There were 140 arrests before Germany played Poland in Klagenfurt on Sunday evening. One hundred and forty. Goodness knows how many there would have been if the police hadn’t, largely, turned a blind eye to the drunken, extreme behaviour that had dogged this southern Austrian provincial capital throughout the weekend. I counted 20 police vans tearing past my hotel, in the centre of town, on Saturday evening to deal with trouble that erupted in the main area where the fans were corralled. Only the driving rain finally dampened their alcohol-fuelled aggression.
Neither nation covered itself in glory off the pitch even if both were pretty impressive, the Germans in particular, when the match itself kicked off at the Wothersee Stadium. The level of arrests was troubling and maybe it’s time to think about the easy accessibility of alcohol at these tournaments and the way in which it is almost rammed down the throats of over-eager fans.
The logic of the organisers is to provide it freely in areas that can be easily contained and Klagenfurt, because it's centre is surrounded by a ring road, lends itself to being "locked down" if things get out of hand. But is this really the way to behave? If you start serving beer at breakfast time and still make it available 16 hours later can you really be surprised that supporters drink too much - even if I still can’t understand why violence takes over?
It was the same on the flight here. I flew with Ryanair and it was pretty packed with a large number of Polish fans. At first it seemed fun. The songs, the chanting, the enthusiasm. But then one was allowed to board the plane with a full bottle of Jack Daniels whisky which he then proceeded to drain during the flight amid increasingly raucous, loud and violent scenes. He and his friends were also allowed to buy beer when on board and, unfortunately, the whisky-drinker was so inebriated that he stood up and threw a full can across the plane, striking a woman passenger on the forehead almost knocking her out.
It was a hugely shocking moment. What do you do? Do you intervene and risk things escalating? Or do you wait and try and hope they calm down? Unfortunately they didn’t. The fan and one of his friends were so drunk they couldn’t sit down for the landing. When the plane, thankfully, did touch down we, rightly, sat on the tarmac until the Austrian police, a dozen of them with another 40 surrounding the craft, boarded and made around seven arrests. It later transpired that another fan had harassed another woman passenger.
It was a terrible, terrible experience. I’m pretty hardened, having worked in news, and covered crime, for a dozen years but it shook me - as did what I then went on to witness in Klagenfurt. This is a football tournament for God’s sake so why does there have to be this level of aggression, this level of drinking and this level of behaviour - especially at such an exciting, brilliant tournament?
Maybe I’m just naïve.
(Picture: Getty Images)
While I have some sympathy with this view, the vast majority of people can drink all day and NOT cause trouble. I am Irish and the Irish fans are well known as, ehm, liking a drink but never cause trouble. There are cultures within certain GROUPS of football fans (the Poles, the English, for example)in particular that indulge in this kind of behaviour. The interesting question is why them and not others (the Irish, the Danes etc)?
Posted by: Michael | 10 June 2008 at 08:28 AM
Michael,
Whoa, whoa,...'the Poles in particular have this reputation'.
Who have you been listening to? What?... perhaps Brian Alexander from the BBC, who broadcast that scare story about Polish fans before the last World Cup?
Hold on just one moment. Fact number one, at the last World Cup, Polish fans were voted joint best fans of the tournament. Fact number two, It's not coincidental that the vast majority of arrests in Klagenfurt were Germans. Fact number three, it was evident to everyone at the last World Cup that the dreadful problems with English fans were being understated by the media just in case England got thrown out.
It's always the same media mantra that the Scottish 'travel well' and don't cause trouble. Well, go and ask the inhabitants of Manchester whether that's what they think!
Before you casually label (or should that be libel) Polish fans (or any other nationality) as being equivalent to the English, get yours facts right.
I can't deny Jason's experience but one incident like this isn't enough to prove anything about someone's football culture.
I've seen nasty trouble in Dublin on a Saturday night, however I couldn't claim that the entire Irish nation were a bunch of hooligans. It wasn't that long ago that the Irish were being brutally stereotyped in England. I am disappointed that an Irishman seems so quick to stereotype others.
Posted by: Mike M | 10 June 2008 at 09:46 AM
Jason,
If you thought that was bad, I bet you're glad you weren't on that transatlantic flight with the Charlatans in the 90s. They had the entire New York police force waiting outside the plane when they landed.
It's time to stop easy accessibility to alcohol for English rock musicians!!!
Get a life.
Posted by: Kevin Deal | 10 June 2008 at 09:58 AM
Mike M,
Please do not confuse Scottish fans supporting the national team with the Rangers fans who descended on Manchester last month as these are two completely different sets of supporters. Fans supporting Scotland would never behave in the way that some Rangers fans did and many of the latter were not even from Scotland but from Northern Ireland and parts of England.
In addition , if you had any idea about the demographic make-up of the supporters who follow Scotland away from home, you would know that the majority are not followers of the Old Firm teams and would be angry to be mentioned in the same breath as the so-called supporters who caused the trouble and mess in Manchester. Furthermore, there were very few reports of trouble when Celtic took a reported 80,000 fans to Seville in 2003 - draw your own conclusions.
Scots are proud of the 'Tartan Army' and the fact that their behaviour is impeccable and, in the main, self-policed in case anyone does become too drunk or rowdy. Ask any Scotland fan who has been on a foreign trip to follow the national team and you will gain an accurate portrayal of true Scottish fans' behaviour. FIFA awards for fans are not handed out lightly.
Posted by: Alan Gardiner | 10 June 2008 at 12:55 PM
Jason, I was on that flight from Stanstead to Klagenfurt. There was also a number of free lance reporters who I spoke to. There was a little bit of singing at the beginning of the flight and one or two people got up when they shouldn't have to open the overhead lockers to access their hand baggage. One person(who is the same person you referred to) was very drunk and taken from the plane. It was all very friendly and and a bit of singing was about the worst. This lady did not get whacked in the face as you said and you are actually massively exaggerating about what you saw which myself and the other guys who travelled find disgusting. If you found that flight intimidating you must be the weakest person on the earth as not one Poland fan was agressive to anyone(ask the Swedes on board who got a fantastic reception). You want to compare that to an English stag do to Krakow on Easyjet-now that's scary.
As for Klagenfurt, did you ever leave the hotel or were you too frightened because you'd been looking at the BBC website. You obviously wrote you report and gained your experience from looking at the Beeb website and sitting in your hotel. Four Poles out of about 50,000 were arrested. The other 130 or so were Germans chanting Nazi slogans after the win. I walked back through Klagenfurt after the game with my Poland shirt and the then mainly German crowd were celebrating with some of the Poles. Yes people were drunk but it was a party atmosphere and nothing more. The Austrians were a credit too and helpful plus friendly to all.
Had it been the England fans in Klagenfurt, they would have destroyed this beutiful little city after the game but it wasn't(thank goodness).
To the Irish guy-Please do not believe this guy's pathetic badly thought out report which he made with the sole intention to make out Poland fans are the worst. Proportionately they are some of the best behaved when you consider the large numbers they bring to games. On the whole the German fans were well behaved too.
So Jason, perhaps you should try reporting on fantasy football instead as fantasy is where your strenghts lie. You should be ashamed of yourself for writing such gushing rubbish.
Posted by: anthony | 10 June 2008 at 01:08 PM
Alan,
Point taken, particularly that FIFA awards for fans are not handed out lightly (Jason please note).
And as a veteran witness of Rangers' last visit to Old Trafford in '74, I quite understand the point you're making.
However, one would have to concede that if a Polish club side visiting Manchester was guilty of what Rangers' fans did that night, then the English press would not fail but to classify them as Polish hooligans rather identifying as fans of a particular club in the same way as one might with Rangers.
Posted by: Mike M | 10 June 2008 at 01:13 PM
Anthony,
Brilliant!!!!
Jason, the ball's in your court.
Mind you, it might be a bit difficult to reach with your trousers round your ankles.
I just love it when journos get rumbled!
Posted by: Mike M | 10 June 2008 at 01:15 PM
I've just read your post and I think you need to be put straight about a few things. I saw what I saw. A lot of people felt intimidated. A lot of people complained both to the airline and the authorities when they landed. I have no axe to grind with anyone, any fans and certainly have nothing against the Polish supporters. But I saw what I saw.
Two fans were carried off the plane by the Austrian police because they were so drunk. One fell down the steps he was so inebriated. Another was detained for being aggressive and intimidating a woman who was shouting that she needed to get off the plane because she had had enough. His companion was detained with him. Two other fans were prevented from leaving the aircraft and quesioned also.
Did you not see the 50 officers waiting outside? Did you not hear to announcement by the captain that they would be coming on board? Did you also not hear him plead with people to calm down and sit down and behave themselves?
I'd like to know which freelance reporters you spoke to. Can you give me their names please?
The woman was hit in the face with a beer can thrown by one of the drunks. I saw that happen as he was sitting in front on me so don't question my honesty. I'd like to know where you were sitting because you may have seen me. I was the guy who reached out to try and get him to sit down and calm him down after he had thrown the can. I would have tried to intervene more, and felt awful about what happened to the woman who was hit, but I reasoned that it might have made things escalate.
If you'd like to take this further with a complaint to my newspaper, Ryanair or the Austrian police then please feel free because I am perfectly happy to take a sworn statement as to what I saw.
As for the events in Klagenfurt. No, I didn't stay in my hotel. I saw the drunken scenes. The vast majority of arrests were German supporters. I didn't make any of it up. You may not like my reporting, my writing or what I have said but don't question my honesty.
Posted by: Jason Burt | 10 June 2008 at 04:30 PM
I read your reply with great interest but note that your original seven arrests have now been narrowed down to 2 with a further two questioned. Did you also enlighten our readers as to the fact that nearly all flights in to Klagenfurt with football fans received a police escort that day? Yes I heard the announcement which asked people to sit down and you will note that I did mention people standing up when they shouldn't. I agree with your main point that alcohol should not be so readily available on these occasions. However, drunken people in Klagenfurt having a good time is not a crime and this is a football tournament which people have come to enjoy and have a few drinks whilst following their teams. Drunken football fans are nothing new and your comments seem to infer that there was some type of battle going on during the flight which I'm afraid is totally misleading. Regarding who I spoke to, there were a few independent journalists at the front of the plane(no I haven't got any names). If you saw someone get hit then I will not question this point any further. If you are a sports journalist then the sight of some drunken fans should not come as a great suprise. Clearly you were not in Manchester during the Rangers Zenit final recently! Now that was a real problem. If Klagenfurt in any way equals something you've seen whilst reporting crime for many years as you said, then where were you reporting from, the Outer Hebrides? Seeing drunken people singing loudly in the streets left you shaken? God bless your cotton socks.
Posted by: anthony | 10 June 2008 at 05:22 PM
I can’t comment on the veracity of your experiences on the flight, Jason. However, I have to take issue with the tone and direction of your article. And I do so not as a knee-jerk reaction, but as a weary observer of the way English journalists report on matters Polish.
You have failed at any point in your article to clarify the identity of those responsible for the violence in Klagenfurt. Given that the latter half of your article relates to your experiences with Polish fans, the reader could be forgiven if he thought that Poles were responsible. The fact is that the Austrian police reports have quite clearly indicated that fewer than 10% of those arrested were Polish. It’s interesting to note that the Poles far outnumbered German in Klagenfurt over the weekend (and in the stadium). At best, this was lazy: at worst, it was misleading.
Ambiguous or negative approaches were adopted by a number of seemingly respectable English journalists before and during the last World Cup. I did refer previously to Brian Alexander’s poorly thought-through radio documentary on Polish hooliganism and how he thought it would destroy the World Cup. He was nowhere to be heard on the announcement of FIFA’s fan award to the Poles after the tournament.
Only this week, the Guardian’s Kate Connolly has been reporting on the German reaction to a Polish tabloid depiction of Leo Beenhakker holding Ballack’s severed head. Connolly, the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, failed miserably to put this event in context, the context of repeated German sniping at the Poles in the form of TV adverts designed to portray Poles as car thieves. This happens every time the two sides meet. I’m sure you can understand the chagrin of Poles when this sort of racism is aired openly in German society. The fact is that the ‘Western’ media don’t bother to do their research and show both sides of the case.
Only last week, Daniel Kawczynski, the Conservative MP for Shrewsbury, complained about BBC reporting of immigration matters (and their stereotyping of Poles), and the way it affected British responses to the Polish. He claimed that negative or stereotypical reporting had led to increased attacks on Poles working in the UK. John Humphries laughed at him on air.
I have to say that much reporting related to Polish news is poor. I suspect it’s much to do with the fact that journos don’t expect a backlash from non-English speaking Poles. They’re just expecting passive affirmation from an audience already convinced that foreigners, or worse still, those from anywhere east of Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, are likely to be dodgy. Frankly, if the Irish or some major religious groups were represented or misrepresented in a similar fashion by the English press, there’d be hell to pay.
It’s a shame you didn’t pick up on the actions of German thugs in Klagenfurt using slogans suggesting that Poles should wear yellow patches like they were made to in WWII. That’s what other papers are reporting on (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/sport/2008/06/10/sfnwinter110.xml)
This response might well be over the top, and if it is, it’s because I’m thoroughly, thoroughly fed up with years of ignorance from the English media about the Poles. Despite being diligent, honest, god-fearing and thorough anglophiles, they’re an easy target for lazy journos.
Please, please, please, all I’m asking for is the following:
1) Do your research
2) Include ALL the facts
3) Don’t naturally assume Poles are in someway inferior or more fault-prone than the English
4) Just be even-handed
Posted by: Mike M | 10 June 2008 at 06:36 PM
Tartan army's behaviour impeccable thats a good one . You seem to have forgotten ripping up the turf at wembley and smashing the goalposts. English disease indeed . If 140 england fans had been arrested ( by some minor miracle of england having qualified ) there would have been hell to play. England fans can be proud of their conduct and behaviour over recent years despite being the first set of fans that every football hooligan and his dog wants to have a go at . As some of these comments prove everybody likes to have a go at the english even when we're not there . Laughable.
Posted by: mick duggan | 10 June 2008 at 08:37 PM
Mick Duggan - I agree to some extent with you. I was at Hampden in 89 when England beat Scotland 2-0 (Bull scored !) ; it was pretty scary, it seemed like being English was a crime and many Scots wanted to kill us.
The Tartan Army are largely a great laugh, but the Orwellian "Scots good, English bad" attitude has been overblown and is very misleading.
Posted by: roger | 11 June 2008 at 12:42 AM
I was not on that flight, am not english nore scot or german,or pole. However from my point of view, Jason Burt definitely has... a point.
Massive binge drinking is actually at the source of threats around football. There is simply too much general tolerance towards that attitude and an underestimation of how alcohool can fuel violence. It is generally assumed, (and it has been for a long time in the british media) that "Getting drunk" means "having fun" or "partying". We might think of the Rangers' fans in Manchester but also of the tube's party in London recently. Is this where freedom lies? Does it has anything to do with football or even only with pride or fun?
Massive drinking changes the very nature of the violence threat. It turns large number of "fans" into possible trouble makers. They do not go for the fight as some activist "hools" might. But they're ready to join for whatever purpose. This has turned as the key point to the containment of violence around stadiums. This mix of massive presence & ready to explode agressivity has long been an english particularism. (It is no longer.) And british medias though tough in words against the minority of active violent thugs, were on the other hand easily and blindly flattering towards the "majority" of "celebrating" fans invading cities (I would not talk of invasion for danish or "orange" fans).
This majority IS the problem for some countries. For it is evident that countries are extremely unequal in front of that potential threat.
I simply guess/hope/believe that Mr Burt's article would have been equally alarming had he described the attitude of english fans flying abroad in his company.
As for the Tartan army, from what I saw on two occasions, it is everything but " great laugh", and much more of an example to follow.
Posted by: Pierre | 11 June 2008 at 09:46 AM
hello sir,
i'm george addo from ghana and i wanted to be ur good friend.i'm a footballer.sir my hooby is playing football only.i' wanted to play ur that why i'm writing u a letter.hear from u soon. sir.bye
Posted by: george | 23 November 2008 at 11:59 AM