Season 03/04 - February

Air yobs alert - 10/02/2004

Source: Liverpool Echo

ENGLAND soccer hooligans are planning to use Liverpool as a way of getting to this summer's Euro 2004 football tournament.

Police intelligence has revealed they aim to take cheap flights to Spain and then travel across to Portugal cause mayhem at the event.

But police are vowing to stop the thugs flying from Liverpool John Lennon airport and will put on a special operation this summer.

Officers have a list of known hooligans and will stop any of them if they arrive at the terminal.

They will compile a file of information on the yobs' history of violent behaviour and quickly haul them before a court to secure a football banning order.

That would see them being stopped from going near football stadiums on match days and having to give up their passport before England away fixtures.

A similar operation will be put on at Liverpool ports.

Merseyside police football intelligence officer, Det Con Ian Miller, said: "All the planning for this has been done.

"It is a full operation and will be put in place ahead of the Euro 2004 tournament this summer.

"We have the power to go to court after stopping someone at the airport and secure a football banning order.

"It is also happening at the ports. We are determined to help stop any potential trouble in Portugal."

Police have the power to stop someone at the airport who they believe wants to go abroad to cause trouble.

If the suspect is from another part of the country officers will contact colleagues from the relevant force.

They will also be in contact with teams of officers at other airports and ports to see if the person has been stopped there.

Det Con Miller said: "There will be a lot of swopping information and we can keep someone at the airport for several hours while that happens."

England: Now yobs get the red card - 06/02/2004

Source: Liverpool Echo

MERSEYSIDE police are leading the way in tackling trouble at football matches.

Home Office figures show hooligans have been almost completely driven away from both Anfield and Goodison Park.

Last season there were just three violent incidents at Everton with a total of eight at Liverpool.

At Manchester United's Old Trafford ground there were 11 and Birmingham City was worst with 27.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Merseyside police are really using well the money we set aside to deal with football-related crime and the figures show that.

"We are delighted with the results and it shows that the special funding project we launched last year is working."

The police have special liaison officers who speak with both clubs on a dayto-day basis to see if there are specific issues which need to be looked at ahead of the match.

Inspector Bernie Swift works alongside Liverpool and Inspector Tom King looks after Everton.

Preparation for games starts weeks in advance with files being created on any potential violence and any history of trouble between the clubs.

Special reports on known thugs who may be at the match are also included in the information.

Insp Swift said: "There has been a lot of change since the 1980s when there were obvious problems.

"The planning starts weeks in advance and the files of information we have are very extensive.

Insp King said: "The category system allows us to distinguish the way we work different games and has been used for around 10 years now."

The two inspectors hold a meeting with the match commander, who was Chief Superintendent Dave Willman for the derby, in the week before the match.

Officers on duty are briefed on the day of the game and then dispatched to areas either inside or outside the ground.

The match commander sits in front of a bank of CCTV screens which can pick out a yob anywhere in the ground.

Supt Willman said: "The facilities at both Everton and Liverpool are great for policing and we are in constant contact with stewards and paramedics."

Crowd watch

THE MERSEYSIDE Derby passed off with just three arrests - one for a minor disorder offence and two others for ticket touting.

This is how the match was policed: NOON: Control room at Anfield launch operation. 1pm: Coaches of Liverpool fans from around the country are guided into parking areas.

1.18pm: Police escort for Everton team coach from Bellefield. It arrives 20 minutes later.

1.40pm: Liverpool team coach arrives under police escort.

2.30pm: Helicopter sent out to watch over a group of Liverpool fans leaving The Stanley pub and similar amount of Evertonians pouring out of The Thomas Frost pub. 4pm: Police in city centre prepare for fans to head into pubs and bars.

4.50pm: Final whistle. Officers sent to known trouble hotspots around pubs in the Anfield area but no reports of violence.

1.FC Magdeburg - FSV Zwickau - 22/04/2004

Source : kategorie Magdeburg website

England: Footie louts hit with Euro 2004 ban - 27/02/2004

Source: Lancashire Evening Telegraph

ALMOST 60 football hooligans from East Lancashire have been banned from Euro 2004, it was revealed today.

Nine thugs who claim to support Blackburn Rovers and 50 who follow Burnley have been given banning orders preventing them travelling to Portugal for summer championships.

The move is part of a nationwide drive by 66 clubs that has seen more than 2,000 hooligans barred from travelling to watch the tournament.

A further 600 thugs across the country are currently being targeted as police try to ensure the trouble-element to England's support does not get the chance to tarnish the country's name again.

The banning orders are made under the Football Disorder Act 2000 and prohibit hooligans attending UK matches. For international and European games, they are made to surrender their passports.

The powers were introduced after trouble at Euro 2000 in Belgium and Holland. Then only 100 England 'fans' were stopped.

£5million in Government cash is being used to fund the Euro 2004 crackdown after threats that the England football team would be expelled if there were repeats of the trouble.

Detective Constable Tim McDermott, football intelligence officer for Blackburn Rovers, said a lot of hooligans receiving banning orders had been identified following the Celtic UEFA Cup clash in late 2002.

They had been specifically targeted by operations at matches to build evidence to persuade a judge to grant a banning order.

Mr McDermott also spoke of his visit to the Algarve last week for England's friendly with Portugal in which he helped police with other British officers. He said: "It went reasonably well. There was a bit of trouble before the game but it was drunken disorderly we would get on a Friday or Saturday night.

"We would hope that was thanks to the successes we have had but we will have to wait and see."

In Burnley, police mounted Operation Fixture, making pre-match visits to known hooligans to warn them about their behaviour, sending cautionary letters and seizing computer equipment from thugs posting inflammatory information on the internet.

Last season, 25 people were arrested at Ewood Park and 130 at Turf Moor.

Algeria hit with $33,000bill for fans rampage - 13/02/2004

Source: Middle East Online

$15,000 for anti-sporting behaviour of Algerian supporters against Morocco, $18,652 to cover cost of repairs to Sfax stadium.

TUNIS - Algerian football chiefs were handed a bill for over 33,000 dollars on Thursday as punishment for the mayhem caused when their team's fans went on the rampage in an African Nations Cup match.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) fined the Algerian Football Federation 15,000 dollars for the "anti-sporting behaviour" of supporters at the quarter-final against Morocco in Sfax last Sunday.

They were also told to pay damages of 18,652 dollars to cover the cost of repairs to the stadium.

"We regret the unhappy incidents caused by Algerian fans," said CAF president Issa Hayatou.

As their team was going down to a 3-1 defeat to Morocco, Algerian supporters ripped up plastic seats at the Taieb-Mhiri stadium and threw them onto the pitch.

Some of the 2,000 security personnel employed around the ground then clashed with the fans. They spilled out onto the streets where more damage was caused to shopfronts and cars.

The authorities said that 69 people were hurt in the trouble.

Earlier in the tournament, the Algerian federation was fined 5,000 dollars after their supporters threw missiles on to the pitch in the highly-volatile match with bitter rivals Egypt.

Meanwhile CAF on Thursday announced that applications by Ivory Coast, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to host the 2008 African Nations Cup had been received after the expiry of the deadline of November 30, 2003.

South Africa, Ghana and Libya will be the three contenders for the finals with the winner due to be named in June this year.

Dynamo Dresden - FC ST. Pauli - 28/02/2004

Source : ST. Pauli fans website

Budejce - Sparta Praha - 28/02/2004

Source: http://www.rumhools.cz

Three-year match ban on Pompey yob - 10/02/2004

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

A FOOTBALL thug has been banned from matches for three years for his part in a riot before Portsmouth's Carling Cup clash with Southampton.
Dean Albuery was part of a group of Pompey fans who battled with Southampton supporters outside The Joiners Arms pub in St Mary Street, Southampton, before the match.

He will also have to surrender his passport five days before an England international, as part of a nationwide crackdown on football yobs before the Euro 2004 championships in Portugal in June.

Police heard Albuery, 34, of Target Road, Tipner, Portsmouth, hurling abuse at Southampton supporters, threatening to beat them and inviting them to fight.

His outbursts were caught on video.

He later turned himself in and was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder.

When he appeared at Southampton Magistrates' Court he admitted the lesser charge of using threatening behaviour, and as well as the ban he was given 220 hours of community service and fined £100.

West Bromwich Albion - Cardiff City - 14/02/2004

Source : Press