[The television cameras stayed obstinately on the sight…]

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The television cameras stayed obstinately on the sight of England and Belgium puffing after the ball while in the background Italian police baton charged the crowd and fired tear gas in all directions.

The commentator tried his best to make some connection between the pedestrian events on the field and the frenetic activity on the terraces.

In tones of somber condemnation he set the scene for the attack on the fans that was to reverberate around the pages of the press.

This can be summed up by saying that sections of the English fans were thugs and animals-in the words of England manager Ron Greenwood - "They should put all the hooligans in a ship, take it to the middle of the ocean and sink it"

In short the fans received the treatment from the, press usually reserved for managers of England teams that have lost.

It is not the first time and it won't be the last for fighting to break out on the football terraces.

It must, however, be the first time that a European Cup match has been stopped because the goalkeeper was blinded by tear gas (which TV interviews managed to suggest had been thrown by the fans).

What started as a scuffle which would have seemed tame on any first division ground ended with manic violence on the part of the police and an atmosphere of revenge whipped up in which one England fan was stabbed as he left the ground.

If the fans reacted with a charge down the terraces when Belgium scored, the press might like to consider who had helped to whip them into that staté of frenzy.

The gutter press. has long since stopped treating soccer as a sport. It has become a symbol of national pride and, reflecting the fact that all big sport is big business, a life or death matter.

The fans simply translated the hyperbole of the sports pages into action.

Of course this is not confined to the British press or to British fans. . For days before the game, fights had been breaking out between. English fans and Italians and camping sites were filled with fans who had made the journey from Britain only to huddle together for protection.

That ability to divide workers from different nations over a football match is just a pale reflection of the national divisions which the press deliberately whips up in every field.

Once the police had charged however the press made a qualitative leap • trom national divisions to class alliance. Unanimously they were on the side of the helmeted baton wielding thugs in uniform.

Boasted

They praised the Communist mayor of Turin who boasted of the number of extra police he would call in, and who threatened to stop the match between England and Italy.

The headlines (Soccer's Shame... England on Trial) were part of the attempt to pacify the outraged sensibilities of the Italian bourgeoisie and their CP allies.

As the fans pour through the turnstiles and fork out extortionate amounts of money for travel and for the matches they should realise that they do not have any united interests with the business machine they have come to cheer on. It is ever ready to bite the hand that feeds