England's hooligan problem: Why do some Three Lions fans cause such trouble away from home?

Prague is one of the most picturesque cities in Europe, a great place to enjoy a weekend away, but from the perspective of the man charged with policing English football supporters, this Friday is most certainly not the time nor the place to stage an England Euro 2020 qualifier against the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic capital is the latest city having to brace itself for a visit from England's sizeable travelling contingent for the next round of Euro 2020 qualifying (). The prospect of more than 5,000 English fans according to FA sources -- with 3,700 tickets have been sold through official channels -- massing in a city that has become synonymous with alcohol-fuelled "stag dos" arriving on low-cost flights from the United Kingdom is one that has caused considerable alarm within the English FA.

"I wrote to UEFA asking them to reconsider the Friday night kick-off," said Mark Roberts, the national lead police officer for football in England. "That's not something we've been able to do.

"I think it's unfortunate because you can foresee the risk. We'd much rather prevent a situation developing than try to manage it on the night and regret it afterwards."

"I have been to Prague three times now over the past 6-8 months to discuss this [security] operation and I'm concerned. I'd say I'm extremely concerned," Tony Conniford, the FA's Head of Team and Corporate Security, told ESPN FC.

"Prague has all the elements. Amsterdam on a Friday night [in 2018] was probably worse, but every England overseas match is a risk because it can go wrong. That is what history has taught me."

In June, children in the Portuguese city of Guimaraes were given an unexpected day off school during the UEFA Nations League tournament, but the decision had nothing to do with watching Cristiano Ronaldo play for Portugal. The children of Guimaraes were told to stay at home because England were in town or, more specifically, England football fans.

During the two nights before the Nations League semifinal between England and the Netherlands at Estadio D. Afonso Henriques, English football supporters clashed with riot police in nearby Porto. It's just the latest chapter to the story of disorder and destruction in whichever European city is unfortunate enough to host a group of people who have become an embarrassment not only to the English Football Association, but also to the country they claim to represent.

Outbreaks of trouble when England play abroad -- games in central and Western Europe are the biggest flash points due to ease of travel -- have become a regular occurrence. There were widespread battles with police and Russia fans in Marseille at Euro 2016. In March 2018, before a friendly against the Netherlands, bicycles were thrown into Amsterdam canals and tourists on boats were pelted with bottles from bridges as Dutch police detained over 100 English supporters following outbreaks of disorder. Twelve months earlier, in Dortmund, England fans sang about the Second World War and the Royal Air Force "shooting down German bombers" as Lukas Podolski, playing in his final international game, was jeered by the visiting contingent during a friendly against Germany.

The latter is no big deal, perhaps, as football fans routinely jeer opposing players. But considering that the game was staged specifically as a celebration of Podolski's international career, the boorish behaviour of the England supporters stood out. But this is the vibe that comes with England away days: songs insulting the Pope, racially motivated chanting and taunts directed at the Taliban and Irish Republican Army [IRA] are often heard in the stadiums and bars of any city hosting England supporters. Songs about the players or the team? Not so much.

"When we are talking about England away -- we don't see it on a routine Premier League weekend because people maybe have a couple of drinks and that's it -- they are going for 48 hours and it's a stag do [bachelor party] or weekend away."

Tony Conniford, the FA's Head of Team and Corporate Security

What was once described by the media as the "English disease" (hooliganism connected to English football teams) has changed over the years from organised fighting into groups of young men, travelling in small groups, mixing obnoxious behaviour with heavy drinking, but it is a stain on the English game all the same.

The scourge of organised hooliganism has largely been eradicated, but the problem now is one of English fans exporting the "laddish" Friday night antics seen in town centres throughout the country -- binge drinking, fighting and damage to bars, cars and property -- to continental cities. The Football Association are desperate to eradicate it, but even those charged with doing that don't have all the answers.

Finding a solution is the biggest challenge facing the FA and Conniford, who liaise closely with the police and supporters' groups in an attempt to minimise what has become a resurgent problem, albeit one that has ebbed and flowed over the years.

The Premier League, the shop window of English football, offers a slick, safe and inclusive image to the world. Violence and disorder within Premier League stadia has now been largely eradicated due to all-seater stadia, investment in stewarding, the use of CCTV cameras and the strong action by the courts. If you run onto a pitch, throw an object or engage in discriminatory chanting at a Premier League stadium, there is a very good chance you will be caught on camera and arrested.

During the 1970s and 1980s, however, hooliganism in English football led to running battles at stadiums, on trains and in towns and cities, between groups attached to clubs, such as the Chelsea Headhunters, the Inter City Firm (West Ham) and the Gremlins (Newcastle United). England games were also marred by hooliganism during this period, with hundreds going on the rampage in Luxembourg in November 1983 following an international fixture in the country. When 39 Juventus supporters died at the 1985 European Cup final at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, after a wall collapsed under the weight of Italians attempting to escape charging Liverpool fans, English clubs were banned from European competition for five years due to the repeated outbreaks of violence that accompanied their teams' fixtures on the continent.

The abandonment of a friendly international in Dublin between the Republic of Ireland and England in February 1995, when English supporters ripped out seats and hurled them at Irish fans below, highlighted that the problem had not gone away since Heysel, but Conniford says he believes that today's issues are different from those of more than 20 years ago.

"I've been doing this since 1996, working with the National Criminal Intelligence Service, and back in those days, you had the hardcore hooligan groups," Conniford said. "They were recognised, police spotting intelligence teams followed them around the country and it was very well-managed, intelligence-wise. But after Euro 2000, when there were big problems in Charleroi [Belgium], we had politicians saying 'enough is enough, we are going to do something.'

"That's when we got the Football Disorder Act, which brought about the banning orders that allow the authorities to take away a person's passport to prevent them attending games overseas. That Act took the sting out of those groups. We could immediately identify the ringleaders and they all got banning orders. We saw a sea-change starting to happen because we had about 3,000 people on banning orders, so there was a huge group that had been taken out of the mix who had previously followed England."

But after seeing the success of the football banning orders in the early part of the last decade, when a more diverse, inclusive crowd of supporters followed England abroad, the scene has now regressed.

If you go back to Euro 2004, you will see loads of women and kids [in the crowd]," Conniford said. "Now dig out a similar crowd for an away fixture and what you will see is a group of mainly white, middle-aged or teenage men. We get people now, the older types who followed England in the bad old days, coming up to us saying, 'You need to sort that lot out, they don't care.' We have ended up with a group that doesn't seem to have any cut-off point as to what is or isn't acceptable.

"But look at what is happening in football and tell me it's not happening everywhere in this country. Horse racing, for instance. I have lost count the number of times I have watched the news and seen fights at horse racing through drinking.

"It just seems to be a melting pot for young groups of lads, very similar to football, who get tanked up and anything goes."

Flags at England fixtures rarely link fans to the big Premier League clubs or major cities. While some parties travel, most of the representation is for clubs from the lower leagues or towns where following England overseas is the only realistic opportunity to see football away from home. Within that, there is also the chance to feel part of something exciting and, perversely, patriotic.

"They think they are representing their country," Conniford said. "When they are in a group, that gives them strength.

"Monday to Friday, you could be most insignificant person on the planet, but when you come together, nobody cares what job you do, who you're married to, how many kids you have, how much money you have, you are one of the lads. Being in a group makes them feel like they are part of something.

"We [receive reports of] lots of chants about the Taliban, about the IRA, but half of these people weren't even born during The Troubles, so they don't even know what they are singing about. But they are chanting about stuff because they think they are representing England overseas. They suddenly see themselves almost like soldiers, because they think they are representing the country."

Perhaps echoing Conniford's claim that many travelling England supporters see themselves as "soldiers," flags and banners have begun to appear carrying symbols such as regimental logos, the RAF roundel and the poppy, the latter a non-political symbol of remembrance for those killed in conflict.