England fans travelling to Germany for the men’s European Championship this summer should be “judged on their behaviour, not reputation”, according to chief constable Mark Roberts, head of the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU).
Roberts was speaking at a briefing ahead of the tournament, which will be the first major men’s tournament in Germany since the 2006 World Cup. After only a small number of England fans travelled to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, it will also be the most accessible tournament for supporters since the trouble at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium.
An estimated 2,000 ticketless fans gained entry to the game, with 53 arrests made at the stadium and 19 police officers injured. A documentary about the incidents will be released on Netflix on Wednesday.
However, Roberts urged German police — two representatives of whom were sitting alongside him — to not judge England fans on reputation, instead setting out a pattern of good behaviour at major tournaments.
The UKFPU is expecting between 150,000 and 250,000 supporters to travel to Germany over the four weeks.
“We really try to make this point about England fans travelling abroad,” Roberts said. “The behaviour of England fans in tournaments has generally been excellent.
“I could go back as far as 2006, which was the last major tournament in Germany. I think the England fans were voted the best fans in the tournament. When you look at Qatar, we had no arrests.
“The figures for Euro 2020 are slightly skewed because obviously our issues around the final or some of the games that we played in this country.
England fans ahead of the Euro 2020 final at Wembley (Matteo Ciambelli/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
“Russia, there were just three arrests for relatively mild, drink-related things. France, we had some issues if you were in Marseille, and then you go back to Brazil in 2014, where there were 24 arrests, 13 of those for ticket touting.
“It’s really important for us to stress that when we deal with foreign authorities, (we say) please judge our fans on their behaviour, not on reputation. Because when you look at behaviour over recent tournaments, it’s been a really positive story.
“Candidly, there are countries in Europe with much more serious problems when it comes to football-related problems.”
Asked whether the police were preoccupied with a new type of younger disruptive fan who had emerged since the Covid-19 lockdown, Roberts was confident that measures were in place.
“I think we’re talking more Inbetweeners than Green Street,” he joked.
“Looking at the culture of Germany, it’s not entirely dissimilar to ours. Police are used to people having a drink used to the night-time economy — they are very well versed in dealing with people with that social drinking.”
Even in recent years, in matches Germany has not been involved in, England fans have persisted in signing anti-German songs referencing the two World Wars.
Asked how those chants would be policed, both Roberts and the German police stressed that it depended on the context of the singing — and whether there were aggravating factors such as aggression or vulnerable observers.
According to Roberts, the UKFPU has the closest relationship with the German police of any European force, and British officers will be encouraged to deal with fans directly to mitigate any potential issues.
For public order offences of this nature, German officers also have the power to impose spot fines, where the offender will be taken to a cashpoint by police to pay a penalty.
“This is about being sensible,” said Roberts. “People know when they’re being grossly offensive.”
The tournament starts in Munich on June 14, when Germany face Scotland. England’s first game is against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on June 16.
(Matteo Ciambelli/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
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