Going back to the media and reporting, is there any proof that a more moderated approach in terms of language has an impact on the violence? Press reporting of both football, and football violence goes back at least to the 1890's when the first press boxes were installed in football grounds. The major difference in Press coverage was the tone, as one would presume from that era. Are there any statistics that suggest that, with that more measured reporting, we also had less subsequent violence? “Well, it's hard to say – who knows? Statistics are based as much on things like Police determination to arrest people, and rules of behaviour. Statistics essentially reflect Police policy as much as anything else, and in those days it was typically the era of getting a clip on the ear from the local bobby, and sent on your way, rather than being hauled before the courts – so those type of comparisons are impossible. We do know that there were serious incidents of violence in both the '20s and '30s, with some grounds having to shut down, so clearly it wasn't all sweetness and light that nostalgia might portray”.

One of the most interesting discussions in the report is the continuing debate on the role of alcohol in the violence. The media are generally happy to show pictures of, in the case of Euro 2004, English fans in the sun downing pints, and then the shots cut to night time scenes of riot police and violence; as surely as night follows day, in media terms, alcohol is responsible for a large part of football related violence. “Well, it's a nice simple explanation, isn't it, when you run out of other explanations you can blame the booze, but clearly that's not the case. Some people get tanked up before a game and get involved in violence at the game; we presume there's a connection between the alcohol and the violence, but that's tenuous to say the least. There have been interesting experiments. For example there's the famous case of the Aston Villa fans attending a European Cup Final against Bayern Munich in the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam, where British fans, unbeknownst to them, were given alcohol free beer rather than normal beer. Our brave boys drank pints of the stuff, all got drunk, fell about the place, and got violent. So it's an interesting point. I'm not saying it's not a factor, but as a starting point I don't think it gets us very far”.

And certainly, there are nations associated with high alcohol intake amongst their fans, but not with violence – for example the Irish, and the Danes. The Danes in particular who have developed a counter culture of rooliganism ('rolig' is Danish for easy going), where fans are renowned for their drinking prowess, but rarely get involved in violence. On the other hand, Italy has had its fair share of football related violence, despite the fact that the fans are comparably abstemious. “The interesting thing about the Italian fans in this context is that certainly before matches, where there are big rivalries, the fans don't drink. You don't get drunk when you're about to go into a potentially dangerous situation where you need your wits about you. So the idea of the British fans getting drunk is generally looked upon by fans on the continent as ridiculous”. Dr Marsh continues “We've done lots of work on alcohol and pub violence, the relationship between alcohol and violence is very much a situational one, where, in certain social contexts, increasing levels of alcohol feed in to an already aggressive and conflict ridden atmosphere and tip the situation in that direction. In other contexts, as we all know, it can make us amorous, tearful, well disposed to other people etc.”.

Interestingly enough, little or no research has been done into the effects of illegal drugs on fans behaviour. “There's a lot of drug taking that goes on. If you go to a football game now, and you take in a can of beer, you can be fined 400 pounds, in England. If you stand on the terraces and light up the biggest joint you've ever seen, I doubt you even get a caution these days. It's a strange twist. Though, in relation to violence in England and illegal drugs, it's more likely to be amphetamines that have an effect rather than cannabis. The combination of alcohol and amphetamine sulphate is always problematic, but there aren't really any studies on this in the football context”.

With all these questions, and debates, one would imagine that the whole area is problematic in terms of research. “No more than any other public behaviour area. You can go to games, watch behaviour, and talk to people, which is all I did when writing my thesis. You can't go and conduct experiments, and trying to conduct questionnaires at a football game would simply be an unrewarding exercise. But you can go along and talk, and try to understand what's going on. To try to get that view from the inside”. And what of the regular exposes that we read and see on the television – where the journalist goes undercover with the hooligans? “They're just sensationalist crap – absolutely awful. It makes for good television maybe, but it doesn't really tell us anything about what's really going on. Nor does it help to actually see to what extent we can reduce some of these problems. The problems though aren't going to go away, you've got hundreds of thousands of lads, with roused emotions engaged in this type of conflict with a tangible enemy: the idea that we can turn football grounds into nice peaceful oasis in an otherwise violent society is idealistic. We live in an increasingly violent culture, and that's reflected in our football grounds”.

Marsh is often straightforward through the interview, giving the impression that really enough is known about the problem, certainly to minimise the effects, and to adopt a realistic approach. Is there a need for more research? “Frankly, it's been researched to death, with researchers nibbling at other people's perspectives, and falling out amongst each other, trying to establish their perspectives as superior. We've had research in this area for 35-40 years”. He reflects then on one of the paradoxes for the researcher “Maybe people are still doing it for the reason that drew me, you get to go to matches, travel around, and have largely pleasant experiences!”

Football Violence and Hooliganism in Europe – A S.I.R.C Report