Letter: England fans are not called thugs for nothing

ONCE again we have the spectacle of England fans causing mayhem abroad ("Return of the curse", Sport, 12 October). We have people like the mealy-mouthed Mellor blaming everyone but the actual perpetrators of these violent scenes. It wasn't the Italian police who forced alcohol in liberal quantities down the throats of those yobboes, or encouraged them to hurl missiles. Fans were arrested before the game - maybe Mellor will tell us it was for sightseeing. England fans were not awarded the title of the soccer thugs of Europe, they earned it, and there are a few dead bodies to prove it.

L Crimmins

Cardiff