By PA Sports
Last updated May 22 2006
No World Cup ever passes without significant incidents off the pitch as well as on and this summer is not expected to be any different.
All concerned will hope that racism, hooliganism, drugs and terrorism do not make any headlines, but there is a real chance that one, or more, will - despite the authorities expending huge amounts of time and money tackling the problems.
Millions have been spent on an intelligence-led operation to counter the menace of hooliganism this summer. Supporters will flood into Germany during June and July from across the world, but the most notable presences will be those supporting European sides, particularly Holland, Germany, Italy, France and England. An estimated 100,000 England fans plan to attend, although match tickets will be in short supply. There is no way of satisfying the enormous demand for seats, meaning more fans are likely to gather outside match venues than inside.And there the problems will start for organisers, police and each host city.
It is a straightforward process to segregate supporters inside a stadium; not so when they congregate in a city centre. England fans may not arrive in Germany until early June, but an undesirable reputation goes before them - perhaps harshly so given their impressive behaviour at the last World Cup and at even Euro 2004, but a result of trouble following the national team over the previous 30 years.
Yet Horst Schmidt - vice-president of the World Cup organising committee - is convinced suitable plans are in place to make the tournament go off peacefully. "It would not be fair to say that the fans in England pose a special threat," he claimed. "England and Germany are among the two countries that have to deal with that issue in a special way. That is why we will be specially prepared for those kind of problems. "We've had a great exchange of past experiences and that will help both sides, the English FA, the English security authorities and us, a great deal."We can master this hooliganism phenomenon."
Wolfgang Niersbach, another vice president of the organising committee, added: "The British embassy informed us there will be 100,000 fans coming over from England, which is an extremely high number, much more than from other countries. "But we have tickets for only five, six or seven thousands of them, so most of them will attend public viewing events. We hope that there will be only celebrations and no riots."Niersbach was hopeful of a positive outcome, adding: "I don't think we will face a hooligan problem if the British Government does what they did back in 2004 when they prevented well-known hooligans from leaving the country."
Around 100 police officers from the UK are expected to travel to Germany for the tournament.
For the first time, a team from the Crown Prosecution Service are also due to be on hand to assist with evidence-gathering.
