As a European, I am a massive soccer fan (we call it football but that is another discussion).
During the 1990s, English teams were banned from European football (which is when teams from different European countries meet midweek during play offs; there is the Champion’s League and the Europa League) for a whole decade.
The ban on UK teams was instated because the British clubs were renowned to bring hooliganism with them whenever they travelled. There are even a few movies about English hooliganism, with ‘Green Street Hooligans’ being the most famous. We have to admit here on the continent that things have also not improved ever since we let the Russians join into the European cups as well.
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But yesterday was another story altogether.
During the matchup of Lyon (France) versus Everton (England) there was a moment when an Everton player was shown a yellow card for a fault on another player. As tensions were already high (Everton were playing at home and were losing 1-2 at that point), a brawl erupted on the pitch between the players, and the group of men scrambled to the side where the ‘hard core’ supporters of Everton were.
Some of these supporters / hooligans were quite agitated and started throwing punches to the players of the opposing teams to see if they could hit them. One of these guys was so upset that he threw punches at the goalkeeper of the opposing Lyon team, whilst, incredibly, holding his toddler on his arm at the same time.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yep. That's an Everton fan with his child trying to hit a Lyon player. <a href="https://t.co/px3PtMTSHm">pic.twitter.com/px3PtMTSHm</a></p>— Ben (@InsideN17) <a href="https://twitter.com/InsideN17/status/921110841008717824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Given the apparent age of the child (appearing 2 or 3 years old), we doubt that this will remain a lasting memory, but just as our English peers, we too were amazed at seeing this kind of behavior from a ‘fan’.
UEFA, the European football organization body, have called for an examination into the Everton fans’ behavior and you can be sure they will be sanctioned.
Source:
Hey look, it was take your kid to work day for hooligans.