Security? What security? According to a steward who was on duty in the Marseilles stadium, there was only a piece of rope to separate the English and Russian fans. And, apparently, no police in the stadium. He told a reporter "I do not understand why we have mixed Russian and English fans in the southern corner. It was a security guard with a rope line to keep the two groups [apart]. It went well throughout the match. But we knew it was going to blow up at the end, because there had been altercations. But we're not trained to [deal with] hooliganism."
Oh no - let it go ahead, after all Igor Lebedev of the Russian Football Association believes that Russia's football fans are little angels and blames the French and English for all the problems. He said yesterday "The boys protected the honour of the country and did not give the English a chance to abuse our motherland. Our fans must be understood and forgiven.". Let the World Cup matches be played in largely empty stadiums as foreign fans stay away.
One has to be careful with Russia potentially out of the Olympics and then say the World cup it could have massive ramifications for world peace.
It is now clear that the Russian fans who attacked English fans were not football fans at all. They were an organised and disciplined gang of thugs, many of whose day jobs are Policemen and soldiers. They don't care about football, they simply want to beat-up as many English fans as they can - and not just English but Swedish and Polish ones too. This is Vasily who is believed to be their ringleader His gumshield is inscribed with his nickname "Killer" and he's a member of Spartak Gladiators Firm, a neo-Nazi grouping whose emblem is tattooed on his chest. Several Brits and a Frenchman have been jailed for their parts in the rioting over the weekend but the French Police did not arrest and take to court even one Russian. Seems the CRS (French Riot Police) were out to get British fans and ignored - or were scared of - the Russians. Russia plays against Slovakia in Lille on Wednesday and Thursday sees the England -Wales game in Lens, just down the road from Lille. Because the Lens ground can only accommodate 13,000 in total, fans without tickets for the match have been told to go to Lille where there is a large fanzone. Well done, FA, well done British Police: send innocent fans to Lille where they'll get their heads kicked-in by black-shirted Russian thugs. UEFA won't even consider any changes to its schedule in the light of recent events. Yet again the French Police have been shown to be totally useless and the CRS has rightfully been criticized by British Police over its handling of the Battle of Marseille.
Just read some reports 2 english "fans" where sentenced for 2 and 3 months each for throwing a plastic bottle at police. 2 months for a plastic bottle!!!! and no russian's arrested!! Slow hand clap.
In fact six England fans were jailed by the Marseilles Correctional Court on Monday. They include a psychiatric nurse, a trainee engineer and a chef who despite admitting their guilt and making fullsome apologies, were jailed for between 1 and 3 months and received two year travel bans. One British fan is lying in hospital in an induced coma suffering extensive brain damage after being repeatedly hit on the head with an iron bar. Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Sports Minister, attended the game and was shown on TV applauding his country's fans as they attacked anyone who appeared to be English. Whilst back in Moscow, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Parliament and member of the executive committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Igor Lebedev was also applauding their actions. "I do not see anything terrible in fighting fans," he said, "On the contrary, well done, our guys. Keep it up!"
In fact six England fans were jailed by the Marseilles Correctional Court on Monday. They include a psychiatric nurse, a trainee engineer and a chef who despite admitting their guilt and making fullsome apologies, were jailed for between 1 and 3 months and received two year travel bans. One British fan is lying in hospital in an induced coma suffering extensive brain damage after being repeatedly hit on the head with an iron bar. Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Sports Minister, attended the game and was shown on TV applauding his country's fans as they attacked anyone who appeared to be English. Whilst back in Moscow, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Parliament and member of the executive committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Igor Lebedev was also applauding their actions. "I do not see anything terrible in fighting fans," he said, "On the contrary, well done, our guys. Keep it up!" Given that there are British hooligans within the fan base, one can almost guarantee that they will be at the centre of further violence which, if UEFA sticks to its threat, means England will be disqualified. Given that the team's presence in France endangers its innocent fans, this would be a better outcome. The potential for clashes with the Russian Ultras has been known for several years and Greg Dyke and everyone else at the FA, FIFA and UEFA should be ashamed for not facing up to it before. Not that they are now. The 2018 World Cup must be held in a different country other than Russia unless FIFA wants the embarrassment of the matches played in stadiums devoid of foreign fans.
UEFA hand Russia suspended disqualification Date published: Tuesday 14th June 2016 12:09: From Football365.com Russia have received a suspended disqualification from Euro 2016 and been fined 150,000 euros (£119,000) for crowd disorder by their fans during the 1-1 draw with England in Marseille. The Russian Football Union (RFU) were charged in relation to offences of crowd disturbances, use of fireworks and racist behaviour inside the Stade Velodrome on Saturday. UEFA’s control, ethics and disciplinary body met in Paris to consider the case and imposed the suspended disqualification and a 150,000 euro financial penalty. However, any further incidents of crowd disturbance inside grounds at Russia’s matches during the European Championships will see the suspension lifted and the country thrown out of Euro 2016. The sanctions against the RFU were outlined in a statement by the independent control, ethics and disciplinary body, in which it confirmed: “A suspended disqualification of the Russian national team from UEFA EURO 2016 for the crowd disturbances. “In accordance with Article 20 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations this disqualification is suspended until the end of the tournament. “Such suspension will be lifted if incidents of a similar nature (crowd disturbances) happen inside the stadium at any of the remaining matches of the Russian team during the tournament.” The decision only relates to incidents which occurred inside the stadium and are therefore under the jurisdiction of the UEFA disciplinary bodies. The decision is open to appeal.
The French government has today received further credible warnings that small groups of Daesh terrorists are enroute to France and Belgium having left Syria a week to ten days ago. The French Police and security forces do not have a glorious record when it comes to dealing with terrorist attacks and they're now over-stretched with having to police the football and striking trades unionists intent on bringing the country to a standstill. UEFA officials seem totally reticent to carry-out their threat to expel Russia and England from the tournament despite further violence in Lille by Russian thugs taunted by their English counterparts. Both teams should be disqualified. The French government's prime responsibility is the security of its own citizens and, with that in mind, it should order the cancelling of Euro 2016 on security grounds. Too bad that the fat cats of football will have to refund broadcasters and advertisers. Edited to add: Oh dear. Mother Russia has been defeated by a former satellite; it lost 2-1 to Slovakia. That'll put its "fans" in a good mood as they prepare for the Russia v Wales game on Monday.
