by St Pauli »
14 Jun 2016 13:55
Hoop Blah St Pauli Have you been away with England to a major European football tournament? If, like me and GreatWesternLine, you have, you'll know what kinds of ASBO behaviour goes on but doesn't make it into the papers or TV news. If not, you're just arguing from a point of ignorance.
I have been away with England yes, and I've not suggested there isn't anti-social behaviour that goes on, and some provocation of locals and opposition fans.
You seem to think that anti-social, but non-violent from what I've seen and read from Marseille (including the lads on here and a couple of mates who were out there), behaviour justifies the French policing and makes England fans fair game for French and Russians to attack them.
I've seen much worse behaviour, criminal behaviour and vandalism, going on at the
peaceful protests over here. When the police then take action you're full of your militant support for the small guys standing up the system and how it's an over-reaction by the authorities etc. I'm just a bit miffed why your attitude seems rather different when it's drunken blokes, and defenseless women and families, that are on the end of it in France.
Just seems a bit hypocritical from where I'm sitting.
I'd question what 'peaceful protests' you've seen doing this, but here's my position laid out. There are in my view three types of England fan:
A: Proper England hooligans- not victims, they want to dish it out and can take it.
B:
The lads who might be really nice most of the time and aren't hooligans looking for a fight necessarily but get so smashed they don't know what they're doing, some are aggressive physically, verbally, do stupid things and act in a way that pisses off the locals even if it's socially acceptable here This is a really grey area as this group is much bigger than other nationalities who seem to just have group A and C. And it depends so much on what people have done individually, but also what group they're in and what the rest of the group has done, and also what happens to them- Don't deserve a proper Russian style kicking, but at the same time aren't as innocent as they might make out to a TV camera the next morning, or even the same day, or their family when they get home.
C: Peaceful happy drunks who have a few beers and a sing song- don't deserve it.
My issue is that many like RL don't seem to accept that group B exists, either because it's all black and white to them or they just see most of what you do drunk as acceptable as long as it's not directly seeking one on one fist fighting.