Match Day Thread England vs Russia 8pm 11th June

Yeah, Kane should really not be taking corners.

 

just got back from France. Loved it - I got to throw a chair at someone!
Those Russians are a bit pesky though.

 

Video footage from a GoPro carried by a Russian hooligan. If this doesn't clear it up, I'm not sure what does...

 

Horrible. Russia is a hideous place right now.

 

My cousin is going to the Russia v Slovakia game in Lille on Wednesday and this is where the England fans are being asked to gather ahead of the Wales match in Lens. I'm a bit concerned about his welfare now.

 

Not funny Jonny, there's a fan still lying in a coma over there.

 

Indeed, not funny at all. I thought about deleting it, but left it to see if anyone would comment. Personally I thought it was pathetic.
Go into a country as a guest. Make a load of noise, pick up property that doesn't belong to you and then throw it at someone else who is a guest in the country, possibly damaging other property that doesn't belong to you along the way. Cost that country their Police time to come and protect you from your own stupidity.

 

Lille is not Marseille. With any luck the whole thing will be a lot more professionally policed than Marseille has been.

 

One of my sons was in Marseilles and witnessed everything in the port. He is in no way a trouble maker and clearly laid the blame at organised Russian gang and French (Marseilles ultras). The violence which keeps getting shown of England fans apparently on the rampage was when they were running from gangs of Russians, dressed in black wielding knives. The police did nothing apart from firing tear gas at the England fans giving them a choice - break the police lines or turn back to Russian thugs. The BBC reporting in particular on the TV has been nothing short of scandalous - backed up by the continuous references by Lineker et al about England hooligans and shame. There is a massive cover up going on and England fans are being scapegoated. I do not doubt there are a few (a very small minority) on the look out for trouble, but most known football hooligans on police lists handed their passports in. The UK is the only country which exercises control over the hooligans. I am so angry about what has happened, but even more angry about the reporting.

Why have the BBC TV news not reported the statement made by the Russian Football Union supporting their fans, stating fighting is part of football and encouraging them to get stuck in. This was reported on Radio 5. Why have none of the 150 Russian thugs (as reported by French Police) been arrested? Why have none of the Marseille ultras been arrested? Why is it that the only culprits jailed are 6 England fans?

There is more to what is happening here - there was trouble with Northern Irish and Polish fans being attacked by Marseilles gangs, with some retaliation/self defence. There was trouble between German and Ukraine supporters before their match. The Russian situation is, however, the overriding cover up here. Given they are hosting the 2018 World Cup they cannot be suspended from that competition - the only alternative is kick them out of Euros this year. To appease a political backlash, they will need to get rid of other teams. The reporting of this whole situation stinks - only Rio Ferdinand has had the balls to say 'before any decisions are taken I hope UEFA are in possession of all the facts.' But hey, lets not let facts get in the way of a good story.

 

I get the feeling that it was payback for 1998, the Marsaille Police were heavy handed with the English, yet let the local French youths and the Russians do what they wanted.
I will say though I've seen plenty of footage of English fans being "up for it" and running towards other groups too. I think that the Russians were too well organised for them and were pretty merciless.

 

Calm down. It's easy for people back in England to point fingers and be judgmental, but I'll bet it was bloody frightening for a lot of our lads out there. And I'm sure a lot of them were forced to defend themselves, rather than them doing it out of choice.

I'm glad to hear of any Saints/England fans declaring that they are safe and sound, and if they are able to joke so soon about it, then good for them. Stiff upper lip and all that.

 

No need for calm as I'm not angry. I see perspectives from outside the world of the football supporter, as well as from the inside, as 99% of my friends have or want nothing to do with football. Believe it or not, most ordinary people has little time and patience with football supporters, when they think of them at all, be they Russian, English, French, it doesn't matter, they all get tarred with the same brush. Even the ones who don't cause trouble. In fact, I'm often asked by my friends why I associate myself with such a sport. And when I see the reported scenes I sometimes wonder why too.

Of course I'm glad to hear that any supporters are safe and sound. That's the condition they ought to be in. We shouldn't need to be concerned about them other than the usual risks to tourists.

 

Hideous.

 

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/13956/10312610/russian-fans-defended-honour

Truly awful statement from a Russian FA member excusing (and even celebrating) the actions of their fans. Go right to end where he complains about the outrage of French police visiting fans in their hotel....the irony of criticising the French after Russia's previous history in human rights.

 

If there's one thing responsible English and Russian fans ought to be able to agree on, it's that the French police are ****ing useless...

 

To be fair, it's good to hear that they are actually making an effort to find the hooligans.

 

Fair enough, if that's what they're doing.

I don't think the hooligans were that hard to find on Saturday night, probably a bit late now.

 

Exactly - the instigators in the port were wearing black t shirts, some with black balaclavas deliberately - stood out against the crowd.

 

I'm sorry TSS, but this sort of stubborn mindset on football supporters helped make the Hillsborough cover up.

England has worked hard to change that perception over the last 20 odd years.

Just because your drinking and singing doesn't mean your fair game to be attacked.

Yes, I understand that England fans can be borish and I cringe at World War Two chants etc
But there is a lot of strong evidence that a number of them were attacked by Russian fans and that GoPro footage shows this.

England fans also vastly outnumbered the Russians and whilst I admire a pacifist attitude in times of extreme violence. If I had bottles and chairs thrown at me, then I'd throw them back and I wouldn't trouble myself with how English football was perceived in that moment.

 

The police will have access to hundreds of CCTV tapes. They even apparently have clear footage of the coma victim's attackers (according to the guy who set-up the crowd-funding site). All they have to do is match a few faces and you'd hope the threat of long sentences may perturb the rest.