No trouble

Liechtenstein relieved after England's incident-free visit

VADUZ, Liechtenstein (AP) -- A visiting soccer fan woke up with a sore head Sunday after a night in a luxury prison and Liechtenstein officials breathed a sigh of relief following their country's trouble free Euro 2004 qualifier against England.

"We had one overnight guest," said Liechtenstein match security chief Gabriel Hoop. "He stayed with us to sober up."

"Otherwise, all we needed to do was distribute a few pills for headaches to other people," he told reporters.

Reto Brunhart, Liechtenstein's police chief, said: "For once the troublemakers didn't make trouble."

However, neither official would be drawn on whether Liechtenstein would welcome a future visit by the English fans, simply responding to the question with smiles.

By early morning Sunday, street cleaners in Vaduz had swept up the broken beer bottles and glasses left by the English, who descended on the town's bars in the mood for only limited celebration after their national team's lackluster 2-0 defeat of Liechtenstein. There was little remaining evidence that Liechtenstein, a soccer minnow, had just tackled its biggest ever sporting and security challenge

Tiny Liechtenstein, an Alpine principality of just 33,000 people, has a national police force of only 70, plus 30 part-timers, who are more usually involved in investigating fraud and money laundering in this wealthy tax haven.

The prison -- opened only 11 years ago -- has just 35 cells. They tend to house white collar criminals rather than drunken yobs, and meals are brought in by a local restaurant with a reputation for fine cuisine.

The Englishman who spent Saturday night in the cells was the only inmate, Hoop said. He refused to identify the man.

Given the fearsome reputation of traveling English fans, Liechtenstein authorities boosted security with some 700 officers from neighboring Switzerland and Austria and borrowed two water cannons.

Vaduz does not have its own international airport and many fans of the English team flew to and from Zurich, Switzerland, a 1 1/2 hour rail and bus journey from Liechtenstein. Police raised the level of alert after violent incidents overnight Friday involving English fans in Zurich.

Zurich police fired rubber pellets and tear gas during clashes with fans. Three English fans were injured after gunshots were fired by unknown assailants and two were stabbed. Some 25 people were arrested, most of them English.

Ahead of the game, Liechtenstein police built a perimeter fence around the Rheinpark stadium, strengthened with barbed wire extending into the River Rhine, which flows alongside the ground.

The stadium holds 3,500 fans -- only 1,500 less than the entire population of Vaduz. England supporters were allocated 900 tickets, but 900 more fans traveled to Liechtenstein without any.

Some 30 fans with forged tickets managed to enter the ground Saturday after rushing the stadium gate, Hoop told reporters Sunday. Police decided to let them in because "it was pointless to cause an incident."

Most of those fans who were unable to get tickets spent their evening drinking in and outside the Old Castle Pub, an English-style tavern overlooked by the imposing mountainside home of Liechtenstein's ruler, Prince Hans-Adam II.

"All we had was the normal collateral damage," said Hoop. Beside the arrested Englishman, nine other people were detained for minor vandalism and drugs offenses, but all were released shortly afterward, he said. No one was charged.

Since Liechtenstein started playing international tournaments in 1994, it has never known any hooliganism -- although Irish fans literally drank the bars dry in a European Championship qualifier in 1995, recalls Brian Jeeves, a longtime British resident of Liechtenstein who is helping smooth over language and cultural differences.

"It's in the balance as to who drunk more, the English or the Irish," he said. "But I think the bars benefited from their experience with the Irish and got more beer in this time."

 

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