It's Not Our Problem Anymore

There's been an outbreak of self-righteous hand wringing in the media over here about the trouble in Rome before, during and after the Roma v Manchester United Quarter Final. It's a amazing isn't it that the country that gave the world Heysel 1985 and Marseille 1998 finds the sight of law enforcement continental style so offensive.

The thing is the British don't really do civil disobedience on a large scale and therefore we've never had the experience of 'proper' riot control or had to witness police squads bearing down on people armed with batons and tear gas. Apart from the Poll Tax riots and one or two May Day disputes we don't really have anything to compare with Seattle or Paris or Madrid.

Yes a few people got annoyed about the war in Iraq, there were some welly wearing lot who got a bit annoyed about the hunting ban but that's it. When we get really annoyed we phone 5Live or post on a message board.

I have sympathy with the Man. Utd supporters who were blameless, what I would say however is that having seen the pictures on Sky several times I'd have to say the blameless were in the minority when it came to causing trouble. Yes I know the baton charges were indiscriminate but there were more than a couple of away supporters getting involved.