Back to the Bad Old Days

There's no hard and fast rule about half-time activities at football matches. Sometimes the crowd is asked to salute a retired footballer for past achievements. Sometimes fans are requested to turn their attention to a group of local entertainers. But at the Euro 2004 qualifying match between Slovakia and England at the Slovan Stadium in Bratislava last weekend, the first half-time announcement was a chilling instruction to England's supporters. "Don't do problems," warned the voice over the public address. "Our boys from the police are very strong."

Prior to half-time, England supporters had several times rushed the flimsy wire fence that separated them from the Slovak fans, only to be beaten back by Slovak police in riot gear. Some English fans claimed they were infuriated by Slovak racist taunting directed at England's black star players, such as striker Emile Heskey. Whatever the reason, the scene was as depressing as it was familiar — an exchange of insults, followed by an exchange of bottles. And then the sickening surges of human bodies — first toward the opposition fans in rage, and then away from the police in fear.

After the match — a dour 2-1 victory for England on a hopelessly waterlogged pitch — England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson said the scene was like "many years ago when I was in Belgium in the Heysel Stadium." In 1985, at a match between English side Liverpool and Italian team Juventus, 39 people were killed and hundreds injured when a wall gave way at Heysel Stadium in Brussels. Most of the dead were Juventus supporters, crushed trying to retreat from charging Liverpool fans.

So much for football's new era. England's latest international campaign may have just gotten underway, but this filthy evening was like a throwback to the game's oldest and darkest days. After a trouble-free World Cup 2002, there had been some optimism in English circles that hooliganism might become, if not a thing of the past, then at least an ill that was being pushed to the periphery of the sport. Not so. Now authorities like England's Football Association (F.A.) and UEFA — European football's governing body — are again left grappling with the ugliest aspects of the beautiful game. And they are coming under fire for not confronting the problems head-on.

That there was crowd trouble in the Slovan Stadium should not have been a surprise. The previous evening, two English fans had been shot and wounded after a night out on the town. But instead of cooling down the estimated 6,000 travelling English fans (about 1,700 of whom did not have tickets) it merely inflamed their passion.

The F.A. has made a considerable effort to take on the game's hooligan elements. After a Euro 2000 incident in Charleroi, at which England fans were subdued with water cannon, it undertook a complete overhaul of the official supporters club, in an attempt to weed out troublemakers. (The intelligence services are also involved; for example, some 1,200 known problem fans were banned from travelling prior to the Slovakia match.) And the F.A. is certainly not responsible for those fans who travel outside of the official structure, and turn up hoping to buy scalper's tickets.

But its response to last weekend's violence seemed strangely uncertain. Initially, the organization said that the racist taunting had provoked the English fans, and it called the conduct of the Slovak police "inappropriate." The spin: that English fans were the victims. As time wore on, however, the F.A.'s tone changed, and it asked for greater police assistance in catching and banning troublemakers.

For its part, UEFA has launched investigations into both the crowd violence and the racist taunting at the match. The Slovak Football Association has already apologised for the racist behavior of some of its fans. It puts additional pressure on European football's governing body, which is already under fire for being 'soft' on racism. Last week Dutch club PSV Eindhoven was fined just $20,000 by UEFA, after its supporters directed racist taunts at black Arsenal star Thierry Henry during a Champions' League match. The paltry penalty was widely condemned as being an insufficient deterrent.

But absolute condemnation must be reserved for the troublemakers' themselves. The incident was sickening, and frightening, and a matter of luck rather than design that there were not more injuries. The pessimists were right; World Cup 2002 was trouble-free because it was held in expensive countries a long way away. Back on European soil, the trouble that follows England seems sure to build up another head of steam if authorities do not act decisively. One extreme suggestion — most unlikely to ever happen — is that the F.A. should refuse to sell England's allocation of tickets to the nation's fans until they have learned to restrain themselves.