150 Brawling English Soccer Fans Turn North Sea Ferry Into Bloody Battleship

About 150 rival English soccer fans battled with knives and broken bottles aboard a North Sea ferry early Friday in a bloody brawl that left four people seriously injured.

A 21-year-old man from Manchester was hospitalized with head injuries in poor but stable condition. Three others were treated for stab wounds after the ferry, bound for the Netherlands, was forced to turn back to England, police said.

Dozens of police were waiting at the English port of Harwich and made 14 arrests. Another 110 soccer fans were put on a train for London with a police escort.

The incident came at a time when English clubs are under suspension from competition in Europe after a riot at the 1985 European Champions Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus Brussels in which 39 fans, mostly Italians, were killed.

British Sports Minister Richard Tracey said the brawl on the ferry is likely to add years to the ban on English teams.

“The people who were involved in this are absolute idiots. They have probably set back for years the time when English clubs can resume full-scale competition with European teams,” Tracey said.

The brawl broke out on the Dutch ferry Koningin Beatrix when Manchester United and West Ham fans began trading insults in one of the ferry’s crowded duty-free bars.

The fans were going to the Netherlands to watch their teams in exhibition “friendly” matches, which do not fall under the European ban on English teams.

The Koningin Beatrix left for the Hook of Holland at 10:30 p.m. local time Thursday. But the captain ordered his crew to lock the rioters in the bar, and he turned the ship around at about 1 a.m. Friday when the fighting became fierce.

About 2,000 terrified vacationers aboard the ferry locked themselves in their cabins during the brawl.

Passenger Steven Manning, 24, of London said there “were pools of blood everywhere” on the ship.

A Londoner who identified himself as Taffy Harris said: “We threw everything we could get our hands on--glasses, bottles, ashtrays and even fire extinguishers. It was great.”