City Fans in France

[Lanterne Rouge]

2 hours ago, Moor2Sea said:

5 minutes ago, Redrobbin said:

Exactly this. 

Sound like their highly organised athletic,  militia styled hooligans. 

Obviously living in the dark past ( like our football culture in the 70-80's). 

There staking their claim to be the next hardline international hooligan fighting front. 

They (stupidly) believe they must take the English crown. Sending a message to "Come and get us in 2018 England!". 

People on here have said the police in France are offering no protection against these thugs. 

If we qualify for the World Cup in Russia our supporters will be left out to dry by the authorities.  Potential blood bath I fear. 

As a few have already said. I would stay at home rather than go to Russia to watch England in 2018!

It`s probably one of those tournaments where we wouldn`t be that disappointed if we didn`t qualify.

 

 

[shelts]

6 hours ago, Taxi for Rennie said:

Frankly, the violence - what a surprise - is sickening.

What would we say if it happened in the middle of Bristol??

You can't have it. If it was down to me, I would insist on an apology from the British PM; the UK government to pay for the damages to the City, and an appropriate good-will / compensation payment.

Oh yes; and England to be ejected from the competition.

Law & Order is more important than sport.

It is a total disgrace.

 

Uncle TFR

N.B. I am talking about England fans - NOT City fans specifically.

 

Wow really.....as long as all the other nations involved pay and apologise then yes . Most nations are at it. 

[bristolcity]

3 hours ago, Wilksi said:

Just got back from Marseille. A lot of the posts on this thread are a joke. You weren't therel experincing  attacks on the English fans. Not hooligans but fans.  The French, the Russians and the police, all having a major go at anyone and everyone.

Your walking down down the road to the ground, next thing 30 Russians come running at you, you notice they have knives and hammers, you look to the police and they fire tear gas at you.. You look around and all you see are Englishman all thinking the same thing,  If you go that way you might get stabbed or slashed if you go the other way You are going to get hit with tear gas and batons and repeatedly. 

It  was brutal yesterday.  nothing I have ever seen in 30 years of watching football. It was totally carnage. But not caused by the English like a lot of you seem to sadly believe. 

You shouldn't comment on what the media is feeding you unles you were there and in it last night as you haven't got a clue what it was like. Not a clue. 

Got back today as well and I had the above experience luckily our group all came out of it with no damage, I'm going back out on Wednesday and it's put a real downer on something I've been looking forward too for months, we were having a beer outside Hard Rock next thing we know 100's of tooled up Russians attacking anyone who moved...scary stuff made any trouble I've seen at football look like a day out at the park. 

I think the biggest shock is how poorly policed it is, also security checks are non-existant considering whats happened in France recently I though they'd be tight on security....nope.

To anyone travelling stick together and be vigilant.  

[poland_exile]

49 minutes ago, Redrobbin said:

Exactly this. 

Sound like their highly organised athletic,  militia styled hooligans. 

Obviously living in the dark past ( like our football culture in the 70-80's). 

There staking their claim to be the next hardline international hooligan fighting front. 

They (stupidly) believe they must take the English crown. Sending a message to "Come and get us in 2018 England!". 

People on here have said the police in France are offering no protection against these thugs. 

If we qualify for the World Cup in Russia our supporters will be left out to dry by the authorities.  Potential blood bath I fear. 

As a few have already said. I would stay at home rather than go to Russia to watch England in 2018!

I'd rather watch England in Istanbul than head out there. 

[MarcusX]

6 hours ago, TheCulturalBomb said:

Embarrassing on all fronts. None of these issues in South Africa or Brazil because the people going over wanted to enjoy the experience and watch football. Having France so close and cheap to be at is just a cheap piss up holiday for fans who would rather smash up people or objects rather than enjoy the experience. How many are banned in UK stadiums? 

Police were stopping everyone at the borders that were heading to euros and checking their details. We were detained for a while as one of our lads has a criminal record for drunk & disorderly etc but eventually allowed theough. I'd imagine anyone banned in the uk would not have made it out the country.

[MarcusX]

4 hours ago, sticks 1969 said:

Had a walk around the port about 11 am this morning and if you just arrived you would never know anything had happened  . The only way I could tell were the trouble had Been was the signs above bars you had seen on the news . Totall calm and just a normall Sunday morning . Seem like a lot of fans heading home or on to lens so tonight should be ok . But who knows? Hope all city fans get home ok  and any other England fans I should add

we had a drink down there yesterday morning and I thought the same thing. 

[frenchred]

On 10 June 2016 at 18:22, Just Red said:

Why can't England fans behave themselves ffs???

Oh my

[North London Red]

6 hours ago, Portland Bill said:

It hasn't been reported as such, but I'm 99% certain from watching the game and looking through numerous photos, that the area attacked by the Russians was more of a neutral area. 

There seemed to be French people in that area as well as England fans.

The whole situation reminds me so much of Heysel in 86, except this stadium was fit for purpose and no fans got trapped or crushed.

Here's a photo I took at the game last night. The segregation consisted of the line of stewards in yellow jackets that you can see to the right of the picture. And you are correct, the section they ran into after the final whistle was indeed officially a neutral section. The official England fans' end (i.e. those who got tickets through the FA) was at the other end, from where this photo was taken.

 

[Stephen Lewis]

9 hours ago, Wilksi said:

Just got back from Marseilles. A lot of the posts on this thread are a joke. You weren't there experiencing  attacks on the English fans. Not hooligans but fans.  The French, the Russians and the police, all having a major go at anyone and everyone.

Your walking down down the road to the ground, next thing 30 Russians come running at you, you notice they have knives and hammers, you look to the police and they fire tear gas at you.. You look around and all you see are Englishman all thinking the same thing,  If you go that way you might get stabbed or slashed if you go the other way You are going to get hit with tear gas and batons and repeatedly. 

It  was brutal yesterday.  nothing I have ever seen in 30 years of watching football. It was totally carnage. But not caused by the English like a lot of you seem to sadly believe. 

You shouldn't comment on what the media is feeding you unless you were there and in it last night as you haven't got a clue what it was like. Not a clue. 

That is how it appeared to me , watching it on Australian TV.

Keep away from it if you can, there is more happening there than just fan hooliganism.

 

[WayOutWest]

I have been away with England a few times in the early 2000's. Not saying I know the score totally. But I do know the score a bit.  

Good policing is the difference between anti social behaviour and hooliganism. 

A hands off strong police presence works best. With snatch and grab undercover police teams, who identify known trouble makers or have seen probelms first hand and remove them.  No messing around. It acts as a deterrent.  

300 lads drunk and singing at a bar is one problem. Put a cordon around them. No one in. No one out. Contained.  OK it might get a bit out of hand at times. But it can be managed.  

Throw CS gas into those 300 lads dispersing them. Now instead of 1 problem you have just created 300 individual ones. 

Do this over a period of 3 days and you create complete choas. You don't actually know who you are policing. Who you are protecting and who to arrest.  

The French police have failed on all 3 counts. 

Failure to protect those who have been attacked. Failure to arrest those who have committed the crimes. Failure to carry out what they have been tasked to do, public safety. 

Much has been done in this country to tackle "our" problem.  Hundreds banned from travelling.  We are light years ahead of the Russians.  The French police can't even police their own people. 

We have been the common denominator for hooliganism for decades. This last few days truly shows how much progress we have made. It's my opinion it could have been a whole lot worse had we not managed to ban 2000 odd of the worst fans in the country. 

Stevo

 

 

[ChippenhamRed]

6 hours ago, frenchred said:

Oh my

Presumably by this, you are criticising comments made by @Just Red about the England fans  back on Friday night at 6pm - nearly three days ago.

It's very easy for everyone to condemn those who said anything anti-English now. It's become apparent now that it is the Russians who have instigated the trouble. That is obvious from what occurred inside the ground (a day after Just Red's comment). However, when the story first emerged the pictures showed both sides fighting, throwing missiles, clashing with police etc. The reports suggested it was an even fight. Coupled with England's appalling track record for hooliganism, is it any wonder many people drew what, at the time, was a reasonable conclusion, and expressed their disgust?

It's unfair to suddenly jump on earlier comments that seemed pretty justified at the time based on what we had seen.

[poland_exile]

1 hour ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Presumably by this, you are criticising comments made by @Just Red about the England fans  back on Friday night at 6pm - nearly three days ago.

It's very easy for everyone to condemn those who said anything anti-English now. It's become apparent now that it is the Russians who have instigated the trouble. That is obvious from what occurred inside the ground (a day after Just Red's comment). However, when the story first emerged the pictures showed both sides fighting, throwing missiles, clashing with police etc. The reports suggested it was an even fight. Coupled with England's appalling track record for hooliganism, is it any wonder many people drew what, at the time, was a reasonable conclusion, and expressed their disgust?

It's unfair to suddenly jump on earlier comments that seemed pretty justified at the time based on what we had seen.

no it's not unfair to jump on the city fans who were condemning the English fans from the earliest opportunity. What is unfair is that so many people were prepared to swallow the lies peddled by the press and cast judgement on their own fans and country. 

[AshtonGreat]

France should be banned from hosting another sporting tournament for a fair few years. The security at this year's Euros so far has been shocking, and this from a country you'd expect to have ramped up the security to the max after the recent terror attacks. Many people could've died by now and we're only three days in. Of course, in an ideal world they wouldn't need a lot of security, but sadly a large proportion of the male population are brain-dead neanderthals. All the talk before the tournament was of the threat of terrorism but I'm not sure which is worse. As for people referring to highly organised hooligans: I don't see what's organised about attacking helpless women and children and even people in wheelchairs. Bring back the guillotine.

[Super]

12 minutes ago, poland_exile said:

no it's not unfair to jump on the city fans who were condemning the English fans from the earliest opportunity. What is unfair is that so many people were prepared to swallow the lies peddled by the press and cast judgement on their own fans and country. 

Clearly the Russians are more to blame but we are not blameless, plenty over there looking for trouble.

[BobBobSuperBob]

Talk sport reporting a Northern Ireland fan has died

from injuries sustained when he 'fell' 20ft from a promenade in Nice - close to bar where NI / Polish fans were attacked - all a bit unclear at moment

Dear oh dear

RIP fellow football fan , thoughts with you and your loved ones

[redfred]

8 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Talk sport reporting a Northern Ireland fan has died

from injuries sustained when he 'fell' 20ft from a promenade in Nice - close to bar where NI / Polish fans were attacked - all a bit unclear at moment

Dear oh dear

RIP fellow football fan , thoughts with you and your loved ones

Being reported on BBC News website now that a 20 year old fan fell from a promenade onto a rocky beach and died. Very sad.

[exAtyeoMax]

22 minutes ago, redfred said:

Being reported on BBC News website now that a 20 year old fan fell from a promenade onto a rocky beach and died. Very sad.

ah that is really sad.

[cidercity1987]

3 hours ago, WayOutWest said:

I have been away with England a few times in the early 2000's. Not saying I know the score totally. But I do know the score a bit.  

Good policing is the difference between anti social behaviour and hooliganism. 

A hands off strong police presence works best. With snatch and grab undercover police teams, who identify known trouble makers or have seen probelms first hand and remove them.  No messing around. It acts as a deterrent.  

300 lads drunk and singing at a bar is one problem. Put a cordon around them. No one in. No one out. Contained.  OK it might get a bit out of hand at times. But it can be managed.  

Throw CS gas into those 300 lads dispersing them. Now instead of 1 problem you have just created 300 individual ones. 

Do this over a period of 3 days and you create complete choas. You don't actually know who you are policing. Who you are protecting and who to arrest.  

The French police have failed on all 3 counts. 

Failure to protect those who have been attacked. Failure to arrest those who have committed the crimes. Failure to carry out what they have been tasked to do, public safety. 

Much has been done in this country to tackle "our" problem.  Hundreds banned from travelling.  We are light years ahead of the Russians.  The French police can't even police their own people. 

We have been the common denominator for hooliganism for decades. This last few days truly shows how much progress we have made. It's my opinion it could have been a whole lot worse had we not managed to ban 2000 odd of the worst fans in the country. 

Stevo

 

 

From my naive point of view, it would be wholly better if our 2000 were not banned. Id feel much safer taking the wife to Lille with our hardcore distracting the Russians.

I always imagined trouble only happened if you were looking for it, not so sure now.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

From my naive point of view, it would be wholly better if our 2000 were not banned. Id feel much safer taking the wife to Lille with our hardcore distracting the Russians.

I always imagined trouble only happened if you were looking for it, not so sure now.

Could be right there...lift the bans....release the animals

['Orns]

Four of us heading out to Lille tomorrow night. One of the group is wavering, to be honest, reading some of this stuff I am too now

My 13 year old called me this morning and asked me not to go....that was the call I didn't want

We have tickets for Russia game in Lille on Wednesday, we've already said that we'll give that a swerve. I'm really in two minds, if Russia weren't in town I'd be happy, but I don't see them watching their game then leaving en masse, they scare the shit out of me

[EstoniaTallinnRed]

7 minutes ago, Woodsy said:

Four of us heading out to Lille tomorrow night. One of the group is wavering, to be honest, reading some of this stuff I am too now

My 13 year old called me this morning and asked me not to go....that was the call I didn't want

We have tickets for Russia game in Lille on Wednesday, we've already said that we'll give that a swerve. I'm really in two minds, if Russia weren't in town I'd be happy, but I don't see them watching their game then leaving en masse, they scare the shit out of me

You are right to be scared, in Russia they have a few extremely right wing organisations, who are trained like the military, guns and knives are easy to get there and they will arrange organised attacks on any non Russians who they consider have no rights to be living in their country.  These are the animals that are at the Euro's and if you are very unlucky to be in their way, you will suffer, they just don't care who, young, old, disabled etc.   All of you out there, be very vigilant and try to keep out of the areas where these attacks may happen. I know it's not easy and it seems the French Police don't care, but try and stay safe and if you are worried about any games where attacks may happen, then don't go.  Think of your and your families safety first.

[Super]

20 minutes ago, Woodsy said:

Four of us heading out to Lille tomorrow night. One of the group is wavering, to be honest, reading some of this stuff I am too now

My 13 year old called me this morning and asked me not to go....that was the call I didn't want

We have tickets for Russia game in Lille on Wednesday, we've already said that we'll give that a swerve. I'm really in two minds, if Russia weren't in town I'd be happy, but I don't see them watching their game then leaving en masse, they scare the shit out of me

Horrible decision mate I know what I would do but will keep it to myself.

['Orns]

8 minutes ago, Super said:

Horrible decision mate I know what I would do but will keep it to myself.

Game changer was that, mate

[BobBobSuperBob]

1 hour ago, redfred said:

Being reported on BBC News website now that a 20 year old fan fell from a promenade onto a rocky beach and died. Very sad.

Confirmed as an accident

How sad

RIP Young un - Lets hope your team continue to do you proud

[poland_exile]

43 minutes ago, Woodsy said:

Four of us heading out to Lille tomorrow night. One of the group is wavering, to be honest, reading some of this stuff I am too now

My 13 year old called me this morning and asked me not to go....that was the call I didn't want

We have tickets for Russia game in Lille on Wednesday, we've already said that we'll give that a swerve. I'm really in two minds, if Russia weren't in town I'd be happy, but I don't see them watching their game then leaving en masse, they scare the shit out of me

Honestly, I think using common sense and you won't just be fine, but you'll also have a bloody great time. 

[Nogbad the Bad]

1 hour ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Talk sport reporting a Northern Ireland fan has died

from injuries sustained when he 'fell' 20ft from a promenade in Nice - close to bar where NI / Polish fans were attacked - all a bit unclear at moment

Dear oh dear

RIP fellow football fan , thoughts with you and your loved ones

Very sad of course.

But typical of the way things are being reported that R5 broke into their phone - in on the troubles in Marseille to gloomily announce it before the full facts were known. 'News coming in from France and it's very bad news, a Northern Ireland fan has died.' Or somesuch.

The immediate impression was the death was due to further violence which quickly turned out not to be the case, but in those 15 minutes or so until they came back to say it was unrelated to any disorder the assumption was foul play was probably involved.

This incident would not have merited a programme stopping announcement had the accident happened overnight in Belfast, and tragic as it is for the family and friends of the unfortunate individual involved, it was bordering on irresponsible imo. to announce it dramatically on national radio before circumstances were clear.

RIP.

 

[AshtonGreat]

I can't help feeling Lille is going to be a war zone. As well as the Russians, there will be a lot more English there as many more fans will be going to the Wales game - it's closer than Marseille and, of course, it's against Wales. Then there are the Wales fans and the Lille locals who, in my experience, aren't very welcoming towards the English. I'd stay away if I were you. 

[Phileas Fogg]

3 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

I can't help feeling Lille is going to be a war zone. As well as the Russians, there will be a lot more English there as many more fans will be going to the Wales game - it's closer than Marseille and, of course, it's against Wales. Then there are the Wales fans and the Lille locals who, in my experience, aren't very welcoming towards the English. I'd stay away if I were you. 

It's like anything, use common sense and you'll be fine. If that means being extra cautious and steering clear of certain areas then that's fine.

@Woodsy I hope you still go and enjoy it. Would be a shame to miss out.

[Jack Dawe]

7 minutes ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

Very sad of course.

But typical of the way things are being reported that R5 broke into their phone - in on the troubles in Marseille to gloomily announce it before the full facts were known. 'News coming in from France and it's very bad news, a Northern Ireland fan has died.' Or somesuch.

The immediate impression was the death was due to further violence which quickly turned out not to be the case, but in those 15 minutes or so until they came back to say it was unrelated to any disorder the assumption was foul play was probably involved.

This incident would not have merited a programme stopping announcement had the accident happened overnight in Belfast, and tragic as it is for the family and friends of the unfortunate individual involved, it was bordering on irresponsible imo. to announce it dramatically on national radio before circumstances were clear.

RIP.

 

Agree with every word, here. The rush to be first with "breaking news" inevitably means mistakes, errors, inaccuracies. And all the Comment pieces in Sunday's papers: people pontificating on a chaotic day from the comfort of central London. How can they possibly know what happened? Journalism used to involve hours, days, weeks of investigation, gathering information, speaking to those on the ground, an attempt to get to the truth. Nowadays, people fire off opinion and comment within hours without leaving their air-conditioned office or looking up from their laptop.

[Hartcliffe red]

http://www.themag.co.uk/2016/06/must-read-official-england-fans-statement-trouble-marseille/