Whereas

"A Portugal supporter threw a drink in the air to celebrate after which several drunken England fans retaliated by hurling bottles at the locals and then the police."

So the incident started because a Portugal fan threw a beer. Obviously it was wrong of England fans to retaliate but that's what will happen if you have a large group of drunk people and someone starts chucking beers around.
Not condoning it but its just interesting how its so often glossed over.

I've watched England abroad. Yes our fans sometimes don't behave that well and that should be called out. My (our I think) generation don't get drawn in anymore but unfortunately it seems that younger fans are now starting to follow the national team in larger numbers again, especially when the venues are accessible like Portugal or Amsterdam.

But what I can tell you is that nearly always the serious "trouble" (or people running around and chucking bottles or chairs as it tends to be) is triggered by our fans being got at (either by locals or police) and then reacting to an incident before being battered by the police and then blamed for the whole thing. Its so predictable and you can always tell beforehand when its likely to happen.

At the end of the day though there were 3 arrests out of 20,000 fans in Portugal. Of course the FA etc are going to come out and condemn antisocial behaviour as they should but they also have no real choice given the way the media over hype it all.

Posted By: Jim, Jun 6, 16:15:09