LONDON (AP) – The joyful spirit from the 2012 London Games has gone from the Olympic Stadium, replaced instead by hatred and ugly skirmishes.
West Ham’s new home, converted into a soccer stadium with the seats newly painted in the team’s claret and blue colors, has been marred by violence this season as small mobs create a toxic atmosphere during matches.
Further disorder erupted in the closing stages of Wednesday’s game against Chelsea, with bottles, coins and seats hurled between rival fans and seven people arrested. Such unrest – and far worse – was a regular occurrence in the last century, but English authorities thought they had contained the problem.
“Football has become a better, more welcoming environment for a wider fan base,” sports minister Tracey Crouch said Thursday. “No one wants to see a return to the dark days of the late ’70s and ’80s. It is completely right that strong action is taken and that anyone involved in last night’s trouble is banned for life.”
The cause of the disturbances, which Crouch called “desperately sad,” is perplexing authorities. Why should a club, which was renowned in the past for hooliganism, see a revival of a violent element of its fan base just by moving a few miles across east London from Upton Park?