Football's Big Fear; Chased from matches, hooligans now tend to look for 'off site' fights. But the Cup is a big target.

Byline: Malcolm Beith (With Stefan Theil in Berlin)

They descended on Briesen in the middle of the night, about a hundred in all. In the cold of late November, in the woods surrounding the little German border town, the rumble began. By the time anti-hooligan police arrived, the German and Polish football thugs had slashed each other with knives and inflicted bruises with clubs. The message was clear, police say: this was a "warm-up" for the World Cup.

It seems hooligans are back. In their 1980s heyday, football thugs ran rampant across Europe. "Firms," as the hooligan units were known, were organized, efficient. By the time of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, many English hooligans--regarded as the worst--didn't even bother buying round-trip tickets. They knew they would be deported, which would be cheaper. In recent years, however, new tactics have helped contain the problem. Team fan clubs--particularly in England--have distanced themselves from violent elements. Governments have prevented known hooligans from travel abroad. During the Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal, police maintained a minor presence at all times and called in the riot force only when fighting broke out, which worked wonders in minimizing the mayhem. John Williams, a hooliganism expert at the University of Leicester, says Portugal appeared to have marked "a sea change" in the atmosphere around major football tournaments.