Russia fans charged towards England supporters following the 1-1 draw on Saturday but hooliganism in the country is much more complex than just one group looking for a fight
A full account of the events surrounding England’s match with Russia may never be forthcoming. Eyewitness accounts, though numerous, can only tell a fragmented part of the story, but the television footage of Russia supporters charging at England fans, and statements by French prosecutor Brice Robin, seem to make clear that the intention to provoke conflict came from a section of the Russian crowd. In his statements, Robin spoke of 150 ‘well-trained’ Russian men instigating the violence. “These people were well prepared for ultra-rapid, ultra-violent action. These are extremely well trained people,” he said.
But Russian spectacles look upon the events through slightly different tinted lenses. In a poll published in Russian newspaper Sovetskiy Sport, just 18% pointed the finger of blame towards Russia fans, with 36% blaming England fans and 33% accusing the French police. Few seek to deny what happened, but as Vesti’s reporting illustrates, events have been interpreted as a gallant band of Russian men successfully beating off their more numerous English attackers.
The fighting, chair-throwing and general chest-beating in Marseille, regardless of interpretation, was captured on smart phones and cameras over the weekend. Many in Europe, and throughout the world, have now started to look nervously towards the 2018 World Cup, set to be held in Russia. The numbers involved in the conflicts are relatively small - demonstrated by prosecutor Robin’s estimate of 150 men - but the phenomenon of Russian hooliganism points to wider processes in Russian politics and society.
The socio-political trends driving the events in Marseille can be distilled into three strands: the Russian conception of English football fandom; the intimate links between Russian football hooliganism, far-right politics and the Kremlin; and the recasting of masculinity in Russian society.
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