Hey people, hope life's treating you well. In response to Mike's question I have to go from Nottingham down to London to train with a PFS type guy whoi's really good. The midlands are a bit of a waste land regarding decent RBSD so I go where I have to.
But anyway onto my question- I was wondering if you ever have incidents of football violence in North America, by football I mean soccer to you guys because over here it's a big issue and I've a few run ins with football hooligans, one was the most fearful I've been and another ran a close second. First one was I met met the leader of The Forest Lads on public transport after I'd been on an all dayer with my old man and he showed me his collection of screwdrivers he liked to use on other people, he was trying to convince me that I should paint the town red with his boys and when I politely refused he got nasty but luckily for me the bus was full of people and I made a quick getaway when we reached the terminus. I had a crash course in verbal defusement that night and have never feared for my safety as much. This guy was out to hurt someone and it was so nearly me. Second one was I was walking to a bar (is there a pattern emerging here) when two groups of fans had a set too, a gun was drawn and was fired over the heads of people passing by, I've never hit the deck so quick.
I'm just curious to know if you get this type of thing in America, not bar brawls after a game but serious, organised groups of people out to hurt each other using sport as a mask. The classic pointers are all there, tribal loyalty, booze and testerone. There is a big problem with this in Europe and South America but I've yet to hear anything about it in North America.
Just wonderin'
Peace dudes
Matt
Was interested to read what you posted. Never heard of any soccer or other sports violence in North America but, as you say, sometimes you can barely avoid it over here (I once spent a couple of hours with an ex girlfriend in an Indian restaurant to avoid some hooligans in Sheffield... luckily the food was good, it was the nearest escape location, luckily we both like curry!!). Fotball violence seems to be worst in some parts of Italy and South America (was a Columbian player shot dead after the world cup?). Like you say the game is secondary to the violence for these people and a lot of them never go to the game but meet up locally to fight (there was a good programme with an undercover reporter which covered it well, sorry can't remember the name).
Last year I went to a bar where fans drink before the game. In the toilets there were flyers saying that "the other fans no longer respected us, lets teach them a lesson...meet up at....etc." These guys are serious, I think at Senshido they would nearly all class as EDI's.
Without being paranoid I would tend to avoid certain towns when games are being played and certain bars near the grounds. Avoid team colours and avoid wearing your team shirt overtly. If confronted you must assume that one of his friends will jump in at any moment. Football is our national game IMHO and we ought to get more families going.
By the way is PFS Vunak? Who do you train with in London?
and definitely not where soccer is concerned. It just doesn't have a big enough fan base over here, though that is changing. Basketball on the other hand seems inherently entwined with the gang/hiphop culture. Even then, if a large fight is going to happen at a sporting event, it's much more likely to happen along (pre-existing) gang/family/friend lines as opposed to team loyalty lines.
The trouble that happens after sporting events over here is almost always of the celebratory riot variety, i.e., "Our team won! Let's F*ck Sh*t Up!" etc..