies of CCTV tape since the clip appeared.

Now the question is whom the chanters’ targets were: the Thai owners who took over the club in October 2010 or the Leicester fans from a city that was predicted in 2008 to become the first in Britain to have a nonwhite majority by the end of 2011. Four years ago, 40 per cent of the city’s population were from ethnic minorities; 28 per cent were Indians originally from Gujarat, Uganda or Kenya; the city also included African-Caribbeans, Somalians and Pakistanis, among others.

So far, Nottingham police superintendent Mark Holland is clear: “The incident is being treated as a hate crime. We take all reports of racism very seriously and work extremely closely with the football clubs in Nottinghamshire in a bid to kick racism out of the game.”

On many levels, football can argue that it has done much in the past couple of decades to rid football of the worst of the racism that marred the careers of late 1970s stars such as Justin Fashanu and Cyrille Regis, who had to endure monkey chants and bananas thrown on to the pitch.

The Kick It Out campaign, which began in 1993, has worked to educate youngsters on the issue, while the head of coaching development at the Professional Footballers’ Association, Paul Davis, said there “is no way near as much” abuse as there was 25 years ago.

Last season, nearly 30 million tickets were sold for league games in England, including nearly 14 million for the Premier League and nearly 10 million for the Championship. Just 42 people were arrested for racist or indecent chanting outside stadiums, and just one inside a ground.

Offenders of all sorts have faced punishment. In April 2004, the former manager Ron Atkinson was forced to quit his highly paid post as an ITV pundit after he was caught on tape describing Chelsea’s Marcel Desailly as “what is known in some schools as a f***ing lazy, thick n****r”.

Six months later, four Blackburn fans were fined and banned for up to five years for going to games after racially abusing Birmingham’s Dwight Yorke. Four years ago Plymouth fans were banned indefinitely after they made racist jibes at Watford players.

But Ellis Cashmore, professor of culture, media and sport at Staffordshire University, believes that racism never went away. Instead it went underground. “People became more circumspect, knowing that they would suffer lifetime bans if caught,” he says.

Equally, the situation has improved because British society generally became more tolerant from the the 1980s. “Back then there was a confidence that such views would be shared by the people around you,” Cashmore says. “You had the confidence of being part of the crowd. Now people would not nearly have the same confidence that their opinions would be shared by the guy sitting in the seat in front of them.”

The climate has begun to change once more, however, partly, some believe, because of the way Liverpool furiously defended Luis Suárez against charges that he had racially abused the Manchester United player Patrice Evra last October.

In a report, the Football Association banned the Uruguayan and fined him €48,000 after it accepted the Frenchman’s claims that Suárez had used the Spanish word “negro” seven times during the game, describing Suárez’s testimony as “inconsistent” and “unreliable”.

Infuriated, Liverpool’s players wore T-shirts the day after the ban was imposed, showing their support for Suárez as they came out to play against Wigan, while their manager, Kenny Daglish, told fans on Twitter they “should not let him walk alone”.

Liverpool is livid because it believes its player was convicted without proof. “It is our strongly held conviction that the Football Association and the panel it selected constructed a highly subjective case based on an accusation that was ultimately unsubstantiated. Mr Evra was deemed to be credible in spite of admitting that he himself used insulting and threatening words towards Luis and that his initial charge as to the word used was somehow a mistake,” said the club when it returned to the attack.

But Liverpool’s response – even if, arguably, the club has a case given the way the FA dealt with it – has been “misinterpreted” by some people, says Cashmore. “The perception is that it has been stubborn and has been, by implication, racist.”

Just over a week ago an Oldham player, Tom Adeyemi, was allegedly abused racially by a 20-year-old Liverpool fan, who was subsequently arrested. Afterwards, Oldham went to some lengths to praise Anfield for the way that it had cared for the upset Adeyemi.

In the past, Cashmore argues, some football fans refused to acknowledge the skills of black players, before being forced to accept the brilliance of Ruud Gullit, John Barnes and so many others. “But, on the other hand, they believe that blacks have no rights to be there. It is a warped logic.”

Welcoming the Suárez ruling, Piara Powar, the executive director of Fare, a Europe-wide organisation set up to counter racism, says that English football has dealt unsatisfactorily with the issue “despite many cases over the past 10 years. As a club with an international standing, the vehemence of their campaign is unquestionably causing them reputational harm, and has led Liverpool fans to become involved in a backlash of hatred on web forums and other public arenas.”

Cashmore believes many black footballers have kept silent for years, and credits Evra with daring to go public when others would not because they did not want to jeopardise multimillion-pound salaries or because they feared they would not be believed.

Cashmore points to the Blackburn Rovers player Jason Roberts, who has spoken about experiencing racism throughout his career, most recently half a decade ago. “Yet he wouldn’t name anyone, even though it was five years ago. Presumably, he believed that he would become a marked man, so he clammed up. Footballers think that they have to stick together.”

Unlike others, Jon Garland, a University of Leicester lecturer who has written frequently about racism in football, doubts if social networks such as Twitter are much to blame for the recent surge in cases, though others believe it has offered “the comfort of the crowd”.

He does, however, see a role for the far-right English Defence League, which is closely affiliated with Casuals United, a so-called protest group that describes itself as uniting “the UK’s Football Tribes against the Jihadists”.

“It might be the case that the confidence that the English Defence League supporters have gained from their activity on the ground might have given them more confidence to make their opinions more obviously felt at games,” he adds.

IF SOME FANS are racist, however, there is equal reason to believe that some of the clubs are institutionally racist, as just two of the 92 managers in the leagues are black, including the former Irish international Chris Hughton, now in charge of Birmingham City.

There has been talk of efforts to increase the numbers, as there was in the past, but little has changed, while the Football League, which represents all bar the top clubs, was irked when questioned about the numbers – “You’d have to ask the clubs. I wasn’t in the room when they made the appointments.”

The Football League does say it plans to do more to tackle racism: “The League has agreed to contribute towards a bursary scheme, in conjunction with other football bodies, that will help black and minority ethnic coaches to further their football qualifications and progress their career,” said a spokesman.

Prof Cashmore finds no reason to believe that change will come soon. “Football boards have very few ethnic minorities on them. That’s more likely to be the issue than the players or backroom staff. It’s an old-boys’ club that is unlikely to bring in people from outside their peer group.”

If Luis Suárez received an eight-match ban, Chelsea’s John Terry could go to jail if he is convicted of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand. He appears in court on February 1st, and already furiously rejects the charge.

Videotape exists of the exchange, although TV stations started to cover Terry’s mouth after he was charged – but nobody else on the pitch said they heard him.

Much will depend on the verdict, as an acquittal will take away much of the heat behind demands for a new drive to stamp out racism, while it could also influence the decision of black players in future to level charges.

Football racism in all its forms is now to be probed by the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee, which last year showed itself to be less than impressed with football’s debt-fuelled, money-obsessed culture.

Beginning in March with testimony from the former Liverpool player John Barnes, the inquiry may end up going nowhere; even so, Rupert Murdoch’s experience before the committee last year showed that people’s performance in front of it can damage reputations. With a global brand, it is attention that football will not want.

Croatia: stolen banners - 13/01/2012

Source : mail (thanks to the sender)

Demoni Pula have stolen 2 Tornado Zadar banners

Argentina: Man killed in Nueva Chicago hooligans clash - 18/01/2012

Source : Buenosairesherald.com + Chronofoot.com

A Nueva Chicago football club supporter was murdered this afternoon during a clash between hooligans, in the City neighbourhood of Mataderos.

The incident took place shortly after 3 pm, in the intersection of Lisandro de La Torre and San Pedro streets, a few blocks away from the Nueva Chicago stadium. The team plays in the Primera B metropolitan division.

According to sources, the fight began in the club’s pool and violence escalated until a man ended up dead. A fight had broke out between hooligans earlier, and then they clashed with police officers of 42nd police station, who had been alerted by neighbours.

Later a man who was injured during the clash was taken to the Santojanni hospital.The victim's relatives believe the injured man killed the fan, and thus entered the hospital and another fight broke out. Security personnel and police officers had to intervene.

Israeli club paying price for racist fans - 12/01/2012

Source : FoxSports

Throughout its history, the Beitar Jerusalem football club has won 13 trophies, counted prime ministers among its fans and played in numerous European competitions. One thing the club has yet to do: Include an Arab player on its roster.

As the only major Israeli team never to integrate, Beitar Jerusalem is now under heavy pressure - particularly after a series of run-ins with local football authorities over racist behavior by its fans.

That may not be easy. Club management says its hands are tied by a hardcore base of fans who wield significant clout over personnel decisions. It has even called on police to rein in the worst offenders - an infamous group known as ''La Familia.''

''We are against racism and against violence and we pay a price for our fans,'' said Assaf Shaked, a team spokesman. ''But we aren't going to bring an Arab player just to annoy the fans.''

Beitar - which has won six league championships and seven cup titles in its 76-year history - has historically been strongly aligned with Israel's nationalist right wing. Its name, Beitar, comes from the Zionist youth movement that is linked to the ruling Likud Party. For decades, the team, like the Beitar movement, viewed itself as a perennial outsider while the establishment was controlled by the dovish Labor party and its offshoot in the sports world - the various Hapoel, or ''workers,'' teams.

In 1976, Beitar finally won its first cup championship, and the following year Likud rose to power for the first time, ushering in a sea change in Israeli politics and sports. The team and its fans have since been a steady source of support for Likud politics.

A string of politicians have served as team chairman. Prime ministers with Likud roots - from Ariel Sharon to Ehud Olmert to Benjamin Netanyahu - have called themselves fans and made pilgrimages to the club's Teddy Stadium.

Beitar's fans are notoriously - and proudly - abusive toward opposing players, and routinely taunt them with racist and anti-Arab chants.

The Israeli Football Association says it has had enough. It recently ordered Beitar to play before an empty stadium and docked it two points in the standings after fans made monkey noises toward Hapoel Tel Aviv's Nigerian-born striker Toto Tamuz, a former Beitar player and fan favorite.

''Give Toto a banana!'' they shouted.

League spokesman Amir Ephrat said the Beitar fans have pushed things too far, and the team has to take a tougher stand.

''This kind of extremism has to be dealt with before it expands,'' he said. ''It has to be quashed when it is still small, because when it gets bigger it becomes a lot harder to stop.''

Beitar's history of shunning Arab players has become especially noticeable in recent seasons. Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of Israel's population, now star on the Israeli national team and on every first division team besides Beitar. This year, the league's top two goal scorers are Arabs.

The league's battle with Beitar - and the team's own struggle with its rogue fans - comes as world football is cracking down on racism.

Earlier this month, a British parliamentary committee announced it would investigate racism in sports following a number of high-profile cases. Racism cases involving players and fans are being dealt with in France, Bulgaria and Spain as well.

As the Likud party has become more mainstream after years in government, the Beitar team's die-hard fans have gone the other direction.

In 2005, the ''La Familia'' organization was created, and it quickly became the team's loudest and most visible supporters. The fans routinely wave huge flags of the outlawed racist Kach party, whoop like monkeys when opposing black players touch the ball and chant ''death to Arabs'' and other racist slogans toward Arab players.

The club has been penalized numerous times for the behavior of its fans, which has included booing during a moment of silence for slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, singing songs deriding the Prophet Muhammad and physically assaulting Arab maintenance workers in stadiums.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were responsible for security outside the stadiums and for enforcing general public order - not fan behavior.

For years, the club's Russian-Israeli owner Arkady Gaydamak refrained from intervening. In fact, he backed the group financially and glowed in their adoration. After a failed attempt to run for Jerusalem mayor, Gaydamak fled the country in 2008 amid financial scandals in Israel and Europe.

Since then, Gaydamak has drastically cut funding to the team and tried to sell it.

First it was Brazilian-American millionaire Guma Aguiar who stepped in with a $4 million investment - before he checked himself into a psychiatric hospital because of increasingly erratic behavior that included plans to rebuild the biblical Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

Last year, a pair of American businessmen agreed to buy the club - only to back out at the last moment. The team finished the season in 11th place in the 16-team league, narrowly avoiding relegation to the second division. This year, Beitar Jerusalem has fallen even further and is currently in danger of relegation.

In this environment, the fans' anger has grown. It is now no longer aimed solely toward Arabs - but against team management as well.

Most of the ire is directed toward general manager Itzik Kornfein, a former Beitar goalkeeping legend who has spoken out against racism. Fans often curse at him outside team practices. Some have even attempted to attack him physically.

Shlomi Barzel, the sports editor of Haaretz and a lifelong Beitar fan, said the radicalization of the fans reflects the weakness of team management.

'''La Familia' is a small, extreme group that numbers no more than a few hundred. The real problem is what happened to the quiet majority? There is no one countering them and the team is too weak to do anything about it,'' he said.

Barzel said that at the height of Gaydamak's popularity the owner tried to sign an Arab player, only to be overwhelmed by the fans' opposition.

''If he couldn't do it, no one can,'' he said.

The Beitar policy of shunning Arab players resurfaced last month when Maccabi Haifa striker Mohammed Ghadir said he would be willing to transfer to Beitar. Even before Beitar fans had their say, Ghadir withdrew the suggestion after Arab fans accused him of being a traitor.

''We would love to bring an Arab player on board but the conditions are not yet ripe - not as far as a player is concerned and not as far as the fans are concerned,'' said Shaked, the team spokesman.

He said fans need to go through ''a learning process'' before an Arab player could be added. He appears to be correct.

''Beitar is a team of Jews. Just like the army won't bring in a Chinese soldier, Beitar won't bring in an Arab player, because when there is a war and you have to give your all, they will run,'' said Shahar Darly, an-18-year-old fan. ''We represent Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, the state of the Jews, not the Arabs ... if they try to bring an Arab player, we won't let them.''

Argentina: Hooligans invade hospital looking for revenge - 19/01/2011

Source : Associated Press

A dozen soccer hooligans invaded the delivery room of a Buenos Aires hospital and threatened staff with guns and knives as they tried to avenge the death of a gang member killed in a fight with a rival faction, a doctor said Thursday.

Marcelo Struminger, president of the doctor's association at Santojanni Hospital, said gang members associated with the Argentina club Nueva Chicago raced through the delivery room and other parts of the hospital Wednesday looking for a rival hooligan known as "Aldo The Paraguayan."

He is believed to have been involved in the death Wednesday of Agustin Rodriguez, who was killed in a fight between his faction — known as "Los Perales," — and the rival faction "Las Antenas."

The surreal scene was captured on closed-circuit television and widely shown Thursday on national television.

The camera caught the gang members barging past limited security at the hospital, and then throwing chairs in a hospital corridor as they seemed to be searching for the rival hooligan.

"They demanded to see one person, the presumed perpetrator who was being treated for stab wounds to the abdomen," Struminger said. "The doctors were afraid, just like everyone else."

No arrests were reported in the case, which took place in a western neighborhood of Buenos Aires called "Mataderos," which translates in English as "Slaughterhouses." The neighborhood has been the traditional home of the city's meatpacking industry, and to the second-division club Nueva Chicago.

Soccer-related violence has plagued Argentina for years. Mayhem threatens many aspects of the game in the country, with police, gangs, unions and top-ranking politicians connected in a dangerous web. Matches are regularly called off every season because of fan violence — in and outside the stadium.

Riots broke out seven months ago after famed Buenos Aires club River Plate was demoted to the second division. The loss prompted rampaging fans to set fires inside the club's stadium, with firefighters using high-powered hoses to gain control.

Outside, police on horseback fought running battles with fans, who climbed razor-wire barriers, pelted police with rocks and set fire to overturned vehicles.

Inter Milan - Genoa - Cup - 19/01/2012

Source : Agence France-Presse

Genoa fan hospitalised after police clash

A 38-year-old man is in a serious condition in hospital in Milan after a clash with a policeman ahead of the Italian Cup encounter between Inter Milan and Genoa on Thursday.

The Genoa fan, named as Massimo M by Italian news agency Ansa, allegedly attacked the policeman and hit his head in the scuffle that ensued.

He was taken to the Policlinico hospital in a serious condition.

Equatorial Guinea - Libya - African Cup of Nations - 22/01/2012

Source : Associated Press + Reuters

Police tear gas onrush of fans

Police used tear gas to try and slow a crush of fans forcing their way into the Bata Stadium complex for Saturday's opening match of the African Cup of Nations.

Police tried to check fans' tickets one-by-one at the main gate to the complex ahead of Equatorial Guinea's match against Libya. But several times the crowd proved too much and Israeli security advisers ordered the gates opened to allow scores of people through without being checked.

On at least one occasion, tear gas was used on the crowd.

The gate opens onto a road leading to the stadium. Fans will still need a ticket to get inside.

Itay: Nola - Cosenza - 08/01/2012

Source : Repubblica.it

Serious troubles erupted during this Serie D game. Shortly before the end of the game, as locals won 2-1, one Cosenza supporter invaded the pitch. He was quickly arrested and the game restarted but at the end of the game, hundre of away supporters provoked locals and threw rocks.
Locals responded and police intervened between both sides.
One Nola supporter was arrested.

Translation Underground Fans (c-

Montpellier - Lyon - 14/01/2012

Source : midilibre.fr

Two French CRS were slightly injured during troubles who broke out Saturday night at 7pm in front of the La Mosson stadium.
Everything happened whena mob of sixty Lyon supporters were escorted by police.

Both policemen were injured by missiles. Three Lyon fans were also injured.

Juve Stabia - Hellas Verona - 21/01/2012

Source : stabiachannel.it

The police maintained Juve Stabia supporters inside the stadium at the end of the game with the aim to release the neighborhoods of the stadium, where the local supporters wanted to undo some with their counterparts. The local supporters launched stones and detonators.
Already during the game, Verona supporters had launched missiles in the pitch while launching racist songs.
One Stabia supporter, from Parma, was arrested with a detonator.

Translation Underground Fans (c)

France: Le Havre AC - RC Lens - 13/01/2012

Source : mail (thanks to the sender)

We agreed with Le Havre lads for a free fight 10 vs 10, in a place 15 minutes far away from the city centre.
On the road, the off was cancelled because they're not 10 on local side.
But continued our way to the city and we phoned again and we proposed a 5 vs 5 or going to a pub near the stadium where they're 30 waiting for us for a good fight...but they're not 10 for a free fight.
But we agreed and phoned again and finally they agreed for 10 vs 10.
We're 12 in front of 13 locals. A detonator exploded and we charged with the advantage.
But then, some Barbarians (local ultras) joined their lads so it was 18 vs 12 and we deiced to stop because it wasn't fair (but Le Havre said they're ultras, not lads so...).
So, locals charged us; Lens firt line tried to fight for one minute but then we retreated.
Good fight.
One local lad out of order and some blue noses on Lens side.
Thanks to locals for being there.

YOUTH LENS

Brazil: Corinthians - Flamengo - Friendly game - 15/01/2012

Source : http://www.orkut.com

Morocco - Basketball: WAC - RCA - 21/01/2012

Source : https://www.youtube.com

Switzerland - Hockey: HC Lugano - HC Davos - 14/01/2012

Source : https://www.youtube.com

After a match between HC Lugano and HC Davos (1-3, final score) in Lugano, Davos supporters, who had been insulted during the whole game, decided to insult back the defeated Luganese.