A popular term for
English football hooliganism (that's
soccer to you insufferable
Yanks). Apparently Continental
Europe thinks that
hooliganism before, during or after major
football matches did not exist outside
England, but several incidents in
World Cup 1998 and
Euro Cup 2000 proved them wrong. Besides the usual
English, the
Germans came out in force, paralyzing a young
policeman in a savage attack. A surprise appearance by
Turkish fans resulted in some severe
violence. Football violence is common in parts of
Asia and
South America as well.
A hearty combination of malicious intent, beer and peer pressure ignites these spectacular riots, which are just as violent as any SoCal or Detroit ghetto summer riot. The riots are particularly bad if the team they are supporting loses. Anything goes in these little tiffs. I've never actually witnessed one, never mind participated in one, so I wouldn't know for sure.
Also derisively named "The Empire Strikes Back", poking at the now defunct Great British Empire. Again, note that England does not have a monopoly on football rioting.
One particularly spectacular incident took place in Italy in 1992 for the Euro Cup, when approximately 2500 English punks charged a numerically superior number of highly trained, entrenched Italian riot police (around 6000 of them), bypassed their barricades and shield walls and then proceeded to beat the beejesus out of them. Since then, sophisticated computer systems are being used to identify key riot leaders. Many habitual rioters have been arrested and deported during major football tournaments.
Apologies for my failure to distinct between British and English. I forgot about it for some reason. Oh yeah, why do I keep seeing the same soft-links to all my nodes now? Grow up, please.
Right on, themusic. The new disease is called My Little Tony and the Care Blairs.