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Originally published in the Guardian on 1 June 1981
The Football Association would favour a complete ban on English supporters at overseas matches if that were the price of keeping an English team in international soccer following the violence at Saturday's World Cup game in Switzerland.
The FA is considering abandoning its England Travel Club, an organisation set up three years ago to limit the distribution of tickets to fans with identity cards who had agreed to abide by a code of conduct.
It has not succeeded in controlling the violence, particularly where tickets are freely on sale at the ground, as they were in Basle.
Five England fans are still in gaol in Basle being questioned about the looting of a jewellery shop. Another 27 were detained before the match by Swiss police and put onto trains returning to Britain. Swiss police said 12 people were "significantly injured" and one man was stabbed.
"Personally I don't care if we have no more support away from home," Mr Ted Croker, secretary of the FA said yesterday. "We may well have to ask football's governing bodies to put pressure on countries we visit, perhaps even order them not to sell tickets to English supporters."
The Swiss police and football authorities seemed unprepared for the notorious English supporters, even though their behaviour at Turin last summer received wide publicity and a fine of £8,000 imposed by UEFA, the European soccer organisation.
Alcohol and tickets were freely available at the Basle ground on Saturday, even though the FA had asked for both to be strictly controlled. Only 40 Swiss police were on duty to keep order among 40,000 fans.
It was the first time the Swiss police had had to use tear gas aerosol sprays or dogs at a football game.
Mr Gwilym Robert, Labour MP for Cannock, said people convicted of violence abroad should have their passports confiscated, but officials pointed out that temporary passports could be obtained easily at any Post Office.
Football violence is no longer a purely British vice, but is becoming increasingly common in Holland and Germany too. Most European police forces have learned how to control it. The notorious French CRS riot squads had few problems with Liverpool's supporters in Paris at the European Cup last week.
But the combination of banning the sale of alcohol, controlling ticket sales and making travel to away games inconvenient and expensive has failed to staunch football violence in Britain.
