Since I have been a young child I have had the pleasure of following my beloved team through the ranks of the football league up into the premiership, without ever witnessing football hooliganism upon a large scale.

These years started at the age of six. The year was 1990 and the club that I hold close to my heart were playing Stockport County at the Hawthorns, instantly i fell in love with the sport played by men with passion and skill with the full rapport of 14,000 supporters.

For the following 17 years I Have followed West Bromwich Albion the length and brest of the British isles, from Middlesborough, to Plymouth. From Cardiff to Ipswich, and never have I once been involved in football hooliganism. In fact all that I have found whilst either being a host to opponents, or traveling to be hosted, are the feelings of sheer joy, excitement, and rhapsody when the team has succeeded, and the feeling of sorrow and disappointment when the team has failed.

Therefore this has forced myself to believe that if a decreasingly small minority wish to involve themselves in mindless violence these Neanderthals have indeed got to FIND it for it will not find you. It is just unfortunate that the media in Britain chose to show the minority in footage engaging themselves in hooligan activities, therefore decreasing the reputation of the nations sport that we all love.

However upon the continent the story is slightly different, Football Factory Star Danny Dyer has currently be premiering upon cable station Bravo which has depicted violence upon the continent and in south America, Where it is part and parcel of the game. In England at this moment in time it is possible for violence, however in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Greece. It happens every single game involving crowds of up to 3000 people. In england if 30 people involve themselves in a running battle with opposing supporters or the police, the governing bodies of the game Uefa, Fifa and indeed the FA decide to impose fines, enforcing teams to play behind closed doors, and even expel teams from a competition in which the violence has occurred. However the question remains in my mind. Why not on the continent. The only way that the police and governing bodies of the game are going to eradicate violence within football is to start dealing with the clubs upon the continent more radically, to send shock waves through the sport and to attempt to try and scare the hooligans into hiding so that they can never damage the reputation of the globally loved sport again.

Learn more about this author, Ryan Brigdale.
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