Me thinks the bad rep of English football hooligans is neither unjustified nor exageratted.

But, just like when speaking about ethnic minorities or crime rates, one always regrets not having added the usual disclaimer: the behaviour of a few tens of thousands of course doesn't discredit millions of English footy fans, let alone discredit a nation of sixty million.

Even more importantly: English hooliganism does get singled out unfairly. When compared objectively to other European countries, they only averagely misbehave. The Spanish crowds are notorious for their racism, the Italians for their fascist tendencies, the Turks for their aggresiveness. The Germans and Dutch for taking the violence outside of the stadiums, by their making appointments between groups of fans to just battle each other on neutral ground.