World Cup: Socceroos fans warned not to mess with Russian police amid 'off the scale' security

Updated about an hour ago

Any Australian fans who behave badly at the World Cup in Russia next month need to be prepared to face tough punishments, according to the UK's top soccer police officer.

Gold Commander Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts, who is in charge of trying to keep English supporters safe at the tournament, said security around stadiums on match days will be "off the scale" with "thousands of officers in riot gear, supported by the army".

He warned ticket scalpers could be fined up to $37,000, disorderly conduct could lead to 15 days behind bars, assaulting a police officer carries the risk of a 10-year prison sentence and "mass disorder", such as rioting, could see people jailed for between eight and 15 years.

"You wouldn't want to be in a Russian prison, described as a football hooligan," Deputy Chief Constable Roberts told the ABC.

"A very large presence of police with shields [at games] is the norm in Russia … and parts of eastern Europe.

"Fans need to be prepared for that and to be respectful."

He also warned supporters that waving flags, drinking heavily and singly loudly in public away from stadiums could be taken "the wrong way" by authorities and locals.

Instances of "provocative behaviour", like comments or actions referring to Russia's military past, were likely to be viewed very dimly, Deputy Chief Constable Roberts added.

Fears of clashes at the World Cup were first raised when some Russian football hooligans went on a rampage at the European Championships in France in 2016.

They were heightened in March as the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England led to tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions around the world, including between Canberra and Moscow.

At one point, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson even likened Russia's World Cup to Hitler's 1936 Olympics.

Deputy Chief Constable Roberts conceded he was "aware of the political circumstances" but urged media outlets to report on the threat of violence "responsibly".

He said he was very confident the Kremlin would use its considerable "state security apparatus" to ensure the event was not marred by violence or disorder.

"If I believed everything in the English tabloids I'd believe a B-52 bomber was on the moon," he said.

"Authorities want a good World Cup that showcases Russia and gives it some good publicity.

"Scare stories [such as clashes between fans] on their own are not helpful … but they really do also start to effect the psyche of the local law enforcement."

Baseless fear mongering.

The only football fans that get in any trouble will be ones that go out of their way to find it.

Not sure if Luzhniki Stadium or AAMI Park

Quite right.

Security will be enourmous but if doing the right thing, or more specifically not doing the wrong thing there should be no problems, and that level of security is probably not a bad thing at all.

Nah, if it was AAMI there'd be mounted officers trying to intimidate little kids.

you know what gets me, why not call it AAMI stadium, instead of AAMI park

cos its not a park

yeah check out those socceroos fans in the pic, they look well 'ard

Act like a dickhead and you deserve to have your head kicked in and put in a Russian jail. 

Bit of a technicality with that one, AAMI already had a naming rights agreement with Adelaide's AFL venue at the time (Football Park) Which was known as AAMI Stadium, though now it's been bulldozed for retirement properties since Adelaide Oval's redevelopment. Bit similar as to when Telstra had both Stadium Australia and Docklands naming rights (Telstra Stadium and Telstra Dome)

On topic, I just have some horrible feeling there could be some shocking scenes, so many problems in Russia with hooliganism, racism, anti-west etc, and then there's the Chechens, world cup time is a great time to get worldwide attention..... I hope I'm totally wrong...

Provocative comments referring to Russia's military past?

'Oh mr hooligan sir i do notice the way you took Crimea was most inadequate.'

'Invading Japan was behind the atomic bombs in most effective strategies in ending WWII'

Stick to AFL you stupid cûnt.

I wouldn't say baseless, just woefully misdirected.

There will be trouble and it won't be involving us. Russia, Poland, England will have its hools. Some countries take it very seriously - underground movements and very well organised, even with command structures like armies. It's just ridiculous that such an article would be addressed to us. We have some bored hobos in the suburbs that rip a flare and likely have some low level assault/drug/criminal trespass/damage to property mark on them that means they can't travel internationally anyway. The main point of this article is just to smear football to get the non football fans through another day.

What is true in this article is that you don't want to be arrested in Russia. No right to remain silent, here's your free lawyer, just shut your mouth and walk in Russia. While it's most likely (considering the volume of wankers they'll have to deal with in a short amount of time) that you'll simply get deported and slapped with a ban, if you're a special sort of moron that ends up in a court then get ready. In Russian court you will be seated in a cage, have your head shaved (mandatory), and the proceedings will be a celebration of your guilt. "America's hardest prisons" are playgrounds compared to Russia. None of it is especially relevant though because you'd have to get up to serious shit. I don't see a band of Aussies who are ostensibly a bunch of accountants and teachers working in Europe suddenly going Real Football Factories of PriceWaterhouseCoopers to the extent they end up in that predicament. 

Yeah. For the average Australian, I imagine there'll be fewer pitfalls than in a place such as Thailand or Bali. Speak ill of the host country and you'll run the risk of serious trouble. But I doubt many Aussies at the World Cup would engage in overly political activities (or too many political conversations) any more than your average Aussie does in SE Asia.

lol yeah, need more danny "dire" in wussia

wussia firms most skary mubz in all of wurld 

Any potential organised trouble in Russia will have absolutely nothing to do with Australian fans. The English fans will be the target as they are still paying for the reputation they created in the 70's and 80's of trashing Europe on away trips.

Yes it is.

It's non-commercial name should be Melbourne Park, instead of the clunky "Melbourne Rectangular Stadium".

That's the reason why the old stadium next door was called Olympic Park, until Collingwood had it destroyed, of course.

MRS?

Or Misso?

You have what you are hoping for, you're totally wrong lol :)

If the security does crack down on anyone, it'll be any Russian hooligans trying to spoil Putin's party; it's important for him that this goes off without a hitch and he'll get what he wants as always.

A fellow I met who heads CSKA Fans Against Racism and appears on TV often over there even suggested that the government went as far as enticing the hooligan element to stay away from the World Cup, but who knows what behind the scenes dealings go on over there.

As for Chechniya, the kingpin down there is best mates with Putin now, so they largely get on very well. There has been other incidents of other Islamic extremism of course, but I'd be more worried about that in France or Germany that Russia at this point in time.

To an extent it will also depend on the goings on between fans and their own federation. At the last Euro the Croatian supporters (by no means a majority) causing problems were doing it to discredit their own fed. They felt aggrieved and used the tournament as a blank cheque.

England throws up its truly special bogans. I don't think the 70s/80s is especially relevant anymore because their hools are still pulling enough shit to renew hostilities just from one tournament to the next.

In our group we don't have any problems whatsoever. Only France has some level of hooligan activity which is only at club level. And, we're not black, so that rules out most of the possibilities there.

The article lazily puts 2 entirely separate things - hooligan activity and politics. As far as it concerns us that's just bs. What is true though on a personal, non ultra hooligan mass street brawl level, is you're best off not talking any politics. Not because Russians are bad. But because you'll get the same response as if you walk around the Glebe market with a libs tshirt telling everyone your man Tony Abbott goes alright. 

You'd be fine, I was never taken away by the KGB when I spoke to anyone who asked about my opinion of affairs.

Wouldn't go waving a rainbow flag everywhere I go though, but I bet someone will, and they'll probably be disappointed that nothing will happen because it's the World Cup.

I'm going, attending a bunch of games, including 2 england games, and have 0 concerns for my safety. I can't imagine too many going will be wanting to test the limits of russian authorities. They held the confederations cup just a year ago which was fine.

Can confirm.

I heard there was a huge hooligan element at the confeds cup. Of the 15 people there one of them apparently pissed on a lamp post.

This is the first thing people think of when they actually don’t care about the World Cup.

Ramzan Kadyrov? The bloke who has encouraged the rounding up, torture and execution of homosexual men? Who believes that 'honour killings' are just fine because women are the apparently the property of their husbands? Who was installed as Cechen Acting President by Vladimir Putin and nominated by Dmitry Medvedev?

Believe it or not but Kadyrov doesn't represent all of Chechnya. He's a Kremlin puppet and a symptom of Putin's ultranationalism.

If you go to Russia as a Western journalist and basically do your job properly, you're batting on rather a sticky wicket. If you want to write about or speak out publically against Russia's treatment of people who identify as LGBTQI, or corrupt state-control of the media, or bragging about the 'Great Patriotic War' to justify ultranationalism, or its violations of Ukrainian sovereignty (they just built a nice bridge to Crimea) or its pre-ordained elections...

Basically, if you want to engage with anything that actually is a genuine problem for Russia's people (as opposed to its kleptocrats) and the people of neighbouring nations, then you're very, very gutsy.

But, for most Australians who will be enjoying the football as tourists (and they've every right to do just that), they'll be fine in Russia during the World Cup as long as they don't do anything incredibly silly.

😂👌

At least you're guaranteed to get laid

That's the most pertinent part of what you had to say, although everything else you said is pretty well on the money, but I didn't want to go into as much detail myself.

The scaremongering in suggesting that Australian fans have anything to fear like you'll end up like that American bloke who stole the poster in North Korea is just laughable.

It'll be a great time there as a football fan. All the locals will love to see the Australians, they'll want to take photos with you, it'll be fine and lots of fun.

Edit: Nevermind.