UEFA today threatened to kick England out of Euro 2000 if there was a repeat of the hooligan violence of the last two days which led to more than 900 fans being arrested. An emergency meeting of the executive committee of the ruling body of European soccer also called on the British government to stop hooligans travelling to the three-week tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands.
UEFA president Lennart Johansson, asked if this meant that England might be kicked out of Euro 2000 if the violence was repeated, replied: "That cannot be excluded." "This trouble has not come as a surprise to the British government or UEFA. Nothing has changed and we cannot accept it any longer. It cannot go on, it will kill football," said Johansson.
More than 900 fans, most of them English, were arrested on Friday and Saturday after rival England and Germany fans attacked each other, local people and police in Brussels and the southern town of Charleroi. The fans, many without tickets, had travelled to see England play arch-rivals Germany in Charleroi, a game England won 1-0. Soccer authorities had long feared the game would be the tournament's hooligan flashpoint and it proved to be. Belgium expelled 390 England and 31 German soccer fans on Saturday and was continuing to fly out England fans on Sunday.
Reading a statement, UEFA chief executive Gerhard Aigner said: "These English hooligans are a disgrace to their country and a blight on their national team. "The actions of the last 48 hours have left a scar on our tournament and left us wondering why more was not done to prevent them travelling. The events of the last few days cannot be allowed to continue.
"Euro 2000 is a celebration of European football and not an excuse for a small minority of English fans to cause havoc. "We are calling on the UK government and to everyone concerned to take action similar that taken in other countries to stop these so-called fans travelling abroad. "We cannot allow a small (group) to spoil an international tournament for genuine fans." "Other governments have shown that it can be done and we call on the UK government to take the necessary steps as a matter of urgency."
Earlier British Home Secretary Jack Straw had promised to look again at ways of stopping the violence. "We shall be looking very actively at making it mandatory on the courts to impose a passport ban on anybody subject to either an international or domestic banning order because I think it is fairly clear that the courts are unwilling to do that for themselves," Straw told BBC radio. Straw said he felt "anger, frustration and a deep sense of shame" that English fans had behaved so badly.
Reuters
