England's infamous soccer
fans accepted defeat with dignity, German police and officials said Sunday,
allaying fears that its World Cup exit would be marked by drunken violence.
Instead of the traditional riots and drunkenness associated with English
fans, soccer lovers sporting the colors of Portugal, England, Germany and a host
of other countries drowned their sorrows --or joy-- in beer and bratwurst, with
the only violence coming from just 100 or so people who threw bottles well after
the end of the game.
England soccer fans
react at a fan-festival as they watch England lose on penalties against
Portugal in their quarter-final soccer match in Gelsenkirchen, July 1
2006.[Reuters] |
Just 100 people were arrested after England's loss, for minor offenses.
"All in all, we had a peaceful football celebration with lucky Portuguese
winners and the fair English losers," Mayor Frank Baranowski said of the 80,000
England and 20,000 Portugal fans who descended on this western German town for
the quarterfinal match between England and Portugal, which Portugal won on
penalties.
"People said that was a one-off, and it wouldn't happen again, and Germany
would be the real test. I think our real fans have been absolutely superb,"
Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Thomas, the senior English police officer
assisting the Germans at the World Cup, said Sunday, noting that of the 6,000
arrests made since the tournament began June 9, just 711 were British.
German police were impressed by the way the crowds seemed to manage
themselves, cheering on each others' teams and exchanging more shirts,
photographs and hugs than angry words or blows.
In Gelsenkirchen, Police President Ruediger von Schenfeldt said that fans
from all countries took it upon themselves to keep one another in line, and that
helped keep the peace.
"From the fan's point of view ... it's been a fantastic tournament. It has
been an extraordinarily positive experience," said Kevin Miles, the
international coordinator of the Football Supporters' Federation.
He said that England fans, who had suffered from a reputation because of
events nearly a decade ago, had been seen in a new light not just by Germany, by
the world.
"It's been an extraordinarily positive contribution made to the tournament as
a whole by English supporters," he said.
"The English fans said before the World Cup that they are the champions in
partying," said Gerd Graus, spokesman of the organizing committee. "They have
proved that here."
