Archive - Monday, 9 February 2004


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Euro ban for up to 20 Town fans

AS many as 20 known Swindon Town football hooligans will be banned from travelling to Portugal this summer for Euro 2004.

The bans form part of a massive effort to stop some 2,500 known troublemakers from travelling to the European football showpiece.

But Swindon police hope the orders, some of which were made two or three seasons ago, will head off any trouble that could flare in the run-up to Town's Second Division campaign.

The club currently jockeying for position in the play offs could be playing bitter rivals Bristol City twice before the end of the season.

They face them at the County Ground on Easter Saturday, April 10, and possibly again in either the play off semi-final or final.

Chief Inspector Simon King, who heads up the Swindon police football intelligence unit, said: "There is a tournament coming up and there is significant concern that fans will travel and cause trouble.

"They should not be travelling out of the country with the intention of causing trouble and we will deal with any breaches of these banning orders."

Banning orders prevent the fans concerned from attending all domestic and international matches.

The troublemakers have to surrender their passports to the front desk at Swindon central police station on match days and any breach could result in a fine or imprisonment.

Swindon police have a covert matchday presence at the County Ground and 'spotters' operate within the ground, looking for known troublemakers who have sneaked in, and identifying trouble that might flare up.

Football intelligence officer PC James Neighbour said: "It's not a huge problem at Swindon Town, but we do have people that play up. We do and will enforce quite robustly banning orders and I think that's positive for football as a whole. We're definitely on top of the problem."

Chief Inspector King declined to reveal the identities of Town fans currently serving bans, saying it would be a breach of their human rights.

Nationally, police are working around the clock to gather intelligence and secure convictions of suspected troublemakers ahead of Euro 2004.

Authorities do not want a repeat of the scenes at Euro 2000, which saw violence erupt in Holland and Belgium, or England's qualifying campaign, which was also marred by ugly scenes that resulted in fans being banned from travelling to Turkey and Macedonia.

Giles Sheldrick