Alcohol? UEFA lack bottle to find real cause of violence

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As Continental Europe's heavy-handed police attacked Tottenham fans at the Seville game and Manchester United fans at the Roma game - even though the opposition fans who were left untouched by the police were the ones to blame for the troubles, especially Roma's notorious Ultras (their hooligan followers) who were left alone by the Italian riot police despite instigating the violence - UEFA, European football's governing body, arrogantly blames it on the ENGLISH fans, telling their fans not to drink too much alcohol at games, rather than attacking the Italian and Spanish riot police who attack innocent fans - i.e the English.

Meanwhile, the boss of Italy's FA says he may adopt English football's more effective policy of controlling crowd trouble at games by using stewards to eject unruly football fans (whilst leaving innocent ones alone) rather than, as it is in the rest of Europe, trigger-happy riot police who attacks whole sections of a crowd including the innocent and defenceless, including children and people in wheelchairs.

The Continental Europeans need to sort out their football violence rather than blaming it on the "drunken English." Violence and racism against black players is virtually non-existant in English football grounds these days, unlike the rest of Europe.
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BOOZE? UEFA LACK BOTTLE TO FIND REAL CAUSE OF VIOLENCE
Brian Reade 14/04/2007

Daily Mail

WHAT a hoot, no make that a crate of Hooch, is UEFA's plea to Manchester United fans to cut back on their drinking when they visit Milan next month.​

"United has to tell them what is appropriate. There has been a problem with drink and it would be nice if the supporters were told not to do it," said Salvation Army War Cry salesman, sorry UEFA spokesman, William Gaillard.​

So by how much should they cut back? One Peroni? A vat of valpolicella?​

And how would it have halted all that violence in Rome? By making them think quicker, so they could have leapt out of the way before an Ultra on a Vespa plunged a knife into their buttocks?​

Would it have let them see more clearly the bottles flying at them as they sat in their seat? Would they have been less likely to fall into a coma when their skull was cracked by a police baton?​

It's a novel idea that football fans visiting Milan should spend the day sipping coffee in cafes outside Il Duomo, debating whether da Vinci had finer strokes than Caravaggio. But it's slightly flawed.​

If drinking by Englishmen automatically leads to ugly violence, how do UEFA explain away all the hundreds of trips by our club's supporters in recent years where no trouble has occurred?​

How do they explain the riots, knifings, coin-hurling, bloody ambushes and cop killing that have led to the cancellation of entire fixture lists thanks to those peaceful, non-drinking Italian fans this season? How do they account for Italian police turning into power-drunk Nazi thugs?​

Surely UEFA should be calling on the Italian government to force their people to cut back on espressos. Because too many of those caffeine-hits are clearly lethal.​

While we're at it, maybe FIFA should order those crazy Central Americans who get games abandoned through riots and shoot their own players, to cut back on their taco intake. Of course many followers of English clubs consume more ale than they should on foreign awaydays. So do most English holidaymakers. And maybe their GPs should advise them to take it easy.​

But when UEFA dish out the advice you know you're staring at a huge smokescreen. Without hitting the Italians hard for what happened in Rome, they cynically point the finger of blame at a universally accepted myth. All Englishmen turn up to football matches drunk.​

The bottle gives them a ready-made scapegoat, and stops them examining the real concerns over spectator safety. And there is a huge one on the horizon that's being ignored. If Liverpool and Manchester United make it to the final in Athens there will be trouble. These are two sets of fans whose mutual loathing knows no bounds. They are also two of the best-supported clubs in the world who will probably take 35,000 fans each to Greece for a couple of days.​

And it won't need a drop of ouzo in a single vein for bad blood to be spilt. UEFA have already fanned the flames by allocating a mere 17,000 tickets to each finalist, in a 64,000-seater ground.​

Which means tens of thousands of resentful Mancs and Scousers will be snarling at each other in the streets, pushed about by some of the most trigger-happy cops in Europe. While inside the stadium UEFA's delegates and sponsors carry on getting sozzled on the finest wines known to man. (There's less chance of THEM cutting back on the booze than Johnny Vegas).​

Imagine the centre of Athens after the game, when one set of fans who've just lost the biggest grudge match in their clubs' history are being taunted by the others? If UEFA understood the reality of football - and did its job properly - there would be plans in place when such an explosive scenario presents itself, to move the game to a safer option. Wembley should be lined up with a compensation package in place to keep the Greeks happy. Because if Liverpool and United get to hold a three-day festival of loathing in sunny Athens, everyone over there and back home will suffer.​

But UEFA are guaranteed to arrogantly ignore reality. Why? Because the five-star hotel suites and the corporate freebies are already booked. And if there is a bloodbath outside the ground while they're inside sipping their claret, well they've always got their fall-back.​

They can blame it all on the drink.​

mirror.co.uk
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CRUYFF RAMBLINGS ARE DOUBLE DUTCH

Brian Reade 14/04/2007

Dutch ex-footballer Johann Cruyff, shown here in his 1970s heyday, has seriously underestimated English teams in the Champions League. He didn't rate any of them - but three of the four semi-finalists are English teams, with the other one being Italian.


THE final word on the sterling Champions League quarter-final performances by English clubs should go to Johan Cruyff.

A man whose take on English football, especially when they face Spanish or Dutch opposition, never fails to be anything but fair, balanced and accurate.

Here's how he rated our sides before the quarter-finals: "I seriously doubt if the winner of the Champions League will emerge from those three English clubs - especially given the way Chelsea play.

"What frustrates me is that Chelsea feel such little need to please the public (they then magnificently beat Valencia).

"Liverpool's Achilles heel is the defence (but they then conceded no goals whatsoever in the Quarter Final against PSV Eindhoven - a DUTCH team). I saw Man United against Lille in France and they looked like a spluttering engine (who then went on to destroy Roma 7-1).

"Often the continental teams are more clever - and that's the key to winning the Champions League."

Clearly the gear on sale in those Amsterdam coffee shops has never been stronger.
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Champions League, Semi Finals

Chelsea (Eng) VS Liverpool (Eng)

Manchester United (Eng) VS AC Milan (Ita)

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