After trouble between England and Turkey fans during the qualifiers a year ago, Uefa warned it would not tolerate further violence, and the Football Association didn’t take up its ticket allocation for remaining group matches against Turkey and Macedonia. Police have since been busily issuing hooligans with banning orders to prevent them joining real fans at the tournament. By the time England play their first game against France on 13 June, police expect some 2,500 people to have been tackled in this way.
Supporters’ groups have also been working to beat the problem of hooliganism, advising Portuguese authorities on the best way to police fans. Never has so much effort been put in to making sure a tournament passes off peacefully. Have the hooligans finally been trounced?
In a word: no. Damn shame the Turks aren’t going.