Inside U.K. Uk Faces Anxiety About Its Soccer Thugs By STEVE HILL	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
サッカー人気とフーリガン問題

France is bracing itself for an English invasion this summer ― and praying that our football fans behave themselves at the World Cup.

There are already great fears that soccer hooligans, England's most notorious export of the last 20 years or so, will make their presence felt and wreck what should be one of the biggest parties around.

The big problem is that England, for example, will receive just over 9,000 tickets to distribute among supporters for its opening three matches in the competition.

But this total will satisfy only a tiny proportion of the expected demand, as seen by the fact that some 27,000 people belong to the official supporters' association that will distribute these tickets.

Take into account that it has never been easier or cheaper for people to travel to France, either on cut-price ferry tickets or via the new Chunnel (Channel Tunnel), and it's easy to see that fans will flock to grounds in the hope of buying tickets from touts (scalpers) and then watching their heroes play.

Hot weather, cheap beer and wine, scuffles with tense police who are quite rightly worried about hooliganism given England's dreadful record in recent years: It's not hard to predict problems.

The same ticketing problem has caused an uproar in other soccer-mad countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium, where fans are being treated in the same way.

It appears to be a recipe for trouble, but English government minister Jack Straw is determined to do all he can to avoid problems.

The home secretary told a recent World Cup seminar: "For those who go to France with the intention of causing trouble, they should be aware that the French authorities will bring the full force of the law against them.

"The football hooligan is a violent criminal. He is a coward who hides behind the good name of the decent supporter.

"I fully encourage the prosecution abroad of those who bring shame and disgrace to the country under the guise of so-called football supporters."

The government has even relaunched a telephone hotline for people to call and report information on suspected hooligans in an attempt to head off possible problems.

It was a great success during the Euro 96 Championship in England, which passed off with barely a hitch, and it is hoped will be of help again.

The government has also warned the French authorities that huge video screens that would show games in city centers could act as magnets for ticketless fans and lead to violent confrontations.

Soccer authorities in Japan and South Korea, which will jointly host the 2002 World Cup, are sure to be keeping a careful eye on what happens in France.

But they should also be encouraged by recent trends in England that show a big fall in soccer hooliganism that has accompanied a massive upsurge in the sport's popularity.

Matches between the top teams in the land regularly attract capacity, well-behaved crowds, who pack into state-of-the-art stadiums to watch this country's highest-paid sports stars.

Robbie Fowler, one of England's most exciting young players, was recently reported to have demanded a new £50,000 (¥10.5 million) a week deal from his club, Liverpool — a figure that only two or three years ago would have seemed too incredible for words.

But so buoyant is the sport that the team is doing its utmost to keep their young star happy and meet his demands before he is spirited away by another club.

Football players also regularly turn up on the television these days and on the front pages of the newspapers, such is their appeal.

David Beckham, a rising star with England and Manchester United, recently broke a million hearts when his engagement to Posh Spice, of the pop group The Spice Girls, was announced.

The news has only helped keep the sport in the headlines and the bandwagon rolling. Let's hope it does not stop with a crash in France this summer.

Shukan ST: March 20, 1998

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