Season 15/16 - June

Battle of Marseille: Two England fans in 'critical' condition after running battles with Russian ultras - 11/06/2016

Source : http://www.franceinfo.fr/

Two England fans have been left in critical condition after Russian hooligans clashed with Three Lions supporters and heavily armed riot police ahead of the Euro 2016 clash.

Carnage erupted in the city’s ancient port as a group of up to 30 masked Russians in black T-shirts charged England fans drinking outside bars as the French National Guard waited on standby behind shields.

Amid ugly scenes, the English fans retaliated and threw chairs back and green bottles of Heineken at the hooligans from Lokomotiv Moscow and riot oficers - before two rival fans squared up to one another.

Officers fired tear gas canisters into the riot in an attempt to disperse the gangs before a running battle continued in the narrow streets leading out of the marina.

Five people have been injured and six arrests made after violence broke out and fans fought running battles in the streets.

Violence has spilled onto the terraces in Marseille - 11/06/2016

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

Hundreds of England fans run for their lives as they are attacked by Russian thugs INSIDE Marseille stadium

Violence has spilled onto the terraces in Marseille as fans brawl with each other in the Stade Vélodrome after England's draw with Russia.

Supporters were seen battling it out after the final whistle as Russian fans ripped down English flags and chased their rivals across rows of seats, after the Group B opener finished 1-1.

Hundreds of English fans have now been chased out of the ground by Russian hooligans as ugly scenes, involving 30 minutes of brawling between supporters, cap off a disappointing night for English football.









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Source : The Sun

Poland - Nothern Irland - 12/06/2016

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk + http://www.nicematin.com/

Violence in Nice as Northern Ireland fans attacked by local hooligans

Fighting broke out between supporters of Northern Ireland and hard-core French hooligans in Nice on Saturday night.

Police were called in to disperse the “Ultras” who set upon the supporters who had gathered ahead of the team’s opening Euro 2016 clash with Poland.

According to L’Equipe, seven people were injured, with one supporter suffering a serious head injury.

The local paper, Nice Matin, reported that the trouble started when hooligans threw a bottle at the Northern Irish fans who had been drinking amicably with their Polish counterparts at a pedestrian precinct which had been turned into an open-air pub.

Singing the Marseillaise, the French hooligans appeared to be determined to provoke the visitors, the paper said.

The fighting escalated  and  ended with punches and dozens of bottles being thrown.

At one point more than 100 people appeared to be involved in the fighting, which saw tables and chairs being used as missiles.

Local police police said one shop window was smashed in the disturbances.

According to a Northern Irish police officer, the supporters were set upon  by around 30 French hooligans, who hurled missiles back at their assailants.

Gary McAllister, chairman of the Northern Ireland supporters' clubs, tweeted: "Local ultras attacked Polish and NI fans who were mixing well.”

Number of Injured During Football Fans Scuffle in Marseille Rises to 35 - 12/06/2016

Source : http://en.apa.az/

The number of people, injured during scuffles among football fans in France's Marseille, has risen to 35 people, local media reported Sunday, APA reports quoting Sputnik.

According to the La Provence newspaper, at least four people remain in critical condition, though, the majority of injured people have already left hospitals

On Saturday, Russian national football team played in a draw with the team of England at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille within the the UEFA’s Euro 2016 tournaments. The game ended with 1:1 score. After the match, the clashes between Russian and English fans erupted again at the stadium.

Numerous clashes between English and Russian football fans have been continuing in Marseille since Thursday. Local police used tear gas on Saturday to disperse the troublemaking fans.

Free-fight - 11/06/2016

Source : Mail

Arranged fight today in Sweden between Wisemen Gothenburg (48) and the coalition Hamburger SV/FC Copenhagen (42). Hard, intense fight in which Wisemen stood as winners after about 1 minute. Revenge for the swedish lads in other words.

Turkey - Croatia - 12/06/2016

Source : Mail

LOSC ARMY (Lille OSC -France)


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Source : Mail

Turkish fans with a banner insulting the memory of Marko Ivkovic, supporters of Red Star Belgrade, stabbed to death in 2014 in Istanbul, before a basketball game against Galatasaray.



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Source: mail

A mob of 100/150 Parsisians and others french have clashed with Turkish side.
Then, a group of approx 80 Croats made the same.
A bus of Turkish fans was also attacked

French Lads



Turkish


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Source : Mail

A group with KOB and some other french clubs was in Paris (about 150). They were chased by police multiple times since 11am, but finally reached the stadium and clashed with riot-police but they couldnt get to the kebabs.

On the way back some skirmishes here and there with ethnic people and turkish fans...

Around 80 of french have been arrested and then released after ID control.

PSG fans attacking Turks

Free fight - 11/06/2016

Source : Instagram

In Malmö.

Hammarby IF vs Hansa Rostock
17 vs 17
Germans won after a minute.

Euro 2016 - Hungary - 11/06/2016

Source : Mail

Pecs lads

Euro 2016: Russian hooligans took MMA gloves to organised assault which left 19 English fans in hospital - 11/06/2016

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

Exclusive: 300 men wearing black T-shirts carried bum bags containing equipment for assaults - including gum shields, fighting equipment and mixed martial arts gloves

A group of 300 Russian hooligans arrived armed to attack football fans in an organised assault which left 19 British people in hospital, four in a critical condition, The Independent can reveal.

Thugs wearing black T-shirts carried bum bags containing equipment for assaults, including gum shields, fighting equipment and mixed martial arts gloves when they arrived in Marseille on Saturday afternooon. They seized upon the chaos caused by gang violence which had already started in the centre of Marseille – between rival fans of Olympique Marseille and Paris Saint Germain – to launch indiscriminate attacks on English fans.

English supporters ran for their lives but the Russians outnumbered them and were quicker and stronger, unleashing extraordinary violence on them using any available weapon, sources told The Independent.

British police, who have no jurisdiction on French soil and can only attempt to moderate the way fans behave to assist the French, were caught up in the violence. The first Briton to be felled by the Russian gang was given first aid by a British officer. British police also provided bandages and medical equipment to fans.

The Russians seemed to be organised around individual clubs. Their black T-shirts carried the names of the Lokomotiv Moscow and CSKA Moscow sides.

Uefa today made it clear that it suspects Russian fans were the architects of the scenes of extraordinary violence which marred England’s opening European Championship fixture against Russia on Saturday night, and said it viewed the clashes before the game with “utter disgust”.

The governing body has major questions to answer itself – including why it had allowed a match which carried serious risk of violence to be staged on the Mediterranean coast at 9pm on a Saturday evening and why there was so little segregation to prevent Russian fans effectively chasing the English out of the stadium after the game.

Neither British nor French police had any way of influencing the timing of the fixture. It had been made clear as soon as the Euro 2016 draw was made that times and locations would be designated for the matches according to the order teams’ names came out of the hat.

British police have liaised strongly with their French counterparts and will continue to provide as much help as they can in the coming days, as the investigation into Saturday’s events gets under way. The London-based intelligence gathering centre set up by the UK Football Policing Unit will use images from media and social media to attempt to help identify any perpetrators of the violence carried out on English fans. The same material will be used to apply for banning orders for England fans, where appropriate.

There is no sense that this problem will be isolated to Marseille. The authorities have suggested England fans travel to Lille to drink before Thursday’s game against Wales, because of an alcohol ban in nearby Lens, where the game takes place. Russia play Slovakia on Wednesday - in Lille.

Uefa said in a statement that it had “serious concerns” about incidents at the end of the match inside Stade Velodrome, including the throwing of flares onto the pitch from the Russian contingent and subsequent flight of English fans – seemingly with Russians chasing.

“This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable and has no place in football," Uefa said. "Disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the Russian Football Union (RFU) for the following events occurring inside the stadium: crowd disturbances, setting off of fireworks and throwing of missiles. A decision on the sanctions to be imposed will be made within the next few days, once the RFU has been able to submit written statements and evidence.

“Uefa acknowledges that there were segregation issues at Stade Velodrome and will implement corrective measures to strengthen the deployment of security personnel at stadiums, in close collaboration with local authorities.”

Euro 2016 - 12/06/2016

Source : mail

GKS Katowice (Poland) lads

Football violence in Marseille shows the French authorities have failed their first big test - 12/06/2016

Source : http://www.itv.com

Yesterday, everything went wrong in Marseille. The violence seems to have been the consequence of an old enemy - booze and testosterone-fuelled hooliganism - but organised attacks and police failure played a large part too.

But Antoine Boutonnet, a commissioner at France's anti-hooliganism police division, was having none of that. He blamed the "problem of binge drinking that ultimately leads to a phenomenon of violence" in an interview with AFP.

A super-stadium-sized security force has been deployed by French authorities to keep football fans safe during Euro 2016. Around 90,000 soldiers and police officers are guarding stadiums, fan-zones and the public infrastructure.

But very few of them were present inside the Stade Velodrome when fighting broke out in the stands after last night's game. A police force attempting to appear unbeatable and omnipresent seemed to be non-existent in the TV pictures. And despite the scale of the violence in Marseille earlier in the day, only a few arrests were made - around half a dozen.

This looked like stand-offish security from the French police.

Perhaps more worryingly, flares, fireworks and smoke bombs were smuggled into the stadium. After the horror of what happened at Stade de France last November, stadium security was tightened. After flares were let off in the stadium at the French cup final last month, procedures were strengthened further.

Even by the low standards of European Championship thuggery, this was something else. But the French authorities have also failed their first big test.

Germany - Ukraine - 12/06/2016

Source : http://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/

Incidents in Lille between German & Ukrainian fans

Another EURO 2016 match, another report of violent clashes between various individuals, this time in Lille between German and Ukrainian fans ahead of this evening’s match.

Light incidents have involved in two individuals picking up minor injuries during clashes that took place towards the end of the afternoon near the Grand Place de Lille.

The incidents took place at about 17:30 CET and last just for a few minutes, with around thirty fans throwing glass bottles at each other, as well as punching and kicking each other, according to an AFP photographer.

There were no arrests made as combination of French CRS police and German police drafted in to help their colleagues quickly arrived on the scene and the situation calmed down emphatically.

150 hooligans known to the German authorities are understood to currently be in Lille. 18 hooligans from Dresden were arrested near the Luxembourg border earlier today as they attempted to enter into France, according to L’Équipe.

This incident is so far being described as an isolated one and there have been no problems at all in and around the Stade Pierre Mauroy.

German media outlet Sport 1 suggests that it was 40 hooligans claiming to be supporting the World Cup winners that attacked Ukrainians, which caused the violence.




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Source : http://www.estrepublicain.fr/

Trouble erupted in Lille.

'The English are girls', says Russian hooligan - 13/06/2016

Source : http://sports.yahoo.com/

Russia are just 29th in the world football rankings but fighting for top spot in the hooligan stakes thanks to the efforts of characters like Vladimir, a Moscow public relations manager who considers violence a sport.

Vladimir, who is married with two children, returned Sunday from the latest battleground at the European Championship finals in France and declared "the English are girls".

He does not care that European governing body UEFA threatened to throw Russia, hosts of the World Cup in 2018, out of Euro 2016 if there is a repeat of the battles surrounding Saturday's 1-1 draw with England in Marseille.

UEFA, which voiced "utter disgust" at the disturbances, has opened an investigation into the Russian fans' behaviour and could announce sanctions on Tuesday.

Tensions between supporters came to a head inside the Stade Velodrome when Russian hooligans rushed the England supporters' section, sending people fleeing.

Before the match, hundreds of English and Russian fans fought pitched battles in the Vieux-Port area of Marseille.

Thirty-five people were injured in the worst violence at an international tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France, with three still in a serious condition.

Vladimir, who spoke to AFP on condition that his family name is not used, spent less than 48 hours in Marseille but said he "saw all the main events and took part to some extent".

He estimated about 150 of Russia's "strongest" hooligans flew to Marseille for the day for the England-Russia match.

The Lokomotiv Moscow follower said 500-600 of the team's fans take part in hooliganism at "important events like the Euro".

Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg also have hooligan groups with hundreds of members each.

Their grounds have been notorious for racist chants against black players.

- Shirt and tie hooligans -

Up to 15,000 Russians were said to be in France for Euro 2016 and Vladimir said team loyalties are forgotten for such events.

"It doesn't matter which city fans come from or which team they support. It's important that we're all from Russia. We are going to fight the English."

Russian hardcore fans give their gangs English names such as "mob" or "crew" but consider themselves bitter rivals of English fans.

"The English always say they are the main football hooligans. We went to show that the English are girls," Vladimir said.

Many hooligans have little interest in the games and will not care if UEFA disqualifies their team, he added.

"I think it's a decision that won't influence in any way what hooligans do next," he said. "Nothing will stop these people."

He contrasted Russian hooligans with England fans, who he described as "big older men who drink a lot of beer".

"Fans or hooligans from Russia are mainly younger, aged 20-30 and at home most of them are into sports. They do sports like boxing or all kinds of martial arts," he said.

"The aim is to come and prove that English fans aren't hooligans, they don't know how to fight. A lot of Russian guys come specially with this aim."

- 'It's like sport' -

Russian hooligans will try to provoke fights with a group of England fans at a bar by trying to grab their team banner, he said.

He stressed that while "the English use chairs and bottles (to fight), the Russian style is only fists".

Using weapons "causes a lot of unnecessary injuries," he said. "For us it's like sport."

"We don't have a desire to kill or injure. There is a desire to show our strength."

The head of Britain's Euro 2016 policing operation said Russian fans prepared for battle by bringing gum shields, martial arts gloves and knives.

Pictures showed dozens of youths rushing down Marseille streets with cafe chairs over their heads, ready to throw them, as the situation descended into chaos.

Vladimir said he thought that French police were passive during the outbreaks of violence.

"I got the sense it was interesting for them to see the Russians fight the English. They intervened at the last moment."

He added that Russian hooligans do their best to blend into the crowd, and never wear the team shirt or carry the national flag.

"If you see a guy wearing a Russian flag or a Russian T-shirt, he'll never be a hooligan," Vladimir said.

"A hooligan must dress to fit in with the crowd. I wore a shirt, trousers and leather shoes."

He said he would only go back to France if Russia play in the final, and predicted that the other matches will be "a lot calmer".

Euro 2016 - 13/06/2016

Source : mail

Hungary fans

French court sentences 2 England fans to jail after Euro 2016 clashes - 13/06/2016

Source : http://www.rt.com

Two English football fans, who took part in clashes ahead of their team’s Euro 2016 match with Russia in Marseille on Saturday, have received prison sentences in France.

Alex Booth, 20, was sentenced to two months, while another fan, Ian Hepworth, 41, was handed a three-month sentence by a Marseille court on Monday.

Both were banned from entering French territory for the next two years, AP reported. Three more UK citizens, three French nationals and an Austrian are to stand trial in Marseille later on Monday.

Booth’s father called the ruling a “disgrace,” blaming the French authorities of “making a scapegoat of a poor kid like Alex'' and urging them to “find the real thugs,” AP reported.

More than 30 people were injured ahead of the England vs. Russia match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, in Marseille on Saturday, as fans of the two teams and locals clashed.

With the French authorities concentrating on preventing terror threats at Euro 2016, following the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris last November, they appear unprepared to deal with football hooligans.

Since the start of the event on Friday, there has also been violence in Nice, where locals reportedly attacked Polish and Northern Irish fans and in Lille there was trouble between Germany and Ukraine supporters.

Igor Lebedev, Russian MP: ‘Well done fighting fans, keep it up!’ - 13/06/2016

Source : https://inews.co.uk/

The Deputy Chairman of Russian Parliament and member of the executive committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Igor Lebedev, has come out in support of Russian fans involved in the violent clashes between Russian and English fans in Marseille.

Tweeting a link to his comments, he said: “I do not see anything terrible in fighting fans . On the contrary, well done, our guys. Keep it up!”

His remarks come as French prosecutors said around 150 Russians were behind much of the violence in Marseille on Saturday, following the Russia England match.

Brice Robin, chief Marseille prosecutor, told reporters that Russia fans were well prepared for fighting, describing them as “hyper violent” and “hyper rapid”.

A 50-year-old English fan is also in a critical condition with severe brain injuries after being attacked by Russia supporters armed with iron bars.

However just two Russian fans have been arrested, both for a pitch invasion. A 16-year-old England fan is one of six Britons that has been charged.

Speaking to the Russian publication L!fe, Lebedev said that Russian fans had been unfairly singled out by the media and that they would not have acted if they had not been provoked.

“Guys defended the honour of the country and did not allow the British in any way defile our homeland,” he said.

Uefa has begun disciplinary proceedings against Russia on charges of crowd disturbances, racist behaviour, and setting off fireworks at Saturday’s England-Russia game at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.

No disciplinary proceedings have been brought against England.

There are fears over continued clashes in Lille on Wednesday as Russian and English fans will be staying in the city for their respective games against Slovakia and Wales.
Uefa has threatened to disqualify England and Russia from Euro 2016 if there is any further violence by fans.

Euro 2016: Northern Ireland fan dies after fall in Nice - 13/06/2016

Source : http://www.bbc.com

A Northern Ireland fan has died in Nice, French police have confirmed.

It is believed Darren Rodgers, who was 24 and from Ballymena, was on his own and fell about eight metres from a promenade onto a rocky beach.

Supt Nigel Goddard, who is leading the PSNI team in France, said he was told it was an accident and not in any way disorder related.

Northern Ireland played Poland in the city on Sunday night in their first match of Euro 2016.

The accident happened in the early hours of Monday.

Six England fans jailed for Euro 2016-related violence in Marseille - 13/06/2016

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

Six England fans - including a nurse, chef and an engineer - are jailed for throwing bottles during violent clashes that marred opening Euro 2016 match against Russia in Marseille

The men, who all appeared at court in the city during a five hour session, were imprisoned for between one to three months and banned from France for two years.

The father of 20-year-old Alexander Booth, the youngest to be jailed, was seen crying outside of court and said he would fight the conviction.

It followed a French prosecutor announcing that not a single Russian hooligan had been arrested, despite there being reportedly 150 of them.

Booth and Ian Hepworth were the first fans to be dealt with after the widespread trouble in the French port city, which left another fan with severe head injuries and Euro 2016 organiser Uefa threatening to ban England and Russia if there is any repeat.

Booth, 20, from Huddersfield, was jailed for two months for throwing a bottle at police and banned from France for two years.

Hepworth, 41, a psychiatric nurse from Sheffield, was given a three month sentence for the same offence and the same ban.

Ashley Kelly, 26, from Birmingham, was imprisoned for three months and given a two-year ban from France for throwing seven bottles outside the stadium.

The court heard the construction worker is a single father who lives with his parents.

Paul Jackson, 21, from Halifax, received one month in jail after he threw bottles at police and supporters on Saturday.

Lee Phillips, 23, from Taunton, was also jailed for one month for throwing bottles at a woman, who also threw some back.

Steven Cornell, 28, was the sixth England fan to be jailed and was given two months.

The injured England fan, Andrew Bache, 50, from Portsmouth, was in a critical condition in a French hospital after being beaten round the head by Russians armed with iron bars.

Russian fans also charged at England supporters in the Stade Velodrome after the two teams drew 1-1 on Saturday night.

But Brice Robin, chief Marseille prosecutor, told reporters that no Russian fans had been arrested in connection with the violence.

Mr Robin said about 150 Russian hooligans had been involved in the trouble, describing them as "hyper violent" and "hyper rapid".

But just two Russian fans had been arrested, both for a pitch invasion, he said.

Mr Robin said officials had been unable to stop the Russian thugs as they had arrived in the city by train.

Home Secretary Theresa May said England fans involved in the "inexcusable" violence in Marseilles have let their country down.

And England manager Roy Hodgson and captain Wayne Rooney have appealed directly to fans to "stay out of trouble" following Uefa's threat to expel the team from Euro 2016.

The pair recorded a video, shared by the Football Association on Twitter, in which Hodgson asked fans to ensure that Uefa's threats to dismiss England and Russia "are never carried out".

Uefa branded the behaviour of both England and Russia fans before and after the game ''unacceptable'' and said it would not hesitate to impose additional sanctions.

The tournament organiser also opened disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Football Union for alleged crowd disturbances, racist behaviour and the setting-off of fireworks by its fans during the game.

Meanwhile, a Northern Ireland football fan died after a fall in Nice following the team's 1-0 defeat by Poland.

Darren Rodgers, 25, from Ballymena, Co Antrim, toppled 26ft (8m) over a barrier from a promenade on to a hard pebble beach in the south coast city at around 2am on Monday, police said.

Asked whether David Cameron was concerned that England could be expelled from Euro 2016 over hooliganism, the Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: "The Government is deeply concerned by the violence in Marseille at the weekend, including the reports of fans being attacked by rival supporters."

Euro 2016 : Video inside the hardcore russian hooligans - 13/06/2016

Source : Mail

Austria - Hungary - 14/06/2016

Source : http://www.ilgazzettino.it/

120 Hungarian supporters who travelled with 3 busses to Bordeaux, were controlled y italian police on the A4 highway.
Police forces were called as these supporters seemed to be under tension, using firecrackers and detonators.
They continued their road after being checked.

Translation Underground Fans

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Source : Mail

Hungary lads








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Source : mail

Kispest lads vs Austria alliance (Salzburg/Grazer AK/Austria Wien)

Kispest won



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French police launch operation against suspected Russian hooligans at Euro 2016 - 14/06/2016

Source : http://www.skysports.com/

French police have launched an anti-hooligan operation near Cannes after verifying the identities of 29 Russians suspected of being involved in clashes in Marseille.

There were incidents of violence in Marseille before, during and after the Russia v England game last Saturday, with beer bottles hurled and chairs thrown which lead to riot police firing tear gas as they struggled to contain the skirmishes in the streets around the Old Port.

On Tuesday police stopped a coach-full of Russia supporters in the town of Mandelieu, near Cannes on the south coast.

"These verifications have been carried out on the basis of intelligence.. leading us to think they were present in Marseille," said Xavier Lauch, cabinet director of the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes department.

After the 1-1 draw in Marseille, in scenes that could draw sanctions from UEFA, Russian supporters charged their English counterparts inside the Stade Velodrome.

UEFA is due to announce possible sanctions against Russia and England later on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has confirmed that football fans will be deported from France if they cause trouble.

"Some people cannot stay on national territory", he said.

On Monday Marseille's chief prosecutor Brice Robin said around 150 Russian hooligans - who were "trained to fight" - were responsible for instigating much of the violence.

In the immediate aftermath of the trouble, only two Russians were arrested.

On Monday, 10 men - six Englishmen, three Frenchmen and one Austrian - were found guilty of violence around the England-Russia match and given jail terms. Most were tried for throwing bottles at police.

British police coordinator Mark Roberts said the Russian troublemakers in Marseille were wearing gum shields, martial arts gloves and carrying knives.

"We know that troublemakers targeted England fans in an orchestrated way inflicting serious injuries," he said.

One British man in his fifties is still in a serious but stable condition in hospital after being attacked with an iron bar.

Euro 2016 : Explainer: Russia's Soccer Hooligan Problem - 14/06/2016

Source : http://www.rferl.org/

Shocking footage from the French stadium after a 1-1 soccer draw between England and Russia on June 11 showed Russian fans storming a section full of England fans, raining down kicks and punches as England supporters fled. It was just the latest instance of fan violence in Marseille involving the English and Russians that marred the opening stages of the 2016 European Championship.

The level of Russian fan violence was such that Russia faces disciplinary action from governing body UEFA. Reports said Russian hooligans fought with unprecedented intensity and organization -- and that they had geared themselves up for violence with mouth guards, bandannas, martial-arts gloves, and even knives.

With Russia poised to host the World Cup just two years from now -- and battling to repair its sporting reputation after a massive doping scandal that still threatens its participation in this summer's Olympic games in Brazil -- RFE/RL takes a closer look at Russian hooliganism and what authorities are (or aren't) doing to rein in the country's rowdies.

Was a particular group of Russian ultras responsible for the violence in Marseille?

Marseille's chief prosecutor, Brice Robin, told a news conference on June 13 that a core of 150 Russian football fans was responsible for the violence. They were "well-prepared for ultrarapid, ultraviolent action," Robin added, "These are extremely well-trained people."

Football hooligans are usually divided by club, but the Russian football hooligans in Marseille reportedly hailed from various Russian clubs who had set their differences aside for the day. Pavel Klymenko, Eastern Europe development officer for the UEFA-backed Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), says the violence in Marseille was perpetrated by gangs from Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, and to a lesser extent Zenit St. Petersburg. There were also hooligans from a lot of smaller, lower divisions, he adds.

Are Russian hooligans worse than other hooligans?

"I wouldn't say they're the worse," says Klymenko. "The hooligan problem is quite serious in pretty much all of Central and Eastern Europe. On a subcultural level, there is a rivalry on who are the toughest hooligans. The top teams now are Poland, Russia, and, of course, Serbia."

So what does that mean in practice?

The intensity of that "hooligan" rivalry has led to some of the worst violence taking place during matches involving teams from Central and Eastern Europe.

For instance, in 2010, an encounter between Italy and Serbia was abandoned after Serbian supporters fought police, threw flares onto the pitch, and tried to break barriers holding back fans from the pitch. At the 2012 European Championship, Russian fans were attacked by Polish hooligans in host city Warsaw. At a club level, this regional trend also prevails, although the scale of the violence is smaller. Last season, for instance, in December 2014, several French fans of the St. Etienne club were hospitalized after a mass brawl with knife-toting Ukrainian hooligans in Kyiv.

What have Russian authorities done to combat the problem?

Russia has actually cracked down pretty hard on fan violence at the club level, greatly reducing its visibility in the last several years. Before, different hooligan gangs, or "firms," representing different Russian football clubs, would ambush each other in the middle of cities, leading to mass brawls -- much like what was seen in Marseille over the weekend.

Nowadays in Russia, however, the police crackdown has largely forced hooligan gangs to prearrange fights outside of towns -- in forests, for instance, far from the public.

But Klymenko says that crackdown has not been supplemented by work to create a register of "hooligans and troublemakers in Russia," or actually to confront the problem head on.

So why Russia's problem at the international level?

Russia's domestic crackdown on football hooliganism has not been mirrored internationally. "Little has been done to prevent [recognized football hooligans] from traveling," says Klymenko.

An incident emerged on June 10 that illustrated this point, Klymenko says. The All-Russian Union of Supporters chartered a plane to Marseille from Russia for the June 11 match with England. When it arrived, however, French border guards turned away five Russian supporters whom Russia had allowed to travel but whom France deemed dangerous.

What do Russian officials say about hooliganism?

At the official level, Russia has mainly made the right noises about the need for action against hooliganism.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko on June 12 told R-Sport news agency that UEFA was right to launch disciplinary action against Russia following the weekend violence. "It's the right thing," he said. "There were flares, there was a flare gun, there had been clashes in the stands. It's necessary to sort all this out."

Nonetheless, some Russian officials sent other signals, with one actually leaping to the defense of the hooligans -- and even praising them.

Igor Lebedev, a deputy speaker of the Russian Duma for the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party and the son of party founder Vladimir Zhirinovsky, wrote on Twitter: "I don't see anything bad in the fans fighting. On the contrary, well done guys. Keep it up!"

Euro 2016 : Russian hooligans see themselves as Kremlin foot soldiers - 14/06/2016

Source : Reuters

Ultra-nationalist and schooled in their country's historical grievances, Russian soccer hooligans see themselves as fighting the Kremlin's geopolitical battles in miniature when they clash with foreign fans at the Euro 2016 tournament.

"Our fans in Marseille are a copy of Russian foreign policy," Professor Sergei Medvedev from Moscow's Higher School of Economics, wrote on social media after Saturday's clashes around the England-Russia game in the French city of Marseille.

Describing the mentality of the Russian hooligans, he said: "'We won't win the championship but let's at least put on a brave face, beat some people up, and have the whole world talking about us'."

Not subject to the kind of travel bans imposed on English fans who have committed violence, Russian hooligans are free to travel if they have enough money and can get a Schengen visa giving them access to much of Europe.

They represent a strand of nationalism which has become more strident since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and state media ratcheted up its narrative that the West is enemy number one.

Their conduct in Marseille drew praise in some political circles where sport is seen as an extension of what the Kremlin casts as Russia's battle for influence on the world stage.

"I don't see anything terrible about fans fighting," Igor Lebedev, a nationalist who is a deputy speaker in the lower house of parliament and a member of the Russian Football Union's executive committee, wrote on social media on Monday.

"On the contrary our guys were great. Keep it up!"

French authorities said about 150 hard-core Russian fans took part in the violence in Marseille. Marseille's chief prosecutor said some of the Russians involved in the worst of the violence had been trained to fight.

European soccer's governing body, UEFA, has threatened to expel the Russian and English teams from the championship if the violence persists.

The Russian authorities, already embroiled in a sports doping scandal before the Rio Olympics, have appealed to fans not to do anything to endanger the country's ability to host the World Cup soccer finals in 2018.

HOOLIGAN 'FIRMS'

The Russian hooligans, who often refer to themselves as 'ultras', belong to an organized tradition of hooliganism which has its roots mainly around clubs in Moscow and St Petersburg. They belong to "firms" modeled on what they view as the 1970s heyday of English soccer fans' thuggery.

After Saturday's clashes, some posted photos of themselves on social media holding stolen English supporters' flags upside down -- some spotted with blood -- as trophies.

"So-called 'active fans' have their own European championships," said Komsomolskaya Pravda, a tabloid newspaper. "And in the alternative Euros the Russian team's fans are the clear favorites and will try to prove their supremacy."

Many are tattooed with nationalist and Orthodox Christian slogans. Some have links to white supremacist far-right groups and, at matches in Russia, have unfurled Nazi flags and taunted black players by throwing banana skins on to the pitch and making monkey sounds.

Although Russian authorities have banned the worst offenders from domestic stadiums, high-level political criticism of their behavior has been rare.

Russian soccer fan sites were on Monday awash with praise for what they portrayed as a famous victory over soft English soccer hooligans in France.

"The complete victory of our hard core in Marseille," was how Spartak Moscow's Fratria fan club described the clashes, linking to a video of the violence.

"The stupid (Anglo-) Saxons," wrote a fan nicknamed Red Bear (RedMedved). "They saw 'barbaric' Russia face-to-face and all their courage evaporated and they ran away."

Some people saw the violence as part of Russia's geopolitical standoff with the West.

"Take my word for it. This is purely our symbolic reply to your sanctions and interference in our internal affairs in Ukraine," Valentin Polyakov, from the city of Rostov-on-Don, said of the Marseille violence on Komsomolskaya Pravda's site.

His view reflects Russian frustration -- fueled by state media -- over Western sanctions on Russia over Moscow's role in Ukraine, where Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists are locked in a low-level conflict.

Russians supporters complained of what they called English "provocations" including rude songs about Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, suspended after testing positive for a banned substance, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Some state media reported how 250 Russian fans had managed to get the better of more than 1,000 England supporters.

Russian fans have a history of violence, including a rampage in Moscow in which cars were overturned and two people were killed after Japan beat their team in the 2002 World Cup.

They also rioted near the Kremlin in 2010 after a Spartak Moscow fan was shot dead in a fight with men from Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus area, brawling with riot police and attacking dark-skinned passers-by.

Trouble flared again at the Euro 2012 tournament hosted by Poland and Ukraine when Russian fans fought with Polish supporters and hurled racist abuse at a black player.

2,400 security force in Lens for England-Wales - 14/06/2016

Source : http://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/

More than 2,400 security officials will be deployed in Lens as the town prepares for an anticipated influx of 40,000 to 50,000 England and Wales fans for Thursday's European Championship game, authorities said Tuesday.

The policing operation in the tournament's smallest host city and its 35,000-capacity stadium has been intensified after clashes involving England and Russia fans around their opening Group B game in Marseille. The Stade Bollaert-Delelis can fit the entire population of Lens, whose narrow streets will be on lockdown for the visit of the British supporters.

"We will have a strong police presence with more than 1,200 police officers present in Lens and you can add 1,200 more with the private security that will be mobilized that day," regional administration head Fabienne Buccio said at a briefing in Arras.

Police officers will be around and inside the stadium to help to separate fans. UEFA acknowledged segregation problems at Marseille's Stade Velodrome contributed to Russian fans attacking their English rivals after the 1-1 draw.

"We have strengthened the safety systems on the inside of the (Lens) stadium," said Buccio, the state prefect for the northern Pas-de-Calais region. "They will be present in the stands ready in order to intervene quickly in the stadium if there are clashes between supporters.

"There will be reinforced procedures outside the stadium. The town will be in lockdown by the police."

Restrictions on the sale of alcohol will be in place in parts of the region and on ferries from England.

Bars in Lens can sell beer as long as it's less than 5 percent alcohol and it must be served in paper or plastic cups. Supermarkets will be banned from selling any alcohol from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Friday, Buccio said. Gasoline stations on the 30-kilometer (20-mile) route from Lens to Lille face the same 48-hour liquor ban.

Alcohol can also not be brought on trains for the journey of about 40 minutes to Lens from Lille, the city where many fans will be connecting through because of its direct rail link to London.

Policing in Lille is posing an additional challenge for authorities because Russia plays Slovakia in the other Group B game at the Stade Pierre Mauroy on Wednesday.

In southern France, a bus carrying 29 Russian fans was stopped near the city of Nice on Tuesday amid concerns over further hooligan violence. An unspecified number of fans have been taken to detention centers, prefecture communications head Ariane Parachinia said.

Lille has already experienced violence involving supporters from Germany and Ukraine before the two teams played on Sunday. German police are appealing for people to come forward with video recordings of violence involving suspected German hooligans.

43 Russia supporters arrested following violent clashes with England fans in Marseille - 14/06/2016

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

New agency AFP reported on Tuesday afternoon that 43 Russians are in custody in relation to the violent scenes. France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced earlier that an operation was in place to arrest a group of Russian supporters after footage of the incidents was shared widely on social media.

He said: “As we speak there is a police operation to arrest some 40 of them that may have taken part in these acts in Marseille so that they can no longer do it in the next games with the violence we have seen. There were photos and videos. They will be stopped.”

There will be a increased number of British police officers deployed to northern France this week as England prepare to play Wales in Lens on Thursday, 24 hours after Russia face Slovakia 25 miles away in Lille.