Russian fans chief to be deported

Some of the worst violence so far surrounded the England-Russia match Saturday when at least 35 people were injured and some hospitalized in brawls.

Alexei Yerunov, Nikolai Morozov and Sergei Gorbachev were among the 43 detained and later tried in a court here.

Also on Thursday, three Russian fans were handed jail sentences of one year, 18 months and two years respectively by a Marseille court for planning acts meant to harm people and destroy property.

French authorities on Thursday were also preparing to deport another 20 Russian fans who had been detained en route to the city of Lille on Tuesday.

“We consider (the deportations) a political decision”, he said, insisting that none of the 20 had been involved in the violence.

“We’ve filed an appeal against our removal”.

French riot police charged and used tear gas to disperse rowdy English football fans in Lille on Wednesday, though the northern city was spared feared clashes with Russian supporters.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said he is investigating the cases of two severely injured English fans as attempted murder.

Earlier today, there was a match between England and Wales. “I could have played on but the lads said not to risk it”.

The prison sentences came amid a French crackdown on soccer-related violence, which has exposed the uglier side of the handsome game and drawn accusations that Russian authorities were dispatching violent hooligans on charter flights to disrupt the event.

Russian Federation officials have protested the detention and have been criticised French policing.

The Russian foreign ministry said the group of 20 will be out on to a plane from Nice to Moscow on Saturday.

Uefa this week threatened to disqualify England if there was any more violence while Russian Federation also face being thrown out after being handed a suspended disqualification.

Earlier this week, UEFA’s leadership ruled that England – along with Russian Federation – faced potential disqualification if there was a repeat of the violence that surrounded their match in Marseille.

UEFA said on Thursday it regretted the previous night’s violence, but it stopped short of action to punish the fans or the teams. The police, on its part, also arrested and jailed several Russian and English fans for their unsavoury behaviour.

Lyon police said one of those wounded, a Frenchman, had told them one of his attackers wore an Albania soccer shirt.

Supporters of Slovakia and Russian Federation were also in the city after their game in the city on Wednesday. That included 13 British nationals, police said.

The two home nations will face each other at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in the nearby city of Lens at 2pm United Kingdom time.

HALFTIME SUBSTITUTE Daniel Sturridge scored an injury-time victor to give England a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Wales at Lens.

Police across France are trying to suppress soccer hooliganism at a time when the country is under a state of emergency following the attacks that killed 130 people last November.

The vast majority of the trouble has come from fans of teams in Group B, the group containing Russia, England, Wales and Slovakia.

It comes after five Welsh supporters and four English ones were arrested after “disorder” on a train from Calais on Wednesday.

Ecer isn’t just disappointing to watch on the field, their fans can be just as abhorrent, too.