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Oh how I’m looking forward to smirking at the Scots tomorrow.

not just the Scots and English (or only football) who behave really badly.

I was in Switzerland, for the first match of Euro 96 on a floating pub moored in some lake somewhere. The final score was England 1 Swiss 1 - and the bar was wrecked by violent Swiss fans (me and my mate were the only brits, staying very quiet).

I have seen masses of drunken violence in Spain associated with football, and my brother was cornered by rabid Naples fans in a bar in Italy (luckily the owner sought to protect his customers).

I have seen terrible behaviour by cricket fans in India when I was working in Ahmedabad and decided to go watch a cricket match. In fact it was going to get so bad, the people i sat next to advised i leave early as i might be targeted for violence. Although being Ahmedabad is was not alcohol fueled.
 
Been missing barn doors for Scotland and did not look sharp yesterday, as has been the case for a while in a Scotland jersey. Do you think he should have started over Adam?
Adams is probably the better player, but I'm sure the manager had his reasons.
 
I also tend to support the home nations, but this can wear a bit thin when the Scots invariably support the teams paying England. Many moons ago, attending a conference in Amsterdam, I sat in a bar watching England play Argentina in the World Cup. The local Dutch were cheering for England, but the large contingent of Scots (including, unfortunately, SWMBO) were willing Argentina to win. Always fun on our sofa when England is playing Scotland at rugby!

Two wrongs don’t make a right. I’ll adopt the more unified higher ground, out of respect and charity towards the Scots. :D But they do do passion for their team very well. More so in some instances than some very fickle England fans…
 
The talk over fans' behaviour reminded me of something said to me after Euro '96.

One of the well-known local amateur grounds (Moor Lane in Erdington, Birmingham for those interested. On the left near the graveyard by the M6 when going south, just before the Spaghetti junction turn off. Sorry, I digress, anyway...) was chosen as a tented village for visiting fans, in this case the Scots and Dutch.

A few weeks later I was getting ready for a match and asked one of the groundsmen about how it went having two sets of fans there who according to legend are not averse to downing a few and having a good time. He said to me that in all the time they were there there was not one bit of trouble and the atmosphere was great.

At that time I was working in an office on the edge of town and out of the window all afternoon I would see human A-frames swathed in blue and orange staggering down the Hagley Road.
 
Been missing barn doors for Scotland and did not look sharp yesterday, as has been the case for a while in a Scotland jersey. Do you think he should have started over Adam?
Dykes looked poor to me. The one the keeper saved with his foot was a definite barn door moment and at a critical time.
 


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