Authorities Are Gearing Up for Hooligans

LONDON -- British police are gearing up to help prevent violence from soccer hooligans at the World Cup that begins next Friday.

A team of British policemen, intelligence officers and lawyers will travel to Germany to help local police with arrests and speedy prosecution of violent, drunken and over-exuberant fans who breach the law.

Britain is also preventing known troublemakers from leaving the country throughout the monthlong World Cup.

After outbreaks of violence at Euro 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands, Britain required more than 3,000 past troublemakers to surrender their passports to British authorities before the World Cup began. Last Tuesday was the deadline for 3,286 known offenders to hand in their passports. All those who failed to do so will be stopped if they try to leave Britain during the soccer tournament, authorities said.

British fans have also been known to use wartime anti-German slogans and songs when rooting for their national team against Germany. This is one factor in the collaborative British-German police offensive ahead of this World Cup.

Fans wearing World War II-style helmets bought outside Old Trafford in Manchester were turned away from this week’s exhibition match involving England and Hungary, reported the Sun, a tabloid.

Capt. Dietmar Wolf, from Germany’s federal police headquarters, said at a London news conference that there will be “zero tolerance” of hooliganism. Nazi salutes and some offensive songs, including a British favorite about shooting down German planes, are off-limits during World Cup matches and spectators may be banished from the games and even from Germany, he said.

However, police from both countries hope to put on a charm offensive rather than a disciplinary one. In special training at a North London police headquarters, German police officers are priming 46 British uniformed police so they can patrol cities playing host to World Cup matches and mingle with fans to offer help, support and advice.

In return German officers are going through a crash course of typical British fan behavior, including songs, gestures and slogans, to eliminate cultural misunderstandings as far as possible.

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The English team had a royal visitor for its training session Thursday as Prince William, President of the English Football Assn., turned up to watch.

The Prince, a soccer fan and supporter of Aston Villa, a Premier League team, chatted and joked with the players as they went through training routines outside Manchester.

At a news conference later, Peter Crouch, the lanky 6-foot-7 goal scorer against Hungary who became famous for his celebration dance after the goal, was asked if he had performed it for the prince.

Crouch’s dance has been diagnosed by the British press and likened to C3PO of “Star Wars.” Crouch said the team persuaded him to give a royal performance of his jerky, robot-like movement.

“When the future king’s asking to see it, I couldn’t really turn him down,” a red-faced Crouch told reporters.

The shy new team hero got a royal laugh and a handshake for his efforts.

Midfielder Joe Cole said, “It was a real honor for us to have [Prince William] around -- he’s the same age as the majority of the squad.”