[Tin Monkey]

I agree with you Kipax, but I meant in England, not abroad. I've been watching The Real Football Factories on Bravo, which is presented by actor Danny Dyer. The ones he's done in other countries shows how different their hooliganism is compared to England today.

The programmes he's made in this country have focussed on 'firms' who were big 10 or more years ago. There seem to be clashes occasionally, but most of these are prearranged affairs and well away from the football grounds.

The people he's spoken to were active in the scene years ago, but today have moved out of it. The government, police, etc, have done a lot to tackle the problem and it has had an impact. Life-time banning orders, stiff sentencing, identification of known hooligans, etc, are techniques being used in some other countries too, and England led the way in that.

Football grounds are safer now than they have been for decades, although I do feel that these films try to keep alive the 70s/80s image for their own ends. Many foreigners will watch these films and assume that it portrays a typical Saturday afternoon at most football grounds, which is clearly not true.