England fans represent a ‘challenge’ for hooligans from other nations out to claim a scalp at Euro 2024, a football policing expert has said.
Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions play Serbia in their opener today, with their opponent’s followers including Red Star Belgrade’s notorious ultras.
A policing expert assessing the threat drew on the spectre of Marseille at Euro 2016, when groups of Russian hooligans laid into England fans.
Dr Mike Hope said that while England had largely shed its hooligan image the fans still present a ‘trophy’ for violent groups from other nations.
He also told Metro.co.uk that an Anglo-German understanding of crowd behaviour within a multi-national police operation is key to facilitating a safe and enjoyable experience for England and Scotland supporters.
Hope said: ‘The German authorities will be supported by a good contingent of British police officers in their focus on the type of issues which affect any mega event such as terrorism, crowd management and public safety, as well as the potential disorder between fans which is a significant added dimension at some football games.
‘England fans have a historic reputation for football violence but in recent years it’s not been as relevant, with the violence in central Europe being far more significant on a weekly basis.
‘From an English perspective there are also more than 1,600 banning orders in place, meaning the individuals will have to surrender their passports and will not be able to travel to Germany.
‘The problem is that, as in Marseille at the 2016 Euros when groups of Three Lions supporters were attacked by Russians, they are seen as a “trophy” by hooligans following other nations.
‘There may be groups following Serbia or other nations who see England fans as a challenge and try to provoke that type of disorder.’
Hope, the lead for the ENABLE football policing research project at Keele University, identified the authorities’ approach to the groups following the 24 competing teams as crucial to preventing violence and disorder.
Serbia’s ultras, known for their far right nationalism and support of Vladimir Putin, are likely to be high on the watch list in an international police monitoring centre operating 24-7 in the city of Nuess near Düsseldorf.
In December, masked Red Star Belgrade followers attacked Manchester City fans with sticks before the two teams played a Champions League game in the country’s capital. At national level, incidents include players and fans being involved in a brawl during a Euro 2016 qualifier against Albania, causing riot police to be called in and the match to be abandoned.
Ivan Bogdanov, a notorious Serbian ultra and convicted football hooligan, was among those who broke onto the pitch.
England’s curtain-raiser has been judged ‘high risk’ by Uefa and the German authorities, with a local police chief in host city Gelsenkirchen expressing a concern that up to 500 ‘violence-seeking’ Serbian hooligans will travel to the host nation in the run-up to the game.
Peter Both also told The Guardian that more than 1,000 German police officers will be on duty for the match, backed up by spotters and a riot unit.
However Serbia is far from the only participating nation with a hooligan problem; ugly incidents involving followers of French, German and Polish club sides have arisen in recent years.
‘If they are anything like the Russians at Marseille, they will be far more organised and you could say professional in how they go about things,’ Hope said of the Serbian hooligans.
‘England fans on the main will be young groups of lads, many going to their first tournament, looking to have a drink and enjoy the tournament.
‘Thousands will not have tickets and there may be anti-social behaviour but as we saw last season, the level of disorder we’ve regularly seen in central Europe has not been present in England very often.’
The UEFA competition kicked off on June 14 and will take place across 10 venues, with at least 500,000 England and Scotland fans expected to make the trip to Germany.
Scotland were thrashed 5-1 by Germany on Friday, with the Three Lions playing Serbia at 8pm in the 55,000-capacity Arena AufSchalke stadium.
The majority of the British fans are expected to travel to Germany without tickets and are likely to descend on fan parks set up in the host cities.
Hope pinpointed the ability of the British and Germany police to understand England and Scotland fans as key to preventing crowd trouble.
‘The behaviour by a minority of fans can then be managed taking into account the tolerance levels on both sides, preventing a wider escalation when otherwise well-behaved fans view police action as unwarranted and get drawn into the disorder,’ he said.
‘With Serbia, the questions are how well their police know who the ultras are and how they monitor their movements and how pro-active they are in assisting the Germans in managing those groups when they arrive.
‘This is true on a country-by-county basis.’
The former Royal Marine’s research into safety at games includes his work with the Keele-led ENABLE project, which has involved bringing together academics, the English Football League, police and clubs to enhance the way matches are policed and stewarded.
‘The sophisticated and embedded UK approach which has been in operation for many years is probably the model of best practice among the nations taking part,’ he said. ‘British police will have to work hard in order to manage these challenging dynamics.
‘But if they are utilised effectively by their German counterparts it should be a successful operation keeping any disorder to a minimum as thousands of England and Scotland fans enjoy the games.’
The current Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advice states there is a ‘high threat’ of a terror attack in Germany affecting UK interests and British nationals.
The office says that the host nation’s authorities ‘regularly’ report that they have disrupted plots and made arrests.
British nationals travelling to Euro 2024 are advised to sign up to email updates and download the official app and to follow basic safety advice such as keeping personal belongings and valuables safe and respecting local cultural sensitivities.
