Brush With Hooligans Distasteful Experience

"For the better part of 115 minutes, we had to put up with every imaginable piece of nonsense - the jibes, the out-and-out insults about Portugal and our people. We were poked with flagsticks and were showered with beer, some of it mixed with urine. And after England's Wayne Rooney got red carded for stupidly sticking his boot into another's man's groin, the taunting, insults and physical abuse became unbearable. Finally, enough was enough. Between overtime periods, we attracted the attention of the security police, who came to the rescue. The police split people up, took pictures of several fans, including the two most "guilty" parties. The last 15 minutes, plus the penalty kicks, were bearable.

Upon being told that one of them had thrown a mix of beer and urine into the rows in front of them, a policewoman looked one rowdy English fan in the eye, looked at his one-third filled cup of beer and asked if he had done what he had been accused of. Over his repeated protestations that he had not, she simply told him "OK, then drink [the beer], right here and now, or leave with me." After several more denials, guilty or not, the English fan swallowed it all in one single gulp. The hooliganism was done."

For Marcos' full report go to the Tampa Tribune >>