I was in Stuttgart. However, i cannot give a report of what happened at the time because we were 100 yards away enjoying the enormous street party which was completely unaffected by what was gong on. As were loads of England fans around me.
However, having travelled to England games for over 16 years we come across problems. Because of our previous reputation, every time England travel sometimes a section of the travelling support can be subject to provocation because either the home fans want to prove themselves as 'taking on the English' .. or they know it will cause a situation. That's why when you see England fans travel, you get a core (say 500 or so) at the main focus of a city (like the square) and like 10 to 100 times as many England fans anywhere but where the core is because they know if somebody wanted to cause friction with them, it will be there and they really dont want to be part of it.
facts ....
100,000 england fans travelled to cologne (only 4,000 official tickets)
60,000 fans travelled to stuttgart
all the newspapers keep writing and the radio and tv keep talking about is how the 'complexion' of travelling england fan has changed. and this hooligan tag they have had for years is a nonsense as there as so many good natured england fans travelling to see their team now
i met an english policeman in frankfurt who i know (he's the local officer for the team i support - Brentford) the day before the stuttgart bizness and he said to date the police were 'surprised' and 'pleased' how 'good natured' the england fans had been and his german counterparts thought that they were well up there as one of the sets of 'fans of the tournament' because, even though there is admittedly a lot of drinking and singing, they were there for fun and not to make trouble. they also said the locals were afraid of the english before the tournament but since it has started, have realised that this whole hooligan hype is a nonsense. they have worse problems in their own country
he also told me that the stuttgart police were MUCH firmer than any other police force. two yellow cards and you are off. so if you are warned to not do something (eg. dont stand on that table, stand back off the kerb or whatever) and you disobey twice, they dont just blow their whistle - they go in full blown with truncheons.
this bit of foresite he gave me no more than 8 hrs before the 'riot'. the amount of arrsets shows that the police were indisciminate. and they also admitted 'messing up' by allowing the germans to come out of the fan park and provoke the england fans. the chief of police said something like 'oh .. yes it might have been started by germans .. we made a mistake'.
what a nonsense. i know a guy who was the advisor to police to euro 2004. he gave the portugese police detailed information on how to handle football fans and they listened. there was no trouble. apparently the germans said they did not need him and his advice as they do things their way.
that trouble could have been avoided easily!
speaking to people who were on 'the frontline' apparently the germans did come out of the fanfest and started throwing bottles at the english
i am not going to condone the england contingent who decided to fight back because some people will say 'look ... lets just let it go ... and turn their back and walk away'. but it obviously sparked of something here which escalated rapidly.
but the police waded in full monty .. and singlehandedly targetted ANY english person who was in the area. scary!!!
that's why the figures are so inflated.
question - if it was such a battle, then anyone knows 200 arrests is a HUGE figure .. and there would have been proper hospital cases. there weren't
also it is true that german neo nazis come down to dortmnud a few days after the trini game to do battle with the poles. if i am corect, over 400 germans were arrested that day. they tried to hush it up
over 100 neo nazis also came down to cologne to see if they could cause trouble with the english. but they didnt because they were constantly under surveillance. and there were two many english for the neo nazis. and the english were not interested in causing trouble as they were having too much fun. the police ended up rounding up these neo nazis and they ended up having a battle with the police (including bottles etc) and they got arrested and rounded up. this was hushed up.
The ironic thing is these incidents are so isolated for the total party atmosphere occuring around the whole world cup. as i said, one street back there were tens of thousands of england and german fans partying together in one of the biggest street parties ive seen this world cup completely OBLIVIOUS to the malarkey happening with the 500 or so people next door.
60,000 england fans in stuttgart
100,000 england fans in cologne
police used a sledgehammer to smash a walnut in stuttgart
please dont tar us all with the same brush!!!
you can check out the runnings on the olde blog
www.billythebee.co.uk ..
lots of trini photos there
you will see it was noting but good vibes. in fact theres even video footage in the square in stuttgart no more than 4 hrs before the 'trouble', with england and german fans having friendly banter!!!!
Enjoy!!!