quote:

England could be banned from the 2006 World Cup as well as Euro 2004 if hooligans cause trouble in Turkey in October. That is the warning from Uefa president Lennart Johansson, who said his organisation was "very worried" about the European Championships qualifier in Istanbul on 11 October.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foo...and/3034306.stm

In my opinion, UEFA are threatening the future of the English game. No nation has ever been banned from an international tournament because of crowd trouble, and England remain the most heavily punished nation in world football. We only have to look to club football to see how much damage this could do. Between 1977 and 1984, English clubs dominated European football, winning 7 out of 8 European Cups. In 1985, UEFA banned every club in England from playing in any European tournament for 5 years because of a tragic crowd incident in Brussels. In the 13 years since that ban was lifted, an English club has only won the European Cup once. That ban knocked English football back 15 years, only now are English clubs beginning to represent even a shadow of that former glory. Now UEFA are threatening the credibility of our national game.

Meanwhile, Turkey, who have got away with murder (literally), escape with a small fine.

Over the last few years, a fierce rivalry has emerged between English and Turkish fans, the Turks have been infuriated by the insensitivity of travelling English fans, the English have been outraged at the injustice of UEFA's double standards regarding England and Turkey. British police managed the situation well in Sunderland - desite over 100 arrests outside the stadium the English fans never managed to reach the convoy of Turkish fans protected by police escort. Apart from 2 pitch invasions and racist chanting, noone was hurt. I get the feeling Turkish police will not demonstrate the same professionalism. Knowing that England might be heavily punished, I'm worried the Turks will deliberately provoke trouble in Istanbul.

Apart from that, the Turks also have a big advantage because no English fans are allowed in the ground.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-06-2003 at 00:21

the turk who stabbed the leeds fans is getting a re-trial
just picked this up

quote:

Name: Leeds Supporter. Subject: Cut & Paste letter to your MP. Sat, Jun 21 2003 at 2:09 pm [ Email Msg | Invite ] Message: Dear I write to express my deep concern over the recent overturning of the murder conviction of Ali Umit Demir by the courts in Istanbul, Turkey. Mr Demir was convicted for the murder of two innocent Leeds United Football fans Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight on the eve of the UEFAcup semi final in April 2000. It is deeply disturbing that Galatasary who's fans have a long history of violence against visiting supporters and teams have continued to remian unpunished by the footballing powers and with this overturning of the conviction for murder it sends out completely the wrong message. In the 1980s English clubs were banned from playing in Europe and rightly so after the tragedy at Heysel, It is time to put pressure on the footballing powers to ban Galatasary from european competitions untill their house is put in order. At present it is unsafe for any visiting supporters to go to Istanbul to watch a football game, to do so is to risk serious injury or even death. I urge you as my MP to take this matter up at the highest levels to bring justice for Kevin and Chris and prevent any more needless murders. Yours faithfully send this to your mp

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The game is being played in Fenerbace's stadium.

I think Galatasaray should certainly be banned from European competitions, their fans have caused trouble at home and abroad over the years and always get away with it. When English fans throw chairs and bottles, UEFA call it a "riot" and threaten to ban us. When Turkish fans throw chairs and bottles, UEFA call it "joyous celebrations taken too far" and do nothing. What do the Turks have to do before UEFA take action? Murder obviously isn't enough. What does England have to do to clear it's name? We already have some of the safest and strictest stadiums in Europe and the most proactive football assosciation.

quote:

Originally posted by evil_bastard The game is being played in Fenerbace's stadium. I think Galatasaray should certainly be banned from European competitions, their fans have caused trouble at home and abroad over the years and always get away with it. When English fans throw chairs and bottles, UEFA call it a "riot" and threaten to ban us. When Turkish fans throw chairs and bottles, UEFA call it "joyous celebrations taken too far" and do nothing. What do the Turks have to do before UEFA take action? Murder obviously isn't enough. What does England have to do to clear it's name? We already have some of the safest and strictest stadiums in Europe and the most proactive football assosciation.

They're just trying to use the past & stuff against us, and it's shit cos I felt worried watching macedonia in that ground, it wasn't safe at all for the players, and they don't care, but UEFA are shite

they surely can't ban england without baning turkey.

i have to say it does seem like turkish football gets completely overlooked by uefa. the same has to be said for greek football as well.

UEFA & FIFA are rife with double standards...have been for years.

Scotland turn up to play Estonia, referee and linesman all there...but no Estonia...they didn't turn up.

Now, if that were Scotland or England they would be banned...UEFA & FIFA have a rule stating that if this happens the team will be banned from the competition and fined. What do they do? UEFA force Scotland to go to Monaco to replay the game.

The decision to allow Austria/Switzerland to host the European Champinships was also a disgrace.

For the last three years, both these countries have had major crowd violence at games with street battles, murders, players being attacked etc, yet this is ignored.

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quote:

Originally posted by TheMightyCad The decision to allow Austria/Switzerland to host the European Champinships was also a disgrace. For the last three years, both these countries have had major crowd violence at games with street battles, murders, players being attacked etc, yet this is ignored.

The decision that Germany should host World Cup 2006 was also very controversial. It came down to South Africa or Germany and in the end Germany won by one vote, but because UEFA have a large German contingent there were allegations that they helped swing it their way. UEFA were also instrumental in ruining England's reputation during Euro 2000 by threatening to ban us for virtually nothing, which destroyed our bid for hosting the 2006 World Cup. Before that we were one of the favourites and a direct competition to Germany, but Gerhard Aigner, the chief of UEFA (a German) soon took care of England's bid. Some inside FIFA said that they wanted to vote for England but in light of UEFA's threats they did not want to be seen to be supporting 'hooliganism'. The guy in charge of all this resigned soon after, which only added to the controversy.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-12-2003 at 13:46

UEFA and FIFA is filled with idiotic politicans not ppl that enjoy fotball!

As far as banning supporters from matches this is sensible as long as its only for a few matches, but banning a whole country is plain stupid and its clear this germ has a problem with England. Maybe is should quote that italian dude " you should be a leader on a concetration camp" cuz its clear he is not unbiased in his decision.

uefa should be made up of club and country staff that know whats happening. Not some fool who ignores reports since it wasnt on the news(not talking about turkey there).


Now in my humble opinion he is a f**kin wanker!

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