Creators of Russia's Hooligan Army Forgot To Tell How Their Fans Destroy Everything

Another provocation from the garbage dump that is known as the BBC. On Thursday, the British TV channel presented a new documentary called Russia’s Hooligan Army.

Another provocation from the garbage dump that is known as the BBC. On Thursday, the British TV channel presented a new documentary called Russia’s Hooligan Army. It’s about Russian football fans who, according to the author of the film, Alex Stockley Von Statzer, are so aggressive, that it’s extremely dangerous for foreigners to come to Russia for the World Cup in 2018. Alexander Khabarov will tell what the liars from the BBC made up again and talk about their new fake.

Some people beat each other to the point of exhaustion. Others are carried to drunk tanks. This is how the BBC TV corporation presents Russia, a country which is preparing to host the World Cup in 2018, to its audience.

"Some collects stamps, Some climbs mountains. Or, there are people who, for example, collect cars. We fight in the fields". Most of the characters of the film hide their faces behind masks. Although the author presents them as football fans, football doesn’t interest these people. They are preparing for the championship as if for a full-scale guerrilla war. There used to be a forest area near the stadium, right on the premises of the stadium, in fact. "That is, people could come, bathe, hide in the woods, make ambushes, and do anything they wanted. For some people, football is a celebration, for others — a celebration of violence".

The main opponents are, of course, fans from England. There were scuffles with them during Euro 2016 in France. This film is like a propaganda movie clip from the 90's. It gives viewers the crude idea that Russia is a hopelessly wild and dangerous place to visit. And it is England which says so. The country that wanted to host the World Cup and spent millions of pounds on its application. Nothing worked out. And, apparently, that is what can neither be forgotten nor forgiven in London.

In the struggle for the right to become the host of the championship in 2018, England used its best representatives. Former Prime Minister David Cameron, football player David Beckham, and Prince William. But the only thing that awaited the trio, was failure. Even corruption scandals, organized by London, didn’t help. No matter how long they investigated the activities of FIFA, no crime was found in the relations between the international football organization and Russia. However, they still want to take away this crowd-drawing tournament. The British literally needed doping. The suspension of Russian athletes from the Olympics in Rio emboldened them.

It was in London where last December Professor McLaren read the final part of his report. The reaction of the British press was unequivocal. There is no way the World Cup should be held in Russia. "In 2018, all roads will lead to Russia for the next World Cup. And Vladimir Putin is to lose this gift. As long as there's no less than 18 months left, the hosting country of the World Cup can still be changed. In other countries, there are stadiums, facilities, and infrastructure, which will make this task possible".

The topic was picked up by members of the British Parliament: "These investigations by McLaren raise the question of whether Russia can hold large sports events. FIFA should check whether everything is fine in Russia with the anti-doping system in football and other sports". All the professionals interviewed are lost. It is unclear how it is technically possible to transfer the championship to another country: "You can do anything you want, but football is not bobsled or biathlon, with all due respect to these wonderful sports. Football is a universe. And it attracts the attention of the entire planet. And organizational standards... The World Cup takes years to prepare, people wait for it for years, and then remember it for decades. Therefore, I think that even if they want to cancel it…".

But if the country is getting ready in the right way, then FIFA will never decide to take away the World Cup. Independent British journalist Nick Clark believes that the attempts to discredit the championship are made, above all, because of the situation. "Everyone around is speaking about the Russian threat. NATO builds up forces around Russian borders. At the same time, a political campaign was launched to take the World Championship away from Russia. The first politician to start this was US Senator McCain. Their goal is, if they can not take away the championship, is to make it the most unpopular. You just wait, I would not be surprised if we see scary stories on the screen about monsters like Frankenstein walking around the streets of Russian cities".

The BBC film was made almost like this. If there was anything that lacked sense, the filmmakers put in an interview that came out as they wanted. Sports journalist Dmitry Derunets claims that on the screen he saw something that he didn’t say. "From my hour-long interview, he took only a 10-second talk about the 90's. I remember the question perfectly. I said that in the 90's, it was a very complex situation, when there were many fights in the stands and a lot of confrontation with the police. But the main point of the answer was the fact that now we would not see this in Russian stadiums. But he decided to keep only the first part of the answer".

Rostov fans, which the BBC journalists also called notorious hooligans, argue that they don’t know those who said something on their behalf. "These people have nothing to do with the Rostov football club, with the fans of the Rostov club, and those who attend the fans' venues".

To start with, English fans need to look in the mirror. For example, they should recall what happened in Marseille last year, long before the Russians came there. "Again, the provocation was coming from the British fans, because, after the last-minute goal of Vasily, they began to trample the Russian flag. No one accused British fans of anything. I can recall an incident, which took place in 1995, when British fans were disqualified, or rather, the British Football Association was disqualified for 5 years and banned from attending any international meetings, because during the final match between Juventus and Liverpool, there was a tragedy, 39 people died because of the fault of the British fans".

But in the 80's, no one even thought about blaming Margaret Thatcher for inciting "football" hooligans. But, when it comes Russia, you apparently can. They take words said as a joke and present them as an admission of guilt. "They were special military forces of football hooligans sent by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to conquer Europe. Pause, pause, pause, pause". The approach of the people, who made the film for the BBC, wasn’t to show the real situation, but to take out one of the elements and to create a sensational headline.

The creators of one of the most popular web sites for English fans came to Russia instead of taking the BBC at face value. They want to see with their own eyes how security would be provided during the upcoming championship. "We met a lot of people who see the upcoming championship as, on the contrary, an opportunity to show that Russian fans are not interested in violence, but are keen on football, unlike the few small hooligan groups out there". Russian fans, in turn, decided to appeal directly to British ones: "BBC, do not scare the British fan. For centuries, we have been welcoming guests to Russia. Oh, oh, don’t be scared of me, I won’t touch you, don’t you worry".