England fans urged to 'report that idiot' as FA call on supporters to help extinguish trouble by self-policing

England supporters cheer their team during the Uefa Nations League football match against Spain on October 15, 2018
AFP/Getty Images/Cristina Quicler

The Football Association are calling on England fans to 'report that idiot' amid fears that supporters travelling to Prague will face heavy-handed policing on reputation.

England supporters clashed with Portuguese police in Porto and Guimaraes last summer at the Uefa Nations League, and were stormed by officers armed with batons and shields.

Trouble has almost been a guarantee when England are in Europe. While there were no large-scale incidents of anti-social behaviour at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, when games are held in easy to reach locations such as Amsterdam or Dortmund, problems can arise. 32 and 28 England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) suspensions were earnt respectively at those venues.

Ahead of the forthcoming internationals, where England face the Czech Republic in Prague before travelling to Sofia to take on Bulgaria, the FA are calling on fans to self-police themselves by isolating those causing trouble and reporting them to the governing body.

“There is a real risk that we are endangering that good reputation and we will go from being policed on the behaviour as we have been over the last few years to back to the days of being policed on the reputation," said Tony Conniford, the FA’s head of teams and corporate security.

“That is what is concerning me and that is what we are striving to avoid.

“We have to be aware that the behaviour of our fans is on Uefa’s radar all of the time and they will be monitoring what happens over this weekend.

“Whether it will affect next summer [Euro 2020 in England], I don’t know because Uefa have faith with how the police and stadiums deal with supporters in England. There are slightly different issues when we are abroad.”

The FA handed out 129 ESTC suspensions for behaviour at matches abroad between September 2014 and August this year, and are now working closer with the police to aid in the issuing of football banning orders where required.

While the efforts of both the FA and British police continue to increase, they are unable to quickly identify the small majority of England's consistently large following - nearly 4,000 fans are expected to travel to Prague - who tarnish the reputation of the rest. The greatest concern is that those few who engage in anti-social behaviour are causing Three Lions fans to be seen as, and treated like, violent hooligans once more.

"The problem we have got is people going and engaging in anti-social behaviour, drinking too much and it becoming the stag-do mentality,” said DCC Mark Roberts, National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Football Policing Lead.

“We see that when it is locations that are easy to get to. It is pretty difficult for us to stop, often we have people who go abroad with no records and we don’t realise they are a problem until they drink too much.

England's forthcoming fixtures

Czech Republic (A) 11/10/2019
Bulgaria (A) 14/10/2019

“One of the real issues now, police in host cities are beginning to see all England fans the same, the decent fans are now starting to get harsher treatment by the local authorities because in their mindset their isn’t a distinction between anti-social behaviour and hooliganism and we are seeing some pretty harsh treatment on England fans.”

While the city of Prague is often used to dealing with large numbers of visitors over any given weekend, and likely happy to welcome the economic benefit of nearly 4,000 England fans making a weekend of the game, the FA are uneasy about the scheduling.

Uefa have been made aware of the concerns of both the FA and the police, though they would not reschedule the game.

“That is not something they could do,” Roberts said. “It is unfortunate because you can foresee the risk and we would much rather prevent a situation from developing rather than manage it on the night or regret it afterwards.”

Anyone witnessing anti-social behaviour before, during or after matches, can report it by emailing englandsupportersclub@thefa.com or by calling or texting +447970146250.

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