Photo Daily | November 28 | 2006 World Cup: England Fan Arrested in Cologne

By Tom Dunmore • Nov 28th, 2007 • Category: Photography • 11 responses

Unidentified England fan being arrested by Cologne police outside the stadium before the Sweden game
In the latest in this week’s photo series on the 2006 World Cup, is this a scene from the old days of English hooliganism abroad, or an aberration? This fan was arrested before England’s match against Sweden in Cologne (remember Joe Cole’s screamer in the 2-2 draw?). 22 England fans were arrested that day, but most were released quickly and there seems to have been little more than inebriated spirits.

Photo credit: JamesCalder on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.

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Tom Dunmore is the editor of Pitch Invasion.
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11 Responses »

  1. james calder on November 28th, 2007 at 11:46 pm:

    cheers for using my photo (and for crediting me accordingly!)

    :^)

    j

  2. Thomas Dunmore on November 29th, 2007 at 1:32 am:

    James, I’m glad you’re pleased we used it. Great timing on that photo.

  3. Joe on November 29th, 2007 at 12:56 pm:

    I too was an eye witness to events that night in Köln. It really was much ado about nothing, though I felt the police was a touch exuberant. Certainly seeing them charge at me and knock me over was scary enough.

    I posted about the events literally minutes after it happened (so excuse the spelling errors):
    http://aloneincologne.wordpress.com/2006/06/19/the-dream-is-over/

    And reflected on said events the next day:
    http://aloneincologne.wordpress.com/2006/06/22/28/

    I even made it onto the BBC website:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldcup/2006/06/eye_witness_account_of_cologne_1.html

    It was the only hostile environment I experienced in all my time at the WC and you could certainly feel it in the air before the event.

  4. Thomas Dunmore on November 29th, 2007 at 2:52 pm:

    Very interesting to read a first-hand account, Joe. Seems like the riot police were rather over the top, though it sounds like it could have gone down worse, too.

  5. Joe on November 29th, 2007 at 4:22 pm:

    Yes it was interesting reading my own comments e year on, and the events were as I remember them.

    In the interests of full disclosure, it turns out the riot police were initially called out to cordon off a pub that was found to have been occupied by some known German hooligans. However, not knowing this (and perhaps not communicated to them), some English fans saw it as a pre-emptive threat and took offence.

    At the same scene someone had fallen from a statue meaning tensions were raised.

    All in all it’s just one of those situations that is an isolated series of events that aggregate into one snap moment when nerves break.

    It was interesting to watch it all unfold before my eyes but honestly it’s nothing I want to be involved with ever again. Had I not clung to a TV crew I’m sure I’d have got a little beating at the least.

  6. Handcuff Keys on February 18th, 2008 at 6:09 am:

    Lock ‘em up and throw away the key I say…Thanks for the interesting article…

  7. Dubai Property on February 28th, 2008 at 12:08 pm:

    People always say that it`s a “thing of the past” and it might well be nothing compared to old times but it`s always there waiting to happen football is football.

  8. England on April 15th, 2008 at 8:25 am:

    Heard of this incident but seeing the picture for the first time. Football is a spirit which cannot be controlled. But street fights between club fans is entirely different matter.

  9. Framer on April 21st, 2008 at 8:03 am:

    Hey is this a way to treat with the fans?

  10. Rulo Vinello on April 24th, 2008 at 8:08 am:

    Hi,
    I too heared of this incident. Look at this similar story: pt

  11. Serge on July 10th, 2008 at 4:32 am:

    I think that some fans are similar to real criminals and methods must be similar too.

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