The EURO 2016 tournament runs from June 10 to July 10, in 10 cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne, and Toulouse.
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This passion for sports is not exclusive to the England Euro 2016 team. Ahead of the build-up to the games, there were plenty of security concerns, from the looming specter of Islamist violence to threats of far-right, ultra-nationalist terrorism.
MARSEILLE, France (AP) Trouble flared overnight in the southern French city of Marseille, where soccer supporters from England and local youths clashed briefly. And some did what they have a reputation for doing: drinking a lot, singing offensive songs and getting into fights.
One England supporter suffered a head injury in Thursday night’s brawl after being hit across the face with a wooden chair, and according to reports, some England fans were heard chanting: “Isis, where are you?”
Two English football fans have been arrested after French police used tear gas to disperse an apparent clash with locals in Marseille ahead of the first games in Euro 2016.
Sky Sports News HQ reporter Gary Cotterill is in Marseille and said all was calm on Friday morning while also suggesting there may have been local involvement in the trouble.
“We need to keep it in context – there are thousands of England supporters who will come here and have a fantastic time”.
“There is a small minority who drink too much and get involved in some anti-social behaviour”.
Then, hundreds of England fans were involved in violent beach-front clashes with locals in Marseille over two days around England’s match against Tunisia match, prompting a headline in a local paper: “Go home hooligans!”
England supporters are in Marseille ahead of England’s game with Russian Federation tomorrow.
England’s traveling support has always been stigmatized for hooliganism, even though authorities in Britain have perhaps done more over the past two decades to stamp out soccer-related violence than their counterparts in other European nations.
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England are in Group B for the competition along with Russia, Slovakia and Wales. “There were a couple of arrests of English fans as they responded to that provocation”.
