The Spanish media throw the word ‘hooligan’ around far too often.
Almost every time an English club travel to Madrid, supporters are dismissed as hooligans even before they’ve arrived, and the Spanish media have been informed so many times of the connotations of the word that there’s no way they still don’t get it.
Spain’s sport media haven’t been slamming fans so much this time around, hopefully having learned it’s not fair to dismiss all English travelling fans as hooligans out for trouble, and the build up has generally been respectful.
However, outside of the sport media, it seems to be different.
Spain’s ABC newspaper goes with a headline reading ‘The Bernabeu will arm itself against the numerous hooligans of Tottenham’.
Backing this up, ABC say first images have been coming out of fans drinking beer in Plaza Mayor, and, shock-horror, singing songs, and go on to explain: ‘The massive arrival of about 4,200 hooligans from the English team is expected.’
Cuatro talk of ‘radicales ingleses’ and headline an article ‘Beer, fights and first wounded! The ultras of Tottenham are in the middle of Madrid’. Monday was said to be ‘chaos’ in the streets around Plaza Mayor.
Meanwhile, there doesn’t appear to be much actual trouble to speak of. Everyone will hope it stays that way. Well, not everyone, it’s not too difficult to think some would quite like things to turn nasty, so they can wheel out their hooligan headlines.
