The cynical amongst you might be tempted to lock the whole idea of international breaks in room 442 however there are pros and cons to both sides of that argument. This week our candidate for Room 442 is a very specific aspect of the international break that left a lot of people with a sour taste in their mouth. Yes, I am talking about a certain section of England fans.
At the weekend England travelled to Amsterdam to play The Netherlands (obviously) and while a commendable 1-0 away win is certainly a story it is hard to look past the fact 100 England fans were arrested in the run-up to the game. I’ll be honest – I am pretty apathetic towards the England football teams during friendlies – however, this kind of bad reputation that England fans seem to be getting and increasing has started to irritate me.
The problem seems to be that quite a lot of the people that follow the England football team away from home tend not to be that interested in football. It seems these fans got the most enjoyment by dousing hapless tourists in their canal boats in beer or having a scrap with a Dutch ultra.
Seemingly England away days have completely turned into a particularly embarrassing lads holiday. There now seems to be more of an emphasis on causing trouble and turning wherever they travel to into Ibiza rather than getting behind Gareth Southgate and his team.
This kind of behaviour gives English football fans a bad name. When the big clubs all go on European away days you rarely hear of any kind of trouble but it seems to be part and parcel of supporting the England football team – and that is embarrassing.
In France two years ago the trouble with Russian fans was particularly grim. In fairness, a lot of that can be accredited to the Russian fans but even so some England fans will be at fault. On the plus side at least they would never have the World Cup in a place like Russia…
So it is time for England fans to calm down, drink a few beers and joke around bit, yes, but ultimately support the team and enjoy the football. And if a fan is not even capable of that then I’m afraid he should be getting locked up in Room 442.
Anyway, that’s all for Room 442 this week so if you have any suggestions do get in touch.