21.   Police at Manchester Airport stopped three known soccer hooligans from flying to Frankfurt, Germany.

22.   Police have arrested three alleged soccer hooligans and are looking for several others.

23.   Police insisted at the time that the eight youths detained were soccer hooligans on a rampage after a soccer match, and not racist attackers.

24.   A newspaper report said that groups of soccer hooligans across Europe were planning violent confrontations helped by illegal ticket sales which could have rival fans seated together.

25.   A Japanese television crew on Friday filed a complaint with Thai police alleging that they were assaulted by suspected English soccer hooligans in the seaside resort town of Pattaya.

26.   Also Friday, police detained a suspected English soccer hooligan in Sapporo and handed him over to immigration officials.

27.   Among them was Stephen Stapley of Scotland, well known as a soccer hooligan in his country, a police official said on condition of anonymity.

28.   Although many countries, notably Britain, have gained the upperhand against soccer hooligans at home in recent years, traveling fans are still very much a threat.

29.   An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a law which permits authorities to ban suspected soccer hooligans from travelling abroad to attend matches.

30.   Birch, an engineer from London, was not a known soccer hooligan.