I think there are several things playing in Europe have several nations, and specially in the east theres groups thats very nationalistic, while US is one (semi)correrent nation. In europe being militant will push you out of the mainstream, and if you want to follow your militant leanings you're all but forced into illegal stuff, whereas in US its 'common' to have guns on your person in public settings, and its completely normal to be interested in going onto the shooting range, which at best make people weary in Europe unless you're a hunter with a license. US have a much more recent story of racial issues between black and whites, whereas it haven't (argubly untill recent times, but in a different way) been a issue in Europe at all. Blacks are a big minority in US whereas its a much smaller, and less vocal statistical group in europe. As for support sections ... other than soccer, and in the balkans team handball (but again, thats because right-wing use that as a platform there), fans of different teams aren't segregated
Video from Poland with russians fans .... Are there no murders in West Europe? I can also post links of criminal chronicle of the European countries on this website. Will this mean that I should not go there? If you are afraid of Ukraine, then you are not forced to go there.
You must not trivialize the things that has recently happend already during this European campaign. Also people who are prejudiced because they are from Poland/Ukraine must admit recent events are not a very good start... By organizing such a big event people tend to beleive it will be save.
It's old statistic...but you can compare Ukraine with other countries... http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri-crime-total-crimes and this more earliest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
some states in USA more dangerous than in Ukraine or Poland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Homicide-world.png
Those are 2 different statistics, the first shows crimes and the second shows homicides. The crime number doesn't say much....only registered crime is taken into acount. The Ukraine has a population of 45 miljon with 0.5 mil of crimes.... The UK has a pop of 62 miljon with 6.5 mil of crimes... DEFINITION: Note: Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence The number of homicides are a much better indicator although it doesn't show the number for each country Poland is Central Europe Ukraine is Eastern Europe West and Central Europe 1.5 in the year 2004 1.2 in the year 2010 East Europe 15 in the year 2004 7 in the year 2010 Also, it is more the aversion to everything that is foreign in Poland and the Ukraine than the crime/homicides numbers that are/will causing the problems.
I think you stayed at home and try to find the reasons of this. Belive me, the fans who are visiting our countries now joying cheap beer, good food and see hospitable ukrainian/ polish citizens.
Fail logic much? Someone called Thailand a III world country. I just pointed out that it is a richer and more developed country than Ukraine.
It only happened to be cought on tape by a Pole who was also watching the game. He said that stewards grabbed one of the Russian supporter who supposedly threw a flare on the pitch in the first half (referee Webb stopped the game after that, remember?). Those thugs followed them to the esplanade and attacked them there. They of course took off their shirts and some put hoods on their heads (this means that they were 'proffesional'). And yes, they were Russian. This was called a 'minor incident' by organisers, the only one that night at the stadium and because of that, unfortunately, police wasn't called there and those bandits fled the stadium freely. But I hope few of them were indentified and caught later (or will be).
^That sounds pretty good. I think it's easy to mistake a "lack of racial problems" for being "a lack of people who are racist/xenophobic/etc." It's very easy to appear one way, when a nation is very homogenous... the minority population is small... and people in the majority feel less "threatened." It's not a perfect comparison by any means - but I think places in E. Europe are not so dislike certain southern states in the USA, around the mid 60's. I don't get the attack on the steward.... where is security!?!? If that was in the USA those guys would be getting swarmed by security, cops... have their butts tasered and be all over Youtube crying to their moms.
UEFA took over the stadiums and they are responsible for security during the games. Police works outside of the stadiums but could intervene if organisers call them. This time they weren't called which is a shame. Police would quickly track them down and arrest.
That makes very little sense. Not saying isn't true... but that's a major failure. Imagine a CONCACAF tournament in Washington DC - with a couple of guys from Costa Rica, Antigua and Canada providing security... while the DC police sit outside? No way.
That's not a failure. Those things work. Until few blockheads in an organised pack are around to start the fight...
Do you know what was the background of that incident? What happened in Madrid after Widzew Łódź hools went to support CSKA??? Those 'foreigners' were some CSKA ultras who's been in Łódź as Widzew ultras invited few of them to stay there during Euros. No one of them was even punched... The Polish police already identified 12 Russian supporters from Wrocław. Their photos are already handed to Russian spotters, police patrols and Polish Border Guard. Before the game started four Russian supporters were cought in the city center as they demolished the restaurant. Photos are here: http://kontakt24.tvn.pl/temat,pijani-rosjanie-rozrabiali-we-wroclawiu,47966,html?categoryId=496 Small incidents, I don't know why those are stupid acts done by few drunk retards are being so much talked in English press (actually only one - The Daily Mail...).
I was in Boston a few days ago and while I was downtown four people were stabbed. Don't ever go to Boston.
3rd world countries is a term that applies to non aligned states in the cold war. It's no longer relevant despite its misuse.
The real test will be when France and England play Ukraine. Both teams have a lot of black or mixed players. If Ukraine are losing in either game, we will see if the monkey chants start. That will tell us if the racism issue has been addressed in the stadiums.
I think it is scaremongering and hypocrisy on the part of the UK press. The tickets for Poland and Ukraine were given via lottery. The Dutch practice squad was open to the general public. Putting aside that the monkey chants were only alleged, we do not know how many in the crowd were doing it if at all. But monkey chants represent an unstoppable horror that will destroy this tournament? Really? But this is irrelevant in the end. Those who wish to spread guilt by association should first look at their own country and see how many monkey chants and bananas have been tossed in their stadium. There is plenty of blame to go around, and that blame is pointed at a minority of hooligan idiots that do not speak for the football fans of a nation.
You don't hear monkey chants or see bananas being thown in British grounds. The dismissing of the actions of these idiots is actually more damning than the actions themselves to a degree.
That's pretty much how Eastern Europe deals with the issue. Denial and deflection. I still find it amazing that countries condemned by British media seriously try and claim England is just as racist. Some even seriously try and claim England still has a big hooligan problem.
Kinda putting words in my mouth here. Did I say they should be dismissed? The fact that there are sanctions in the UK does not magically cure the racist behavior of fans in the UK either. You cannot legislate out racism, you can only punish it to the extent that the press can feel good about themselves. But it's still there. It is a fantasy to pretend that racism is unknown in England or substantially 'better' than European nations. You have wool over your eyes if you ignore what goes on.
Oh yes I am. You Brits can deny up and down left and right those weren't race riots. But when you type this string: "London Race Riots" into Google, please tell me how many hits do you get and what day will the results point to? BBC is the only news publication missing from that result list which is quite clever. You know just like here in America whenever 10 or more blacks get arrested in Detroit it's always a race riot on every newspaper of the world showing how horrible the USA is. Anyways I'm done talking about this crap, point is, every single country in the world has race problems, it is something that will never be solved and will always be heated and fragile argument.
West of Europe is only politically correct, nothing more. Some foreigners were surprised that you could say 'I hate homsexuals' to a friend in work and that's all - no one will accuse you of any kind of discrimination. Patrick Viera about his stay in Warsaw - 'Many people were looking at me suspiciously. I wasn't feeling comfortable on the streets of Warsaw.' He made himself even dumber than he realy is. If you look Mr Vieira - it's wrong. If you won't - it's racist as well... Where the hell you find a balance on London streets?