2010 World Cup: Violence Free?

Since the very first Football World Cup championship in 1930, there were numerous reports of violent situations from spontaneous and low level disorders during the match to organized gang fights between football clubs, sometimes a long way before a match.In June 1998, during the FIFA World Cup finals, police fired tear gas to control fights involving English and Tunisian fans. There were 49 arrests, including 27 English fans, with 30 people injured. In 2005 in Istanbul, the match between Turkey and Sweden ended with the players clawing and kicking one another and objects being thrown from the crowd. The outcome of a supposedly sporting contest was Turkey’s elimination from the 2006 World Cup.But the most famous incident known as the “Football War” or “Soccer War” occurred in 1969. It was caused by political conflicts between Hondurans and Salvadorans and exploded during the second North American qualifying round for the 1970 FIFA World Cup. The first game took place in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras; the second game took place in San Salvador, both times home teams won. Later on, both nations exploited existing tensions, reporting beatings, the burning of cars and attacks in their countries by the soccer fans of the other team. On July 14, 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras, which was resolved on July 20 after the interference of the Organization of American States.  Most of the articles and reports on the upcoming 2010 soccer worldcup championship are focused on South Africa's high rate of violent crime. The main argument is a murder of a South African politician Jimmy Mohala that seems to be World Cup-related. However, disorders can be reduced by appropriate methods of policing; it is possible to police a crowd of drunken football supporters in a way that prevents serious situations, as was demonstrated at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and will hopefully drum into this year football World Cup in South Africa.