Season 97/98

Blackburn Rovers - Bolton Wanderers - 07/12/1997

Source: Bolton Evening News

Soccer thugs in night of shame

ORGANISED gangs of Bolton thugs who orchestrated a night of football violence after the Blackburn Rovers match have been bitterly condemned by police chiefs. Police arrested 35 people - including 12 from Bolton - following fighting between gangs of hooligans in Blackburn town centre. Thugs with mobile telephones are thought to have co-ordinated the violence, which started soon after Bolton Wanderers were beaten by their derby rivals.

Police believe flyers inciting violence and orchestrating the clashes were handed out in pubs around Bolton and Blackburn days before the game.

Gangs fought until just before midnight when police managed to clear the streets.

Several pubs were forced to close and innocent by-standers had to be guided to safety.

Insp Stuart Caley, of Blackburn Police, said the fixture traditionally requires "more police attention" than others.

He said: "This is one fixture we always have to make special preparations for.

"I am very disappointed that the situation degenerated as it did because it affected so many innocent people who had cause to fear for their safety. "There have historically been problems with this fixture since the 1970s. From a police point of view it is disappointing a small number of people have taken it upon themselves to cause so much disorder.

"It is not accurate to call these people football fans. They are no supporters or fans of football.

"We believe that flyers were

sent out in advance and that this was some sort of orchestrated effort to have a confrontation.

"People were spotted using mobile telephones at specific times during the evening coinciding with times that various violent outbreaks took place. There was organisation between both sides."

Fans were charged with crimes ranging from public order offences to assault and drunk and disorderly. The rival supporters will appear before Blackburn magistrates on separate dates. The high number of arrests meant prisoners had to be shipped out to other stations across Lancashire.

Transport police estimate that about 600 fans travelled from Bolton for the game and they had to deal with fighting and around the station where several arrests were made.

Lebanon - Syria - ??/07/1997

Source: Arabic News.com

Football fight between Lebanon and Syria out of proportion - says minister
Lebanon-Israel


Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri warned against blowing an incident at the Arab Games out of proportion, adding that such events occur in sports, especially at football matches.

In the semifinal between Lebanon and Syria, a fight broke out among fans of both teams, and more than 2,000 seats were destroyed and used as missiles, forcing the Lebanese army to intervene. Similar damage was caused at the final between Syria and Jordan.

Berri said, "Even within the same house, brothers often fight and compete."

Berri said the clashes between Lebanese and Syrian fans should not be blown out of proportion as they were "no more than disputes among members of the same household."
He added, "It is shameful to misinterpret these incidents and I suggest that a delegation representing Lebanese athletes pay a visit to their fellow athletes in Syria or the Syrian medal winners should be invited to Lebanon to meet with Lebanese medal-holders, because such incidents should not be allowed to undermine the good relations that bind the two countries together."

Berri said, "If it were not for the heroism of the Lebanese people and the support Syria provides to Lebanon, we would now be under Israeli rule."

Bolton Wanderers - Manchester United - 20/03/1997

Source: Bolton Evening News

Terror as match day hooligans go on rampage

A BOLTON woman told today of her terror as she was caught up twice in vicious brawls between rival soccer yobs on Saturday.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, has been taking her husband to Bolton's home games for years.

But after the violence she witnessed in Horwich at the weekend she said: "There's no way I'm going near that ground on match days again. It was absolutely terrifying."

She was on her way home from dropping off her husband at the Reebok stadium just after 2pm when she saw the first confrontation in Chorley New Road, near the Greenwood pub.

She said: "The police had to stop traffic in the road as fans fought in between cars - it was terrible. There was around 50 young men launching at each other and it's the first time that I have seen policemen using those new batons with the handles.

"I was shaken up, so came home and had a cup of tea to calm down. At around 4.30pm I went back and parked near Ingersoll Rand, but a policeman came up to me and said he couldn't guarantee my safety if I stayed there because the gang was on its way. Sure enough, five or 10 minutes later this big gang came along in the middle of the road and they were taunting each other, using disgusting language.

" I saw one man jump up and kick another in the throat. Then another came over and urinated next to my car as I was sitting inside."

PARIS SG - BAYERN MUNCHEN - 97/98

Source : Mail

A hundred german lads from 5 clubs, top boys and very good organisation, charged 30 PSG lads who ran away. Germans used iron steelbar and fire crackers. One policeman were injured too after he received an iron steelbar in his face.


German lads

PSV Eindhoven - Arsenal FC - Friendly game - 97/98

Source: forum

The summer of 97 Arsenal had a friendly in Eindhoven...Before the game a coach load of Arsenal(who had arrived from A-dam) drank un-opposed in the centre of Eindhoven..Then marched to and around the ground..only about 35 handed( as there was a few Shirts on the coach who crept off and done their own thing)...No sign of the PSV heroes,not a peep....During the game (to be honest) this now very drunk mob baited the PSVers who did the "Charging at the fence routine"....A lot of "Outside" gestures were made..But after the game whilst enclosed in the stadium the police announced that no one would be leaving until the Men and their coach from A-dam had gone.....They arrested 3 for misdemeanors (spelling) that had been caught on camera before the game and the rest were bundled on to the coach which had been brought right up to the gates of the ground.....Making no attempt to approach the coach whos occupants were now scuffling(Unsuccessfully) with the police..the heroes of PSV waited across the road and then attacked the remaining 100 or so Arsenal shirts as they tried to get to the train station......utter wankers... Not to be rated in the slightest.

LEEDS - MANCHESTER UTD - 23/09/1997

Source : Leeds fans website

Feyenoord: stadiums bans - 28/09/1997

Source: Soccer Fans website

34 Feyenoord-fans have been given a stadium ban for 4 years, this for the fact that they fought in Beverwijk with ajax-fans.
In holland in the first two months of this season there are already have been given 171 stadium Ban's, the reason is that the police now may give names of fans who are arrested to soccerclubs.

NEC fans attacked coaches - 27/09/1997

Source: Soccer Fans Website

Nec-hooligans atacked one or more Vitesse Arnhem buses. Nec played against MVV and Vitesse against Fortuna Sittard the vitesse buses stopped by a tankstation ( fuelstation)on wayback the nec-hooligans drove bij car , they followed the buses to the tankstation. And they (nec) atacked the buses and there were some incidents and people wounded.

FC Magdeburg - BFC Berlin - 97/98

Source: mail

BFC lads

Dynamo Dresden - BFC Berlin - 97/98

Source: mail

BFC escort

Carl Zeiss Jena - BFC Berlin - 97/98

Source: mail

BFC

Panahaiki - Panathinaikos - 97/98

Source:mail

PAO fans

Ujpest Budapest - MTK Budapest - Cup - 97/98

Source: mail

Ujpest fans caused troubles

Ferencvaros TC - Ujpest Budapest - 17/05/1998

Source: mail

Ujpest Budapest - Diosgyor SK - 21/03/1998

Source: mail

Diosgyor FC - Ujpest Budapest - 23/08/1997

Source: mail

FC HANSA ROSTOCK - HERTHA BSC BERLIN - 20/09/1997

Source : ViewImages

Football hooliganism: Made in England, but big abroad - 02/06/1998

Source : BBC News

Football hooliganism, once a distinctly English disease, has proved highly contagious.

On mainland Europe these days, hooligan culture is a far greater problem than in its country of origin. Supporters in Holland, Germany and Italy can all claim to have picked up England's bad habits. And as those countries begin to clamp down, a new wave of violence is washing over the former Eastern-bloc countries such as Poland and Hungary.

In England, the traditional Saturday afternoon punch-up that blighted domestic football during the 1970s and '80s is largely a distant memory.

The legendary "superhooligan" armies, such as Chelsea's "Headhunters" and West Ham's "Inter City Firm", have withered under the combined forces of stringent legislation, all-seater stadia, supporter segregation and closed circuit television.

There have been isolated flare-ups. One of the most shocking examples of soccer thuggery, where a Sheffield United supporter leapt on to the pitch and thumped a linesman unconscious just because he did not agree with a handball decision, is still fresh in the nation's collective memory.

England ban in Europe

Adam Brown, a committee member of the Football Supporters Association, says the tide of change can be traced back to 1985, after 39 Italian fans were killed at a European Cup final during rioting by Liverpool supporters.

The tragedy prompted a great deal of soul-searching among football fans, and English teams were slapped with a five-year ban in Europe. Their return in 1991 came in the form of a European Cup Winners' Cup final between Manchester United and Barcelona, in Rotterdam.

"About 26,000 United fans travelled to Holland and there were just 28 arrests, mostly just for drunkenness," says Brown.

"There's no doubt the tone of football has changed. The old hooligans have grown up and those young enough to replace them often can't get into matches," says Brown.

"Capacity is down because stadiums are now all-seater, tickets have shot up in price and getting into a match is no longer a case of queuing up outside the ground and paying at the gate.

"It all conspires to make life very difficult for the young, casual fan who was your typical hooligan."

Violence across the Channel

Crowd violence is still a major issue at national level, especially when England fans travel abroad. In 1995 the sleeping bulldog stirred when England fans rioted at a friendly game against Ireland; and in October last year there was more trouble on the terraces, this time in Rome during a crunch World Cup qualifying match.

Across the Channel hooliganism has now become commonplace.

In Germany, soccer violence has been inextricably linked with the far-right nationalist movement. In 1991 a fan was shot dead in a fight between Leipzig and Berlin supporters. A year later at the European Championships in Sweden, rioting German fans were almost on a par with their English counterparts at the same tournament.

Holland too has suffered at the hands of soccer yobs and in Italy mounting trouble came to a head in 1995 when a 24-year-old Genoa fan was stabbed to death by an AC Milan supporter. For a while the violence abated but it has returned.

The new battlegrounds are to the east, in former communist states such as Romania, Poland and Hungary.

Freed from the constraints of police-state rule, young football fans have adopted the tell-tale signs of football hooliganism in the West: skinhead style, racist chants and nationalistic banner waving. In Hungary, the police have adopted the British example of using surveillance cameras inside the grounds to pick out ringleaders. In the Polish capital, Warsaw, following street battles, clubs were ordered to introduce identity cards.

But police forces across Europe know that without the legislation to bring hooligans to book the problem may still have a long way to run.

Violence mars South American football - 20/11/1997

Source : Press

Two South America soccer clubs are facing lengthy bans from playing cup games at home after matches were marred by extreme violence.

Both Lanus of Argentina and Vasco di Gama of Brazil have been banned from playing Conmebol cup ties at home for 18 months.

The Lanus captain, Oscar Ruggieri, received a 10-match ban, he was found to have started a mass brawl after his team were defeated 4-1 at home by Atletico Minero. Five other Lanus players received five-match suspensions for their part in the fighting.

Vasco di Gama's tie with the Argentine side River Plate had to be abandoned in the second half.

Vasco di Gama had already had two players sent off in the first half when spectators started throwing rocks onto the pitch. By the second half, a linesman had been injured by a thrown rock, and smoke bombs were being thrown onto the pitch.

The match had to be abandoned when River Plate were 2-0 up.


Vasco di Gama fans riot after their team went 2-0 down

Judge blows whistle on Argentine football violence - 13/05/1998

Source : BBC News

A judge in football-mad Argentina has ordered the immediate suspension of all league games, in response to escalating crowd violence.
Federal judge Victor Perrota said he had given several warning to football clubs in the past and would only reverse the ban when the clubs, the Argentine Football Association and the security forces came up with a plan to guarantee safety at matches.

In his ruling, Mr Perrota said the measure was necessary given the "lack of controls and means of sufficient protection for the lives and well-being of fans."

The issue came to a head last weekend when two supporters of the River Plate club were shot in the leg by rival fans.

On the day of the match a group of supporters had been seen waving posters hinting at trouble to come.

According to reports in Argentine newspapers, the attack was a reprisal for the death of a supporter two years ago.

A sports pressure group, Fundacion Fair Play has estimated that football hooliganism in Argentina has left more than 50 people dead since 1980, and thousands injured.

But fans of the national team have been saved one major disappointment: the suspension does not extend to Thursday's pre-World Cup friendly between the Argentine national side and Bosnia in the central city of Cordoba.

Football fan stabbed - 03/08/1997

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com

A fracas over a petty dispute at the Nehru Stadium here, while a football match was in progress, resulted in a spectator receiving stab injuries and the arrest of three persons. The injured youth, Damodaran, has been hospitalised.

Maribor - Olimpija - 97/98

Source : Viole Maribor website

Germany - Mexico - WC'98 - 30/06/1998

Source : BBC News

One man died and several were injured when football fans in Mexico City rioted after Germany ejected their team from the World Cup.
Fans were initially jubilant when Mexico took the lead early in the second half, but when Germany equalised and then went on to beat Mexico 2-1 with a goal four minutes before the end of the game, the mood turned ugly.

Newsstands and soft drink vendors were reportedly looted before hundreds of riot police surrounding the city's main plaza, the Zocalo, moved in.

Many rioters were injured in clashes with police, scores of rioters were arrested, and one man died, thought to have been hit in the head by a firecracker.

Mexican television reported that a youth depressed at the the national teams's defeat tried to hang himself in the northern city of Monterrey, but rescue workers arrived in time to save his life.

There was also rioting in Huntington Park, an American city south-east of Los Angeles which is 97% Hispanic.

Windows were smashed and 40 people were reportedly arrested.

Gillingham - Fulham: Two released after fan killed - 30/03/1998

Source: BBC

Police say they have released two of three men who were being questioned about the death of a Fulham supporter after a match against Gillingham on the weekend.

The dead man, named as Matthew Fox from Purley in Surrey died from head injuries when fighting broke out between 50 rival fans outside Gillingham's ground on Saturday evening.

Violence flared as fans left the Kent club's Priestfield Stadium following their 2-0 win against the London side.

Relatives of the dead man visited the scene of the tragedy and stayed for about 30 minutes watching police forensic experts at work.

Football chiefs have demanded an urgent inquiry into the murder amid mounting concern that violence could spill over into this summer's World Cup finals in France.

Some spectators said police officers at the game should not have allowed both sets of fans to leave the grounds at the same time.

Serious incidents at soccer matches are now relatively rare in Britain, testimony to huge efforts made in recent years to clamp down on hooliganism.

The Gillingham manager, Tony Pulis, said: "The game is insignificant for me now. There are mindless people around. I hope the person who has done this is found and put away for the rest of their lives."

The Home Secretary Jack Straw, football authorities and a fans' organisation have condemned the violence.

Mr Straw said: "I await the full facts of this particular incident but I utterly deplore any mindless hooliganism which can, as we have seen in Gillingham, have the most serious possible consequences.

"These events will serve only to increase the determination of the football authorities, the police and the government to rid the game of the problem."

Barnsley - Liverpool FC - Cup - 29/03/1998

Source: BBC

Furious fans at Barnsley football club invaded the pitch twice after the referee sent off three of the team's players during a home match with Liverpool...