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This programme contains some violent scenes from the start and some strong language | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
2018 Fifa World Cup, ladies and gentlemen, | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
-will be organised in Russia. -CHEERING | 0:00:09 | 0:00:12 | |
In 2018, Russia will host the Fifa World Cup. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:16 | |
One of the biggest sporting events on the planet. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
We are eager to do our best to secure the comfort | 0:00:19 | 0:00:23 | |
and safety of our guests. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
President Putin has promised peace, love and harmony. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:30 | |
But at the European Championships in France, | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
we saw a different side of Russian football. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:38 | |
Russians, Russians. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
So what can fans expect of the host country if they travel to Russia in 2018? | 0:00:43 | 0:00:48 | |
I'm going to Russia to meet the hooligans who hold the fate of | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
England fans in their hands. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:06 | |
Men who reject the negative image of the past to embrace a new identity. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:14 | |
A football culture where violence is celebrated. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
I track down the men who terrorised Marseille. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:36 | |
And meet the next generation of hooligans as they train for the World Cup. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:47 | |
CHANTING | 0:02:05 | 0:02:07 | |
Marseille, June 2016, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
and the ugly face of English football is rearing its head again. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:17 | |
Drunken England fans throwing bottles and trashing a foreign city. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:29 | |
Making it clear that Britannia still rules the waves. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
I follow England away every time, yeah. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:40 | |
Sometimes we get people come with England and they throw bottles. | 0:02:40 | 0:02:44 | |
They're not the best supporters. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:48 | |
Euro 2016 is becoming a depressing throwback to a hooliganism that many | 0:02:52 | 0:02:57 | |
people thought was a thing of the past. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
But England fans, even those who weren't causing trouble, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
were about to have much bigger problems than the French police. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
After a couple of hours of drinking in the morning, | 0:03:14 | 0:03:16 | |
I'm just relaxing outside, my feet are up on the table in front of me, | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
I've got about four beers around me. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:21 | |
Then the Russians sort of appeared. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
First thing I noticed was the noise. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:32 | |
Just chanting. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:33 | |
They chanted together and they moved together. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:38 | |
It was... | 0:03:38 | 0:03:40 | |
It was like a military operation. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
Russians, Russians. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
The brutality of them. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:57 | |
It wasn't just, you knock someone over and they're down, that's it, | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
move on. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:02 | |
They were... | 0:04:06 | 0:04:07 | |
..kicking and stamping. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:10 | |
What's me problem? We've just been attacked. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
'There was crowds of people just shouting, | 0:04:21 | 0:04:25 | |
'trying to get away from it, really. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:27 | |
'They were attacking in little groups, like they'd been given | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
'numbers, or teams had been picked.' | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
I remember one guy that I seen in fairly close proximity, | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
missing a tooth, and his head was about the size of my shoulder width. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:43 | |
Ten of us made it into this cafe. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
And we could just see the... | 0:04:48 | 0:04:49 | |
The devastation that they were causing. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
-Look at them, they've all got masks on. -Look at that outside, there. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
Cowards. Cowards. | 0:04:56 | 0:04:58 | |
'It was terrifying. You just didn't know what to do. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
'You could see groups running and charging, people running for their lives.' | 0:05:03 | 0:05:08 | |
-These are Russians, these ones. -Oh, yeah, yeah. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:10 | |
Look at him! They're kicking the shit out of that old boy. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:13 | |
That's when I knew that there was a chance that people could die, | 0:05:13 | 0:05:16 | |
because when you've got 10, 12 people onto one person, | 0:05:16 | 0:05:20 | |
you've got no chance. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:22 | |
There was people lying unconscious everywhere. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
There was people staggering about with blood. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
And that's when I noticed that there was a big guy. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
You know, I could see that | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
he was... | 0:05:47 | 0:05:48 | |
He was in a mess. He was completely on his back. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
I could see that his life was ticking away from him. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
It was just an awful thing to see. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:00 | |
England fans Andrew Bache and Stewart Gray were beaten into a coma | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
and left for dead. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:09 | |
It was like a war scene. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:13 | |
The six that I went with, there was a guy who had served in Iraq. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:17 | |
He said he was more scared there than he ever was in war. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
It was like they wanted to kill people. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:25 | |
They didn't just want to beat them up, they wanted to kill people. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
They wanted to | 0:06:28 | 0:06:30 | |
inflict as much injury on these people as they possibly could. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
I was going there to enjoy the sunshine, | 0:06:40 | 0:06:42 | |
and the bad beer and the beautiful French girls. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:47 | |
And the Russians were there to enjoy the England fans, | 0:06:47 | 0:06:51 | |
and to attack the England fans. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:52 | |
And it was as simple as that. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:54 | |
I think the most striking thing about the Russian hooligan groups | 0:06:56 | 0:07:01 | |
was that they were clearly very well organised, very sober. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:06 | |
It was a hard core of Russians who clearly spent a lot of time in | 0:07:06 | 0:07:10 | |
the gym working out, were very well built. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
Suddenly, the antics of England fans seemed like small beer in the face | 0:07:13 | 0:07:19 | |
of the worst football violence ever witnessed at | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
an international tournament. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:23 | |
When the tear gas cleared, more than 100 England fans were injured. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:29 | |
30 ended up in hospital. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
The lives of five hung in the balance for several days. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
CHANTING | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
I've been observing football disorder since 1998, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
involving English fans abroad, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:44 | |
and this was by far and away the worst I've ever seen in terms of the | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
numbers involved, in terms of the injuries. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
It was a complete and utter breakdown of law and order | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
in Marseille. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:55 | |
For a while, the British press didn't know who to blame - | 0:07:58 | 0:08:01 | |
the England fans or the French police. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
But the most lurid headlines were reserved for the Russians. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:08 | |
On Twitter, the deputy chairman of the Russian parliament, Igor Lebedev, | 0:08:10 | 0:08:15 | |
congratulated the hooligans for defending their country's honour. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
Vladimir Markin, a media spokesman for the police, | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
claimed that the French authorities failed to stop the fighting because | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
they were more used to policing Gay Pride. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
It even fuelled rumours that the government of Vladimir Putin was | 0:08:31 | 0:08:35 | |
somehow linked to the hooligans. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
Here, tabloid interest focused on one man in particular, | 0:08:38 | 0:08:43 | |
the alleged leader of the Russian hooligans in Marseille, | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
Vasily the Killer. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:48 | |
The star of online videos, | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
Vasily is a hero for Russian football hooligans. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
With Russia hosting the World Cup in 2018, | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
what will men like him have in store for English fans heading to the | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
tournament? | 0:09:03 | 0:09:04 | |
It's four months since the violence in Marseille. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
I've come to Moscow to track down some of the men responsible for the | 0:09:19 | 0:09:23 | |
trouble at Euro 2016, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
and find out just what's behind this upsurge in Russian football violence. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:30 | |
After the events in Marseille, | 0:09:35 | 0:09:36 | |
the Russian organisers and the public know they have a problem to | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
deal with. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:41 | |
I'm heading to one of the stadiums that will be used for the World Cup, | 0:10:13 | 0:10:16 | |
the home of Spartak Moscow. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
When Russia controversially won the competition to host world football's | 0:10:20 | 0:10:24 | |
premier event, President Putin promised a trouble-free tournament. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:29 | |
You can take my word for it, the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be up | 0:10:29 | 0:10:35 | |
to the highest standards. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
The official bid presented an image of peaceful, multiracial harmony. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:43 | |
A vote for Russia is a vote for the future. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
But on the ground, it doesn't feel that way. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:50 | |
It's derby day between Spartak and CSKA, | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
the two most successful Moscow teams. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
Mobile phone footage taken by a fan shows that fights have already | 0:11:03 | 0:11:07 | |
broken out on the Moscow underground. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
Outside the stadium, I ask what the fans here thought about an influx | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
of England supporters for the World Cup. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
There's a heavy police presence. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
Both clubs have extremely active hooligan firms. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
It's time to head in. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:55 | |
Posing as a tourist, I manage to get a camera inside. | 0:11:56 | 0:12:00 | |
The Spartak hooligans are based in the north tribune. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
One of their leaders, the head of the Gladiators firm, | 0:12:09 | 0:12:13 | |
is the legendary Vasily the Killer, | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
the alleged mastermind of the hooligans in Marseille. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:19 | |
Someone I want to talk to. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:21 | |
I'm clearly in the right place. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:31 | |
In front of me, throwing Nazi salutes, | 0:12:31 | 0:12:33 | |
are the Spartak firm the Mad Butchers. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
But so far, no sign of Vasily the Killer. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:46 | |
CHANTING | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
In Russian football grounds, the firms often have their own security, | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
and they're not overly keen on me filming. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
One of them's busy, he's fine. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
Finally, I spot the Killer himself. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
The next challenge is to see if he'll speak to me. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:25 | |
We arrange to meet at a bar near the stadium. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
For one of Russia's most notorious hooligans, | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
Vasily seems surprisingly willing to share his life story with me. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:50 | |
'I gently move the conversation to the events in Marseille.' | 0:14:35 | 0:14:39 | |
'So, who were the hooligans in Marseille?' | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
Don't ask about that? | 0:15:57 | 0:15:59 | |
'It seems this line of questioning is not so welcome.' | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
'Perhaps, not surprisingly, | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
'Vasily isn't willing to reveal the names of anyone who was in Marseille.' | 0:16:09 | 0:16:12 | |
'The interview is over.' | 0:16:14 | 0:16:15 | |
Vasily belongs to a generation that emerged in the 1990s after the | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
collapse of the Soviet Union. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
New freedoms meant they looked West for their cultural inspiration, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:31 | |
in food, music, fashion and, of course, in football. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:36 | |
On the outskirts of Moscow, | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
I meet up with a group of former Russian hooligans. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
They grew up idolising the English firms they saw on TV. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:59 | |
-CHANTING: -England! England! | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
English hooligan culture grew out of the 1970s and '80s, | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
when football stadiums were the scene of infamous riots. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:48 | |
'The worst violence erupted with the final whistle. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
'Millwall fans invaded the pitch, | 0:17:53 | 0:17:55 | |
'ripping up seats and throwing them around.' | 0:17:55 | 0:17:57 | |
This culture revolved around casual fashion, | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
and organised fights away from stadiums. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:07 | |
Coming together to support the national team, | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
English firms spread terror around the world, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:24 | |
culminating in the mass brawls of Euro 2000 in Belgium. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:28 | |
The Russians looked on and were inspired, | 0:18:36 | 0:18:38 | |
causing violence to erupt in stadiums across the country. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:42 | |
Police versus fans, | 0:18:46 | 0:18:48 | |
it was the main battle. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
Battle in the real meaning of this, of this word. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:55 | |
Going in '90s to the football stadium in Russia, | 0:18:56 | 0:18:59 | |
it was closely connected with some trouble, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:02 | |
because police didn't understand the problem. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
With violence spreading throughout the game, | 0:19:09 | 0:19:11 | |
the Russian authorities decided enough was enough. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
In 2000, they attempted to bring the hooligans under control. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:21 | |
Supporter groups were brought together under the umbrella of a state backed body. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:28 | |
It was called the All-Russian Fans Association, the ARFA. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:33 | |
The head of the organisation, Alexander Shprygin, | 0:19:36 | 0:19:39 | |
has been linked to Vladimir Putin's government. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
He's also been accused of being a far-right activist. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:46 | |
I tracked him down to his office on the outskirts of Moscow to find out | 0:19:47 | 0:19:52 | |
about his organisation's involvement in the violence in Marseille. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
Unfortunately for Shprygin, | 0:20:25 | 0:20:26 | |
it turned out many of the hooligans involved in the violence were flown | 0:20:26 | 0:20:30 | |
to France on his officially chartered flight. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
Three board members of the ARFA were jailed in France for the Marseille | 0:20:52 | 0:20:56 | |
violence. One of them is serving two years. | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
Shprygin himself was deported, | 0:21:04 | 0:21:06 | |
and even now he can't conceal a certain pride in the prowess of his countrymen. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:10 | |
On his return, Shprygin was arrested and his offices raided. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
His apparent connections to the government haven't helped him. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
The ARFA has been shut down. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:55 | |
With the World Cup on the horizon, | 0:21:56 | 0:21:58 | |
the Russian authorities have realised that their officially connected | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
hooligans need to be dealt with. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
-Finished. -Finished? -Finished. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:08 | |
I followed Dynamo Moscow to Yaroslavl, a small city north-east of Moscow. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:24 | |
You can see the signs of the new crackdown everywhere, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:33 | |
including leaflets handed out to fans promising dire consequences for | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
anyone stepping out of line. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
It looks like Putin's government has now decided they've had enough of | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
football hooliganism. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:12 | |
But has the Russian man now developed such a taste for violence that they | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
can't be stopped? | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
Russian men have never had the best reputation. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:29 | |
They have some of the highest rates of alcohol consumption in the world. | 0:23:29 | 0:23:33 | |
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the situation got worse, | 0:23:36 | 0:23:40 | |
with drinking and drink related violence becoming something of a | 0:23:40 | 0:23:44 | |
national crisis. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:46 | |
Life expectancy for men fell from 65 to 57 in just five years. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:53 | |
But something has begun to change. | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
President Vladimir Putin has encouraged the new image of Russian | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
masculinity, based around health, combat sports and patriotism. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:11 | |
Maxim Tatarinov is a professional boxer. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
He's also a football hooligan, | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
picked out by one of Dynamo Moscow's main firms to fight with them. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
Hooligans have begun training like Maxim, | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
embracing their new identity as a fighter. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
Across Russia, young men are engaging in combat sports like boxing. | 0:25:40 | 0:25:44 | |
Maxim's new protege is 23-year-old Danila. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
He's currently preparing for his third professional fight. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:55 | |
Danila's wife, Dasha, is grateful for his fighting skills. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:24 | |
Football hooligans like Maxim have become an inspiration for many young people. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:22 | |
And what happened in Marseille is a source of pride. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
Online videos celebrate the hooligans' achievements in France | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
as a symbol of a resurgent Russian manhood. | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
The Russian government crackdown may be more difficult than they think. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:19 | |
I need to speak to some of those hooligans involved in Marseille to | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
find out if the same violent scenes will be repeated at the World Cup. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:32 | |
A few days after our meeting, I get a call from Vasily. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:38 | |
He's invited me to a five-a-side tournament, but with a difference. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:46 | |
All the teams represent hooligan firms from across Russia. | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
But with the police crackdown starting to bite, | 0:29:55 | 0:29:58 | |
people are nervous about appearing on camera. | 0:29:58 | 0:30:00 | |
When the active hooligans appear, Vasily is quick to warn me off. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:32 | |
No, no, no. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:41 | |
But he does have a suggestion to find some of the Marseille hooligans. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
This is the city of Oryol. | 0:31:18 | 0:31:21 | |
It's a pretty bleak place, | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
mostly flattened during the Second World War. | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
It's also the home town of one of Russia's celebrated leaders and heroes, | 0:31:28 | 0:31:33 | |
a feared murderer and rapist - Ivan the Terrible. | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
Oryol hasn't got much going for it. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:41 | |
Certainly not the football. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:43 | |
The local team is in the lower half of the Russian third division. | 0:31:45 | 0:31:49 | |
But their fans consider themselves very much in the Premier League. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
The hooligan firm are known as the Orel Butchers. | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
It's hard to believe this lowly team can be the home of some of Russia's | 0:32:19 | 0:32:23 | |
most violent fans. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:25 | |
But they are. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:26 | |
After the game, they agree to talk, | 0:32:38 | 0:32:40 | |
but only on the condition their identities are disguised. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:44 | |
Who are the Orel Butchers? What do you stand for? | 0:32:51 | 0:32:54 | |
It turns out the Butchers were at the centre of the violence in | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
Marseille, dressed in black T-shirts. | 0:33:07 | 0:33:10 | |
The Orel Butchers showed me a memento from their time in Marseille. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
A souvenir from Euro 2016. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:48 | |
I ask if I can take the flag home with me. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:13 | |
I'm not sure I'll be taking them up on their offer, | 0:34:23 | 0:34:26 | |
but I wondered if they'd be looking to attack England fans again at the | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
World Cup. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:31 | |
I was told to speak to the man who led them in France, | 0:34:35 | 0:34:39 | |
a hooligan and semi-professional mixed martial arts fighter who asked | 0:34:39 | 0:34:44 | |
to be called Dennis. | 0:34:44 | 0:34:46 | |
I would say a lot of British guys went over to France, you know, | 0:34:46 | 0:34:50 | |
to have some fun, to shout around, to throw some glasses. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:54 | |
To chant the wonderful songs, and that's it. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:03 | |
And we were quite determined to go there and mess up with the British | 0:35:03 | 0:35:07 | |
guys, to see where our level is and what they are capable of. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:11 | |
There is some street fight tactics that we obviously exercised a lot of | 0:35:14 | 0:35:20 | |
times fighting in cities. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:22 | |
There's things you do, there's things you don't do. | 0:35:22 | 0:35:25 | |
And it's important, if you are engaged in a massive fight, | 0:35:25 | 0:35:30 | |
it's very important that you stick together as a group. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:33 | |
You go forward as a group, you go backward as a group, | 0:35:33 | 0:35:36 | |
you only move as a group. So this was, like, | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
a mistake that the British fans didn't realise they were doing. | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
They were always stranded. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:44 | |
CHANTING | 0:35:44 | 0:35:46 | |
It's like 200 professionals fighting 2,000 amateurs. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:53 | |
Even though they were heavily outnumbered, | 0:35:55 | 0:35:57 | |
by grouping together and attacking and retreating as a unit, | 0:35:57 | 0:36:01 | |
they inflicted devastating damage on any England fans unwise enough to | 0:36:01 | 0:36:06 | |
fight them, or unable to escape. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:08 | |
I can't say that they lacked the heart, | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
but obviously they lacked the skill. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:16 | |
We always were moving in and out as a group, | 0:36:16 | 0:36:19 | |
and this is what makes the difference. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:21 | |
And obviously the personal skill. | 0:36:21 | 0:36:23 | |
There is that video where that fat guy gets kicked in the face from two | 0:36:26 | 0:36:29 | |
sides. His guys left him. | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
We were coming from the market into the smaller street, | 0:36:32 | 0:36:35 | |
and these guys left him. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:37 | |
Let him down, you know? He was kind of getting in, | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
and they were supposed to push us backwards as well. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
They were too afraid and they started running backwards, you know? | 0:36:43 | 0:36:47 | |
Many of the victims in Marseille were viciously attacked again after | 0:36:54 | 0:36:58 | |
they were knocked down. Something Dennis feels no remorse for. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:02 | |
I hit the guy in the head. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:08 | |
Like, if you can imagine a penalty kick. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:13 | |
I shot a good penalty. | 0:37:13 | 0:37:16 | |
Did he, did he get back up after that? | 0:37:22 | 0:37:24 | |
I hope so! | 0:37:27 | 0:37:28 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:37:28 | 0:37:30 | |
Yeah. I must say, he was definitely knocked out, like, | 0:37:31 | 0:37:37 | |
badly. I must admit, | 0:37:37 | 0:37:39 | |
there's the first sad, there is, like, one British hooligan, | 0:37:39 | 0:37:42 | |
he was in coma. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:44 | |
I was thinking to myself, like, "Shit, I bet that's my guy." | 0:37:44 | 0:37:48 | |
Because I really, like, hit him properly on his head. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
Are you proud of what you did? | 0:37:53 | 0:37:55 | |
What I like is that people don't think, | 0:37:55 | 0:37:58 | |
"Russians, oh, they're drinkers, they're wankers, they're whatever, | 0:37:58 | 0:38:02 | |
"they're like lazy bums, they are nothing, they are stupid". | 0:38:02 | 0:38:06 | |
Obviously, I like the fact that I'm Russian and people think, "Oh, | 0:38:06 | 0:38:09 | |
"these are like the tough guys." Why did we fight? | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
Why did we fight the English guys? | 0:38:12 | 0:38:13 | |
We were seeking honour, seeking pride in the fight. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:18 | |
What about 2018? | 0:38:18 | 0:38:20 | |
-Are you looking forward to the World Cup? -No. | 0:38:20 | 0:38:23 | |
Absolutely not. What most likely will happen, | 0:38:23 | 0:38:27 | |
they will just take down all leaders, | 0:38:27 | 0:38:31 | |
all people who are capable of organising anything, | 0:38:31 | 0:38:33 | |
and just lock them down. | 0:38:33 | 0:38:35 | |
Now if you speak about the guys from the older generation, | 0:38:35 | 0:38:39 | |
we all realise that for us, this will be, like, | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
a very, very hard year. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:45 | |
So British fans won't have anything to fear? | 0:38:45 | 0:38:48 | |
-HE LAUGHS -I don't know. | 0:38:53 | 0:38:55 | |
They can come over and we'll see. | 0:38:55 | 0:38:57 | |
I mean, somebody will obviously try to do something. | 0:38:58 | 0:39:03 | |
That is, like, 100%. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:06 | |
100% guaranteed. | 0:39:06 | 0:39:08 | |
How would you not get beaten up? | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:39:11 | 0:39:13 | |
How would you not get beaten up? | 0:39:15 | 0:39:17 | |
That's a good question. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:20 | |
Well, I don't know. Have family and children around you or, like, | 0:39:21 | 0:39:26 | |
something. I mean, if you are there with your friend, your male friend, | 0:39:26 | 0:39:30 | |
you should calculate with getting your ass kicked. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:33 | |
Dennis was adamant that someone would look to fight at the World Cup | 0:39:36 | 0:39:40 | |
in Russia. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:41 | |
Welcome on board. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:43 | |
If it wasn't going to be the older generation, | 0:39:43 | 0:39:46 | |
I wanted to see if a younger firm, off the police radar, would look to | 0:39:46 | 0:39:50 | |
make a statement. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:51 | |
This is Rostov-on-Don, 600 miles from Moscow. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:03 | |
It's a host city for the World Cup, | 0:40:03 | 0:40:06 | |
with a new stadium being built on the banks of the River Don. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:09 | |
Nearby in a local gym, | 0:40:12 | 0:40:14 | |
a young firm are also preparing for the tournament to begin. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:17 | |
They're often involved in prearranged brawls against rival firms. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:26 | |
They tell me they're auditioning for new members in a uniquely Russian way. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:03 | |
The wannabe hooligans have to head out of town into the woods and take | 0:41:03 | 0:41:07 | |
on a rival firm in no holds barred hand-to-hand combat. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:11 | |
They are known as forest fights. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:17 | |
Due to the police crackdown, | 0:41:19 | 0:41:20 | |
the location is kept on a strictly need-to-know basis. | 0:41:20 | 0:41:24 | |
Are there any rules to these forest fights? | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
It's a far cry from the images of drunken English football hooligans | 0:41:56 | 0:42:00 | |
singing Rule Britannia and throwing plastic chairs at the police. | 0:42:00 | 0:42:04 | |
It's the night before the forest fight, | 0:43:06 | 0:43:09 | |
and I've been invited along to spend some time with the firm. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:12 | |
At a sauna. | 0:43:15 | 0:43:17 | |
Over fruit, tea and freshly caught crayfish from the River Don, | 0:43:41 | 0:43:45 | |
the firm bond. | 0:43:45 | 0:43:46 | |
MUSIC PLAYS | 0:44:11 | 0:44:14 | |
THEY SING | 0:44:14 | 0:44:17 | |
It's the day of the fight. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:42 | |
The firm are worried about security. | 0:44:44 | 0:44:46 | |
On the outskirts of town, we pick up the group of hopefuls. | 0:45:28 | 0:45:31 | |
All of them are young, aged between 19 and 20. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:45 | |
19-year-old Artyom is one of those auditioning for the firm. | 0:46:01 | 0:46:05 | |
Are you scared of getting hurt? | 0:46:17 | 0:46:19 | |
Are all your friends fighters? | 0:46:42 | 0:46:44 | |
20 minutes outside of Rostov, | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
we arrive at a dead end leading to a muddy field. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:22 | |
Some of the older members of the firm I met in the sauna are here. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:38 | |
They will both coach and judge the newcomers. | 0:47:41 | 0:47:44 | |
I'm nervous, and unsure what to expect. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
But I'm not the only one. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:01 | |
There's a mix of fear and excitement in the air as the new recruits go through their preparations. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:28 | |
For extra motivation, the leaders give them some advice. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:34 | |
If Artyom and the other fighters impress today, | 0:49:23 | 0:49:26 | |
they'll be presented with a pin badge or a T-shirt. | 0:49:26 | 0:49:29 | |
If they become a long-standing member, | 0:49:36 | 0:49:38 | |
they'll be allowed to get the firm's tattoo. | 0:49:38 | 0:49:41 | |
We've no clear idea who or what awaits at the end of the path. | 0:50:29 | 0:50:33 | |
SHOUTING | 0:50:43 | 0:50:45 | |
SHOUTING | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
In a clearing, I see the opposition. | 0:50:58 | 0:51:00 | |
THEY SHOUT | 0:51:03 | 0:51:05 | |
Seven young men from a town an hour away from Rostov. | 0:51:09 | 0:51:13 | |
THEY SHOUT | 0:51:19 | 0:51:22 | |
SHOUTING | 0:51:29 | 0:51:31 | |
Artyom gets thrown to the ground, but he doesn't give up. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:51 | |
Looking round, I can understand why the authorities want to stop these fights. | 0:51:55 | 0:52:00 | |
In front of me, one of the opposition is being repeatedly kicked in the head. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:31 | |
Someone could be seriously hurt. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:38 | |
SCREAMING | 0:52:40 | 0:52:42 | |
Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! | 0:52:46 | 0:52:48 | |
MOANING | 0:52:54 | 0:52:57 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:53:04 | 0:53:06 | |
I'm in shock at what I've witnessed. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:31 | |
And surprised and relieved there are no serious injuries. | 0:53:33 | 0:53:36 | |
-You OK? -Yeah, yeah. -You OK? | 0:53:44 | 0:53:47 | |
Are these guys OK? I just want to check that they're OK. | 0:53:47 | 0:53:51 | |
You OK? | 0:53:57 | 0:53:59 | |
-You all right? -OK, OK, OK. | 0:53:59 | 0:54:01 | |
Fine, fine. | 0:54:01 | 0:54:03 | |
Walking back to the Rostov firm, | 0:54:03 | 0:54:05 | |
I wonder if they will have escaped unharmed. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:08 | |
Let me look at your hand. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:23 | |
'Despite being thrown to the ground early on, | 0:54:25 | 0:54:28 | |
'Artyom has escaped relatively untouched. | 0:54:28 | 0:54:32 | |
'But having been unable to showcase his skills, he's disappointed.' | 0:54:32 | 0:54:36 | |
The leaders are matter-of-fact in their analysis. | 0:54:45 | 0:54:48 | |
He'll have to go through it all again if he's to become a member of the firm. | 0:54:48 | 0:54:51 | |
Having seen what it takes to become a member of their hooligan firm, | 0:55:37 | 0:55:41 | |
I wonder why anyone would want to do it. | 0:55:41 | 0:55:43 | |
But these forest fights aren't just restricted to Rostov. | 0:55:43 | 0:55:47 | |
They take place all across Russia. | 0:55:48 | 0:55:50 | |
And aren't just for new members hoping to audition. | 0:55:52 | 0:55:55 | |
Police crackdowns mean fights that used to happen in town centres | 0:55:59 | 0:56:03 | |
now happen in the countryside... | 0:56:03 | 0:56:05 | |
..involving sickening levels of violence, | 0:56:08 | 0:56:11 | |
with groups of up to 200 or more. | 0:56:11 | 0:56:13 | |
The young Russian men I've met seem desensitised to the casual brutality | 0:56:20 | 0:56:24 | |
of these fights. | 0:56:24 | 0:56:25 | |
The 2018 World Cup in Russia will attract fans from around the world. | 0:57:00 | 0:57:06 | |
But there's a question as to whether Russia will get the happy and | 0:57:06 | 0:57:09 | |
harmonious tournament they hope for... | 0:57:09 | 0:57:11 | |
-ALL: -Welcome to Russia! | 0:57:11 | 0:57:13 | |
..and whether the police can contain the hooligans. | 0:57:13 | 0:57:16 | |
One thing's for sure - | 0:57:19 | 0:57:21 | |
the reverence held for England fans will always make them a target. | 0:57:21 | 0:57:25 | |
Here on the banks of the River Don, | 0:57:44 | 0:57:47 | |
in sight of the new 45,000-seater Rostov Arena, | 0:57:47 | 0:57:51 | |
the locals are patiently waiting for the tournament to begin. | 0:57:51 | 0:57:54 |