As Euro 2004 kicks off, as with other large international tournaments involving England, the focus for troublemaking has been laid at the door of the English fans. At the same time, the media, for example in Italy, conveniently forget problems that have occurred closer to home. The question remains though: for many, hooliganism remains a British disease – to what extent is that fair? “Well, it's more described now as an English disease, because the Scots are getting picky and saying that they're not part of it (laughs). If you look elsewhere in Europe though… I've been to games, for example, in Italy, where the scale of the Police presence has been formidable, with water canons, tear gas, etc. which make our games look tame. Most European countries have experienced similar problems, it's just characteristic of the English in particular to take these opportunities, as it were, to slag off members of their own proletariat. Whereas the French, the Germans, the Italians are by and large more supportive of them”.

But isn't it more a case that, while there is trouble on a club level, most European nations don't see the same violence on an international level that the English do? ”I don't think there's a simple answer to this. To some extent if you examine the role of the media, and in particular, but not exclusively, the role of the tabloids, you can see it going on at the moment in the context of the ongoing debate over the European Union. There's a rather base, unpleasant, jingoistic kind of nonsense. There are people going around with St. George's flag stickers on their car windows, and so while the media on the one hand fuels and stokes this kind of bigoted xenophobia, then they call foul when our kids act out this bulldog role in supporting the team. It's a very ambivalent attitude being generated, and a very unpleasant one”.

Which leads us on to the role of the media: to what extent does it fuel the fire? “Well, the media reinvent football hooliganism every year, usually at the start of the season, and quite often with apocalyptic warnings about trouble ahead, and so on. In a sense, simply saying the media creates the problem, is too simple, but what the media does do is to set a stage, or provide a script for behaviour, and again, there are far too many people willing to step onto that stage and act out a role that's been assigned to them. To some extent it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, because the whole point of causing problems at these games is to establish a reputation, as the kind of person who can handle himself, and handle these sorts of situations. So the more attention you get from the media, particularly from Television, the more exciting the game becomes and more fulfilling one to play. It's difficult to get out of that, I think”.

What about the build up to Euro 2004? Has the media reporting to it been better, and more responsible? “I think there's probably been a bit of an improvement in the reporting, as everyone now is that bit more careful, and cautious, than they have been in, for example, previous European championships or World cups. Let's see if that more measured approach has some impact. It seems to me the British Police have been rounding up all the usual suspects, even if they haven't actually committed a crime, and have taken away their passports, so there's going to be less opportunity for people to get out there anyway”. Is that the solution? To prevent the problem before it happens, to crack down on possibilities? “No, for every sort of Jack the Lad making his name you take out of circulation, you simply find another half a dozen all too eager to step into their shoes. O.K., you keep some of the more well known morons out of it, but I don't think it really tackles the problem. The problem of course is, as we've seen unfortunately in other places, like in Belgium and Holland, other European police forces aren't as used to dealing with this type of behaviour, and, sadly, often the approach has been 'let&ap
os;s get in a pre-emptive strike', which as a tactic is perhaps the least effective you could have”.