Football violence

Hooligans often don't even watch the match of the team they are supposed to be following. They are more interested in 'having a go' at supporters of the opposing team. They travel large distances in order to attack anyone in the vicinity of the ground, or the town centre. Sometimes they even fight their own supporters. Unfortunately this is especially true of the England fans. At the recent Turkey-England Euro2004 qualifier in Sunderland all the fighting was between rival England supporters — in particular between club supporters of Sunderland and Newcastle: two towns about 15 kilometres from each other, both premier division teams with an intense hatred and rivalry. The police and the Home Office have tried to deal with hooligans travelling to England matches abroad by confiscating the passports of known hooligans and by monitoring ports and airports carefully. Groups of hooligans have recently gone as far as travelling through third countries. For example: if there is a match in Holland, then to avoid getting caught, hooligans have flown to Spain and caught trains to Holland to escape detection. Once near the football ground, rival groups of hooligans even telephone each other by mobile to organise massive fights and to avoid the police. One English club side has even begun to employ former hooligans as security specialists, but this seems to have backfired, as the club in question still has some of the worst violence and racism in the country.