The judges said "The government almost certainly introduced legislation to prevent hooligans travelling abroad as a result of this film - underlining the key role Panorama plays in political debate."

Panorama has for the past eight days been covertly filming known football hooligans who have evaded checks and controls to get into Belgium and Holland.

One hooligan who has a string of football related convictions actually left London on the day he was due in court. Two other hooligans reveal that they still managed to get into Belgium despite the fact that they had banning orders.

Scroll down for related links

Eddie Curtis, Head of the British Police Spotting Team, which is tracking football hooligans throughout Euro 2000 says that the majority of people that UK authorities hoped would be denied entry to the host countries are now in Belgium and the Netherlands.

An England fan injured in the violent scenes in Belgium

After 25 years of terrible incidents like Heysel, and more recently Copenhagen, and the outbreak of violence in Belgium at the weekend, Panorama asks whether the British authorities are any closer to really resolving this problem.

Eddie Curtis says "I think the energies of the authorities should be directed at ensuring, if they really mean what they say about trying to stop this sort of behaviour, that they give the likes of ourselves and the other police services in Europe sufficient legislation to prevent the people we know who've been convicted before a court within a proper judicial system, we can stop them from travelling to an away football match."

Related links:

BBC News - UK hooligans could face life ban

Football Association Newsdesk

Euro 2000 Official Site