MUCH has rightly been made of the appalling behaviour of many English football 'supporters' in Belgium during Euro 2000.
There can be no doubt that such vile and contemptuous rampaging is an affront to all civilised values.
Now, there are possibly two basic questions to be asked in this direction — why do so many young and even middle aged men (and invariably it is men) often with good jobs, education and many advantages in life, behave in such a way; secondly, how does society eradicate it.
Answers to both are hard to find — indeed Governments, police, football authorities and society in general have been trying to find some for a generation and more.
The principle initial problem is almost certainly the excessive drinking indulged by a sizeable minority of Englishmen when travelling abroad to follow the national team.
Few appear to cause bother when sober, many when drunk.
Sadly there is an every increasing tendency amongst many to imbibe to the extent that reason and inhibitions desert them, with a penchant for mindless violence taking their place.
Regarding what to do with the miscreants abroad, this is obviously fraught with problems.
Certainly the authorities in the countries where these louts offend must be encouraged to bring the full force of their laws into operation — the inside of prisons would have a salutary effect on most offenders, though obviously not all. What is surely not a solution is taking away people's passports on a whim.
Certainly, if a man is brought before the courts for an offence of public order, and found guilty, then a condition of his sentence could be the surrendering of his passport for a limited period.
However, to order the forfeiture of a British citizen's passport because there is suspicion of what he might do, rather than evidence of what he has actually done, is to confront, dangerously, those concepts of Common Law and natural justice which are the bastions of our freedom as a people.
Ted Sherrell
60 Whitchurch Road
Tavistock