Season 03/04 - March

'Rome soccer riot was planned' - 23/03/2004

Source: Rediff.com


A hardcore of Lazio and AS Roma soccer fans worked together to spark the riot that caused the Rome derby to be abandoned on Sunday, politicians said on Monday.

Police on Monday said they had arrested 13 supporters from both sides, some of them known hooligans, following a six-hour pitched battle between police and fans that left more than 170 people injured.

Some politicians connected the violence to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's comment a day earlier that "revolution would explode" on the terraces if the government did not help out Italian soccer that is 510 million euros ($629.5 million) in debt.

"It seems to me like an operation aimed at blackmailing the government. It was planned to place strong pressure at a moment when the executive must make an important decision," Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni said.

Violent scenes erupted when the game was abandoned in the second half after a false rumour circulated that a young boy had been killed by a police car outside the Olympic Stadium.

In an unprecedented move, AS Roma captain Francesco Totti came off the pitch to speak to a fan who told him about the false story and he then asked for the match to be stopped.

Police denied the rumour over the public address system but some Roma fans set fire to the stands, sending terrified supporters streaming out over the terraces.

Outside the stadium hundreds of fans wearing Roma and Lazio colours hurled flares, bottles and knives from behind makeshift barricades. Police responded with volleys of tear gas.

GUERRILLA WARFARE

"It was true guerrilla warfare," one police source said.

A total of 155 police officers were wounded and 21 fans were hurt, police said on Monday.

Police searching the grounds outside the stadium on Monday said they had found paper bombs stuffed with nails, screws and metal shards as well as knives, bars and sticks.

They added that the number of arrests could rise as officers looked at close-circuit television footage.

Italian Football League president, Adriano Galliani ordered the match to stop via telephone from Milan for reasons of public order.

But stadium security staff had said there was no risk in continuing the game.

"I suspect that all that happened was pre-arranged: in politics you call it a strategy of tension," Culture Ministry Undersecretary Mario Pescante said.

Some critics blame Berlusconi for the financial problems in Italian soccer by setting the example of huge salaries at AC Milan that has led to some clubs being unable to pay taxes.

The European Union had already moved to limit previous government efforts to help out Italian soccer which also faces a series of fraud investigations.

England: Footy thugs warned: 'We're watching you' - 13/03/2004

Source: Lancashire Evening Telegraph

FOOTBALL thugs were today warned by police: "We are watching you."

The warning came as the Home Office gave its backing to a police operation set up to crack down on hooligans in the run-up to Euro 2004.

Lancashire police today welcomed a huge cash boost for their operation and vowed to use the money to round up more of the yobs who tarnish football.

The Home Office has awarded £170,000 to Operation Fixture, which is being run in Pennine Division covering Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

As reported in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, almost 60 football hooligans from East Lancashire have already been banned from travelling to Portugal for the summer championships.

Of those, around 50 of the thugs claim to have their allegiances with Burnley Football Club.

The cash will be used to help pay for police intelligence to target or round up hooligans, helping them to monitor yobs on CCTV cameras and giving them the resources to make sure the thugs end up going to court. Football planning officer Sgt Graham Lister said: "I am delighted with the support we have had for the initiative."

He added that the money would be used to put banning orders on thugs, stopping them from travelling to Portugal for this summer's European Championship.

He said: "The message from Operation Fixture is clear - if you are involved in football violence, or contemplating travelling to Euro 2004 to engage in violence, you will come to the attention of Operation Fixture and getting a visit from our team of officers.

"Banning orders enable us to stop the trouble-makers from attending matches allowing the genuine football supporters to enjoy the game in a trouble free, safe environment.

"It also helps us to stop hooligans travelling to the Euro 2004 tournament, and subsequently avoids the embarrassing spectacle of seeing England hooligans once again involved in disorder on the continent."

Lancashire Constabulary is working with the National Criminal Intelligence Service to prevent this type of violent behaviour.

CCTV footage is routinely scanned for evidence of offences and followed up in post match inquiries. If police believe an individual is involved in football disorder a warning letter will be sent and police may visit the suspect to gather intelligence on their activities.

This can then be presented to the courts to obtain Football Banning Orders.

There are currently more than 50 people with Football Banning Orders and police are currently preparing another five cases for the civil courts.

Police are warning potential football hooligans that breaches of a banning order may result in a custodial sentence.

"We want to assure people that we are doing our utmost to prevent the minority spoiling the event of a football match for the vast majority of law abiding fans," added Sgt Lister.

52 fans banned from Euro 2004 - 25/03/2004

Source: Lancashire Evening Telegraph

POLICE in Lancashire have shown 52 would-be football hooligans from East Lancashire the red card in advance of this summer's Euro 2004 competition.

Banning orders have been taken out on more than 71 known trouble-makers in the county - the majority of which come from the Pennine and Eastern Division of the force - to stop them travelling to Portugal for the UEFA European Football Championship which takes place between Saturday, June 12 and Sunday, Julyu 4, 2004.

Of those 52, 42 are from the Burnley and Pendle area with the rest from the wider Blackburn area.

England will initially participate in Group B along with France, Switzerland, and Croatia. The first fixture is against France in Lisbon on Sunday, 13 June 2004.

Superintendent Clive Tattum, in charge of Operations Services, says police will be doing their best to ensure that known football hooligans do not travel to Portugal to cause trouble.

He said: "During the past decade, attention has increasingly turned to the poor behaviour of a minority of English football supporters overseas. Each incident has brought shame on our national reputation and resulted in many arrests and expulsions of English supporters by host nations.

"Over the last 12 months - and in the run up to Euro 2004 - we have supported a Government initiative and obtained more than 70 football banning orders against certain individuals, specifically aimed at stopping problem football supporters going to the tournament. Rigorous policing at all ports and airports in the county will enforce these orders.

"England will have more supporters at the tournament than any other nation apart from the hosts Portugal. The overwhelming majority of these England fans are law abiding and peaceful."

Football fans' fight causes a three-day riot in Syria - 15/03/2004

Source: Rojname.news


A fight between Arab and Kurdish supporters of rival Syrian football clubs has led to three days of rioting in the north-east of the country, which has left at least 15 people dead and more than 100 injured.
Despite claims by Kurdish officials that peace had been restored to the city of Qamishli near the Turkish border, where the trouble started, there were reports yesterday that Kurdish gunmen had killed four Arabs.
The violence began on Friday when a fight broke out between supporters of the al-Jihad and al-Fatwa football teams shortly before a match in Qamishli, 450 miles north east of Damascus. At least nine people died during the violence and stampede that followed.

Syrian state broadcasting reported late Saturday evening that the government had appointed a committee to investigate reasons behind the rioting, and an official statement warned those who broke the law would face "the severest punishments".
It said the riots damaged "the stability and security of the homeland and the citizen" and were the fault of "some intriguers" who had adopted "exported ideas."
Yesterday security officers and residents armed with licensed hunting rifles roamed the streets of Qamishli. They said their orders were not to use force unless "absolutely necessary".
However, there were reports that the security forces had opened fire on the unarmed demonstrators. Around 250 Kurds have been arrested.
The violence began on Friday when a fight broke out between supporters of al-Jihad and al-Fatwa football teams shortly before the start of their Syrian championship match in Qamishli, 450 miles northeast of Damascus.
It was reported that some of the fans began waiving a Kurdish flag and held aloft signs blessing US President George Bush, whose war in neighbouring Iraq has emboldened the Kurds there to call for recognition of their identity in a new constitution.
The Arab fans responded with jeers, denouncing Iraqi Kurdish leaders and provoking violent clashes that ended with riot police moving into the stadium.
It is thought that nine people died in the initial fighting and the stampede that followed.
On Saturday hundreds of Kurds took to the streets of Qamishli in spontaneous demonstrations that quickly degenerated into further rioting and the looting of shops and state offices.
The violence quickly spread to surrounding villages. Faisal Youssef, a member of the political bureau of the Democratic Progressive Kurdish Party in Syria, said 13 people in all had died in Qamishli and two in the Amouda village, 18 miles to the west.
Hameed Darwish, head of the Progressive Democratic Kurdish Party in Qamishli, also reported burning and looting of Kurdish property in the ethnically mixed city of Hasakah yesterday.
In Damascus students and Kurdish residents staged sit-ins to protest events in the north, and some public property and cars were damaged.
Several hundred riot officers wearing helmets and bearing plastic shields were stationed around Damascus University and in the Dummar suburb where several thousand Kurds live.
The unrest also spread beyond Syria's borders, prompting a break in at the Syrian embassy in Brussels by Kurdish demonstrators on Saturday.
Shouting "Syria, terrorists!" around 50 demonstrators climbed into the embassy garden and smashed windows, scattered pamphlets and damaged furniture before being removed by police.
Belgium has a large Kurdish community, most immigrants from Turkey.
The clashes come at a politically sensitive time for President Bashar Assad who is facing increasing pressure both domestically and from abroad.
The Bush administration has made it clear it intends to impose sanctions on Syria within the next few weeks for what it sees at its refusal to clamp down on Lebanese and Palestinian guerrilla groups which attack Israelis.
Syria has called for constructive dialogue over the sanctions which it claims were motivated by its support for Arab rights.
On the home front, human rights groups have accused the Syrian government of neglecting the rights of the country's two million Kurds, most of whom live in the underdeveloped north-eastern areas of Qamishli and Hasakah.
About 160,000 Kurds have been denied Syrian nationality, meaning they cannot vote, own property, go to state schools or get government jobs.
There is no mention of the Kurds as a distinct minority in Syria's constitution, with the government fearful of the destabilising effect of the Kurdish aspiration for a breakaway state in the north.
President Assad is also facing mounting pressure from a group of Syrian intellectuals who are campaigning for the lifting of the state's emergency laws, put in place since the Baath's party's rise to power 41 years ago.

14 Syrian Kurds killed in clashes in Qameshli - 14/03/2004

Source: Middle East online

Football match sparks two days of bloody clashes between Syrian Kurds and police in northern.


DAMASCUS - Fourteen Kurds, including three children, were killed in two days of clashes with police in northern Syria, originally sparked by fighting between rival football fans, Kurdish Syrian representatives said Saturday.

"Yesterday, nine people were killed and more than 100 were wounded during a riot," before a championship football match in the northern city of Qameshli, Abdel Aziz Dawd said.

"Five others were shot and killed today (Saturday) by riot police," during protests against the previous day's deaths, added Dawd, secretary general of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Progressive party.

Six of those killed Friday were shot by live bullets, while the other three were children, aged between 10 and 15, who were trampled to death in the panic which erupted after the shooting in the city's stadium, he said.

Damascus has ordered an inquiry into what happened in Qameshli on the Turkish border, 600 kilometres (375 miles) northwest of the capital, state television reported late Saturday.

Earlier in the day, dozens of people sustained bullet wounds in Qameshli and two neighbouring towns as thousands of Kurds gathered to protest against the police deaths.

In the morning, police clashed with Kurds who "threw stones at government buildings, including the customs office and the youth centre," said Abdel Baki Yussef, secretary general of the Kurdish party Yakiti.

The protests then spread to neighbouring towns and villages, where police "fired at the Kurdish population who threw stones at them," he added.

Meanwhile the trouble also spread to the capital Damascus, where several demonstrators were wounded and others were arrested in the western suburb of Dummar amid a similar protest, said Faisal Yussef, a member of the Progressive Kurdish Democracy Party.

By late Saturday, Yussef said that calm had returned to Qameshli as security was stepped up in Kurdish areas, including Dummar and the Rukneddin districts in southern Damascus.

In Lebanon, the Kurdish Democratic Party accused Syrian forces of "massacring the Kurdish civilian population in Qameshli, killing at least 70 people and wounding more than 400," in a statement on its website.

"At what was supposed to be a football match ... the intelligence services turned on the Kurdish crowd," it charged.

Several other Kurdish parties, which represent the country's sizable ethnic minority, accused police Saturday of opening fire the night before on fans of Qameshli's Al-Jihad football club before a match against its rival Al-Fatwa.

Kurdish parties and a human rights association said al-Fatwa supporters thronged the streets, denouncing Kurdish leaders in Iraq and brandishing pictures of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

The marches degenerated into clashes in the terraces and police officers fired on supporters of the Kurdish team, said a statement signed by Kurdish parties and the Defence Committees of Human Rights in Syria.

Calling for an independent investigation into the incident, the statement urged authorities to "severely punish" those who orchestrated the "carnage," while pressing Kurds to exercise "self-restraint".

"What happened is against the law. A commission has been set up to investigate the incident," state television said.

"Bandits undermined stability and security in the governorate of Hassakeh," the television added, in the first official mention of the unrest.

"Conspirators, who used what happened in the city stadium (before the football match) to sabotage private and public property and who sparked the troubles, were motivated by foreign ideas," the television said.

But the report made no mention of the 14 Kurds that Syrian Kurdish officials said were killed in the unrest.

More than one million Kurds live in Syria, mainly in the north, on the border with Iraq, but there are tensions with the majority Arab population.

Hooligans go on the rampage - 02/03/2004

Source: The Mercury

London: Police arrested 80 soccer fans after violence flared at four English matches at the weekend.

While confident they can stop English soccer hooligans causing mayhem at the European Championships in June, police were given a reminder that fan violence back home is increasing.

Police were pelted with bottles outside a pub where fans of Division Three Hull City had gathered before their game against local rivals Lincoln. They arrested 74 people.

"During the course of the afternoon, these people became violent," said Inspector Dick Holmes of Lincolnshire Police. "There were bottles and suchlike thrown at police officers.

"There was some damage caused to the public house itself, some windows were broken."

Later police were told some cash had been stolen from the premises.

There were six arrests in Bristol where fans of League Cup finalists Middlesbrough and Bolton were staying for their match in Cardiff.

They also clashed with fans of Bristol City who were returning from Sheffield and Cardiff City supporters returning from a game at West Ham.

By contrast, there were no arrests at the League Cup final itself at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium where 72 000 fans saw Middlesbrough beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 for their first major trophy in their 128-year history.

"For the first time at a major football cup final staged at the Millennium Stadium we were able to report no arrests relating to football fans and no ejections from the ground," stadium manager Paul Sergeant reported yesterday.

"That is an enormous credit to the fans of both sides who came to Cardiff to enjoy what many people are calling the greatest cup final staged at the Millennium Stadium."

Meanwhile, the Home Office revealed an increase of 19% in soccer-related arrests last year, rising to 4 793.

The rise is alarmingly steep at a time when English police are trying to stop known hooligans travelling to Portugal for the European championship finals later this year.

Up to 2 500 potential British troublemakers will be subject to travel bans in an effort to keep them away from the tournament. They will have to hand in their passports during the June 12-July 4 tournament and report to their local police stations to make sure they cannot travel.

Fan ban to top 2000 for Euro 2004 - 01/03/2004

Source : REÜTERS

Around 2,400 suspected English soccer hooligans could be banned from travelling to Euro 2004 in Portugal compared to just 100 when the last championship was held in Belgium and the Netherlands.

David Swift, the police's pointman on hooliganism, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that 340 more banning orders were going through English courts on top of 2,061 put in place since Euro 2000.

"There's been a massive effort. One of the main strands of our work is 'don't let the problem leave the country in the first place," he said.

"They will have to hand in their passports to local police to be sent on to a body called the Football Banning Orders Authority."

England fans caused mayhem in Brussels and Charleroi during the 2000 championship and the national team has been warned it could be thrown out of the 2004 tournament if fans misbehave.

"It's not an inevitability there will be problems," said Swift, the deputy chief constable of Staffordshire police.

"There has never been as much work gone into a tournament. We have to, on the basis of problems that have occurred before. I'm struggling to think what else we could do, quite honestly."

Last month's Portugal-England friendly in the Algarve region was a successful trial run, with 4,000 or so England fans responding well to 'fan-friendly' policing during the 1-1 draw.

"All the right signs were there but we shouldn't get over-confident. We were talking about one 10th of the number of people there," said Swift, who was in Portugal for the game.

Some 50,000 England fans are expected to travel to Portugal when the 16-nation tournament starts in June.

SOFT APPROACH

Portuguese police are set to adopt a soft approach initially while keeping riot police in reserve, Swift said.

"They're adopting the more standard UK, German, Dutch tactic that says 'actually, we'll put uniformed officers out in pairs and, where their language skills permit, get them to engage'."

Police were holding fans' forum meetings to overcome mutual suspicions. "Fans have responsibilities too of isolating people we don't want, reporting to us those who are there for nefarious reasons, and simultaneously doing something themselves positive to present the right image," he said.

Using a five million pound government grant, police have mounted surveillance operations at 60 clubs across England to catch potential troublemakers before Euro 2004.

Swift said the main problem in England was yobbish, drunken behaviour around matches, rather than the more organised fights between rival gangs or "firms" that was the face of hooliganism in the 1980s and 1990s.

"The firms do still exist. There is evidence that using mobile phones they plan some events. But that level is on a much smaller scale than in the past," he said.

Around 2,400 suspected English soccer hooligans could be banned from travelling to Euro 2004 in Portugal compared to just 100 when the last championship was held in Belgium and the Netherlands. English soccer fans are pictured running through water from water cannons fired by Belgium riot police during clashes in Charleroi.

Soccer violence may be organised - 01/03/2004

Source : BBC News

Police believe fighting between rival football fans in Bristol may have been organised days in advance.

The city was the stopover point on Saturday for hundreds of supporters travelling between three matches.

Many were Bolton and Middlesbrough fans en route to the Carling Cup final in Cardiff.

Police mounted a special operation to curb any violence and some waterside bars closed. Six people were arrested for public disorder and drunkenness.


More than 150 officers, armed with batons and CS spray, were involved in breaking up sporadic fights in the city.

Several pubs and clubs shut temporarily to ease trouble.

The out-of-town fans were joined in the city centre by supporters from Bristol City, who were returning home from Sheffield and a small number of fans from Cardiff City, who were travelling home following their club's match at West Ham.

Fighting football fans jailed - 01/03/2004

Source : BBC News

Eight football fans have been jailed for between three and five months at Glasgow Sheriff Court following a city centre brawl.

The fight happened in January last year when Aberdeen fans clashed with Rangers supporters outside a city centre pub.

Video footage showed pedestrians diving for cover and the fight was only stopped when police arrived.

Sheriff Linda Ruxton said jail was the only option "in the interests of the public".


Rangers fans Arthur M****, 38, Robert McG****, 35, and John H******, 36, were sentenced to 20 months each after they admitted attacking an Aberdeen fan.

'Frightening experience'

Dons fans Michael C******, 35, James B******, 26, and Paul J*******, 33, were jailed for five months each for fighting with Rangers supporters George McD*****, 31, and Barry D*******, 26, who were sentenced to four and three months respectively.

Sheriff Ruxton said: "This was an incident associated with football violence, which brought a serious disturbance.

"It took very little to lose control and, as a result, you behaved like hooligans.

"It must have been a frightening experience for those that were witnesses. Your actions made Glasgow city centre a very dangerous place.

"Public interest demands that a custodial sentence must be passed."

The fight broke out after Aberdeen fans had arrived in Glasgow on 25 January to catch a train following a Scottish Cup tie in Dumfries.

Marseille (2) - Toulon - 06/03/2004

Source : VAR MATIN + LA PROVENCE + forum

This game, opposing the Toulon team to the 2nd Marseille team, was classified as high risks.
Prior to the game, a Toulon fans - 200 for this game - coach was attacked by missiles, throwing by approx 15 Marseille fans. Toulon ultras went out of their coach to confront Marseille fans but police forces made an intervention. In the same time, a Toulon fan was also arrested and some vehicles were damaged.
At the end of the game, new riots occured, opposing Toulon ultras to Marseille stewards (some were ultras).
*************************************************************
Toulon ultra view:
For this game, approx 60 Irréductibles Toulon made the trip without escort but no Marseille ultras were seen. But, the Fedelissimi Toulon coach was attacked by approx 20 locals. Punches were exchanged.

Rennes - FC Nantes - 06/03/2004

Source : french forum + Rennes ultra mail

More than 100 Nantes ultras confronted 60 locals. Many of these last ones have to retreat without accepting a toe-to-toe.
***********************************************************
Added by a local:
* approx 150 Nantes fans were present.
* locals ran for their lives directley when they saw visitors. Only 2 Rennes fans stood for a toe-to-toe.

FC Metz - RC Lens - 06/03/2004

Source : french forum

A double deck coach, composed by Red Tigers (ultras) and ex-North's Warriors (old lads), took the direction of Metz. At 7pm, the group took the direction of the stadium with the aim to have a toe-to-toe with locals. They saw a group of 50 locals and charged them. Only a few locals stood their ground but Lens fans ran after locals just behind the local stand. French CRS charged Lens fans, using batons and plastic balls gunshots. Some minutes later, visitors charged for the 2nd time locals who have to retreat.

Montpellier HSC - Toulouse FC - 06/03/2004

Source : french forum

For this derby, 3 Toulouse fans coaches made the trip. The 1st coach (from the Indians group) was assaulted by a few locals. French CRS made a charge on locals and made a few arrests.

SC Bastia - Marseille - 07/03/2004

Source : french forum

Riots opposing Marseille stewards and their own fans, before new riots with local stewards.
Outisde the stadium, approx 100 French CRS took their positions but were assaulted by locals. CRS used teargas to restore order. A this time, 150-200 locals tried to reach Marseille ultras but CRS made a new intervention, causing new riots between both sides.

Leicester fan fined for pitch invasion - 09/03/2004

Source: Soccernet

Leicester City fan who ran on to the pitch and was seen by millions of television viewers being restrained by goalkeeper Ian Walker was fined £350 today.

Andrew Price, 38, leapt over a barrier to hurl abuse at his team as they slumped to a 5-0 defeat against Aston Villa in a Premiership match earlier this year.

The supporter came face-to-face with Walker in the televised confrontation, who managed to restrain him before he was dragged off the pitch by stewards.

Price, of Welland Park Road, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, was also made the subject of a three-year football banning order after pleading guilty to pitch invasion at Leicester Magistrates Court today.

The court heard the factory worker had been to several pubs before attending the match with friends on January 31.

The lifelong Leicester City supporter was in the east stand of the Walkers Stadium when he suddenly decided to confront the goalkeeper.

Annelli Pritchard, defending, said: 'He became increasingly upset at the way that the scoreline was going and by City's recent form. Impulsively, and without thinking about the consequences of his actions, he left his seat and decided he would have words with Mr Walker.

'The next thing he realised he was on the pitch face-to-face with Ian Walker. He was astounded that he had made it that far. He made comments to Mr Walker about his performance on the pitch.'

The court heard Price had made a full apology to the club and goalkeeper and had already been banned from the ground for life.

Ms Pritchard said the season ticket which he had paid for had been taken away from him and he would never be able to watch his team again.

She said the father-of-three's actions were completely out of character and he had never been involved with any form of football disorder before.

Magistrate Bernard Lloyd said: 'This was a deliberate provocative act. We could not think of a worse example. You have three children of your own and as a warning to others you will be fined £350.'

He said he was also going to impose a football banning order for a period of three years, barring Price from any football grounds in England and Wales.

Arrests in Italy - 06/03/2004

Source: Tifonet

Thirty-three Catania ultras were arrested by police forces as they caused damages at their coach, during the trip from Cagliari to Trapani.

Como - Palermo - 07/03/2004

Source: Tifonet

At the beginning of the 2nd half, a few Palermo ultras have stolen a Como banner

Salvadoran fan dies in terrace blast - 08/03/2004

Source: Reuters

A Salvadoran soccer fan died and at least 20 others were injured on Sunday after an explosion on the terraces apparently caused by supporters mishandling chemicals used to create smoke, emergency workers said.

The first division match between Alianza and San Salvador was scrapped after the blast at the Jorge Gonzalez stadium in the capital.

The game had not started when the explosion happened.

The dead man was named as Jesus Montano, 24, who was a member of the 'Loyal White' group of Alianza supporters who often let off smoke and fireworks during matches.

Police and Red Cross workers said fans had been handling the chemical chlorate when the blast happened.

Real Madrid - Real Zaragoza - 13/03/2004

Source: Yahoo

Real Madrid supporters hold a banner reading, "The pain is in our heart. Spain never gives up," during a Liga match between Real Madrid and Zaragoza at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid

Real Madrid fans hold up a giant Spanish flag with a black ribbon during a Spanish league soccer match against Zaragoza at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Saturday March 13, 2004. The death toll has risen to 200 following the attacks on trains in the Spanish capital on March 11 which injured at least another 1,400.

Birmingham City - Leicester City - 13/04/2003

Source: ITK - Leicester view


Got into New st station about 10.30 this morning, heard there was a lot of bs there already. We took over a few pubs as we got there early doors. When the zulus arrived we ran a load of them around town, but not many altercations as they kept getting away. At about 1.30 some lad lobbed a bottle through the window of a pub, cant remeber the name but was an irish pub , nr ford garage. As a result we all got an escort to the ground and they didnt even let us stop for a piss until we nrly got there. Didnt see many blues on the way just a few at mcdonalds nr the ground but mostly youth. Then there was the game which i am mightly relieved we won, "cudnt score in la manga was the best chant".


After the game was a different story tho. Never in my 15yrs of travelling have i seen a firm so big, the zulus where everywhere and many of them did make an effort, although there pubs were being guarded by OB. So respect to them , even tho some of them were showing off blades. Fair play to them on the whole a huge firm firm and all big game lads.

Escorted to station like fucken dogs and people were getting calls on the train that palace had arrived again. However when we got in none in sight however i have been told they did show so fair play to them again bringing it on.

RSC Anderlecht - RSC Charleroi - 13/04/2004

Source: forums

Riots occured inside the away stand, opposing Charleroi fans, ultras and lads to local stewards and police forces.
One fan was arrested.

Le Mans - Paris SG - 13/03/2004

Source: AFP - french newspapers

During the week, people were affraid concerning riots who could be erupted, opposing PSG fans, the ones from the Boulogne stand to the Auteuil stand ones.
More than 300 policemen were on duty wit the aim to control all these fans. The game was classified as high risks.
Finally, 30 minutes after the beginning of the game, approx 50 PSG fans without tickets entered the main stand. A total of 150/200 away fans entered the stands without tickets.
It also seems riots broke out, opposing rival PSG ultras groups, just at the end of the game. More than 100 fans fought together. Frenc CRS made charges to restore order, but one fan lied on the floor, seriously injured.
Another incident occured on the A10 motorway, where 5 people were injured after a fight opposing PSG fans to Metz fans who were on the road to Nantes.
Four of these injured fans were from Metz.

PSV Eindhoven - Feyenoord Rotterdam - 14/03/2004

Source: forums

Approx 60/70 Feyenoord lads met up the night prior to the game, at the Valkenswaard.

Waiting for other news....
1st news: All Charleroi lads who made the trip for this game were arrested...

Riots at the Genoa station - 13/03/2004

Source:Teletext

Riots occured at the Brignole train station, from Genoa. Police forces made 2 charges on + 200 Bologna ultras who caused troubles.

KAA Gent - Standard Liège - 14/03/2004

Source: TV

At the end of the game, angry Standard fans caused troubles throwing seats onto the pitch.
Outside the stadium, scuffles erutped, opposing police forces, who used water-canon, and fans. Some damages were caused.