Media frenzy putting real fans at risk

Fan groups want real supporters to enjoy Euro 2000

Alarm and disquiet is growing among football supporters groups that intense concentration over the possibility of hooliganism at Euro 2000 will increase difficulties for law-abiding fans travelling to the Championships.

Football Supporters Association spokeswoman Sheila Spiers believes that the avalanche of media coverage has heightened tension among Benelux security forces, particularly in Belgium, where attention has focussed on England's match with Germany in Charleroi on 17 June.

"While there's always widespread expectation of hooliganism before any major championships in which England play, the attention prior to this year's finals has, by comparison, been immense," Spiers said.

She added: "Overemphasising what are often legitimate security issues creates a perception among individual Belgian policemen that English fans mean trouble.

"If the police and city authorities are tense then they are likely to take restrictive and repressive actions that will affect the majority."

While there's always widespread expectation of hooliganism before any major championships in which England play, the attention prior to this year's finals has, by comparison, been immense

Sheila Spiers, FSA

Evidence of such attitudes comes in the decision to ban England supporters from purchasing the remaining tickets for their fixture with Romania, currently on sale in Belgium.

Meanwhile, the official Euro 2000 slogan, 'Football Without Frontiers', has been somewhat undermined by the reintroduction of border controls during the finals.

England fans are under close scrutiny

German fan worker Michael Gabriel, whose organisation, like the FSA, are trying to represent the interest of supporters at Euro 2000, recently visited Charleroi and was surprised at the pre-conceptions which greeted him:

"The authorities were amazed that we were working with an English fan group, they seemed to think that every Englishman wants to fight every German," Gabriel said.

A spokesman for the England Members Club Supporters Committee, which recently launched its 'Football Yes, Violence No' campaign, also criticised the Belgian approach.

"We have been trying to raise the profile and reputation of England fans but it's difficult to do this when the Belgian police appear to be preparing for a war.

Reassurance

We continuously hear about initiatives to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, whilst reading nothing about what they intend doing to manage the event safely."

"I'm taking my son to the Germany game and, following widespread criticism of the stadium, I want reassurance that he'll be OK, not news that there'll be segregated morgues."

The EMC Supporters Committee are also concerned about the approach of Home Secretary Jack Straw and feel that the signals he is sending out are reminiscent of the tone set during Italia '90 by the then Sports Minister, Colin Moynihan.

"There has been a noticeable and unwelcome hardening of Straw's position, and by using phrases such as zero tolerance he's almost giving the green light for the police to make sweeping arrests and carry out mass deportations," added the statement.