Kevin Miles, chief executive of FSF: I don't support the expulsion of Russia from the tournament
The chief executive of the Football Supporters' Federation Kevin Miles stated that The Telegraph misunderstood his words about the expulsion of the Russian national team from Euro 2016
How do you assess the behavior of football fans of Russia? Do you agree that English fans are also not so quiet, so to say?
Most of the Russian fans that we have met, I must say, are wonderful, really nice people, very friendly, there was a positive mixture between Russian fans and English fans. We really enjoyed going to the match together with them. The big majority of the Russians fans support football very well. There is, however, very nasty, organized minority of hooligans of the Russian side who cause a lot of problems, their behavior was very bad and caused a lot of violence.
How do you think, is it typical only for Russians fans or it can happen with fans from any country?
Well, a lot of countries have problems with hooliganism like this. It used to be, maybe, 15-20 years ago, England had similar problems with hooliganism but now there is no hooligan troubles with the National team. So, what happened I must say was not a meeting of two groups of hooligans. What happened, I must say, was a meeting between Russian hooligans and English supporters, it was an attack by the Russians. The supporters were there not to fight, they were there just to enjoy the tournament.
How many times was your Federation or your Football Union punished for the same reason, for example, for fighting or bad behavior?
It has never been suspended from a tournament yet, there was a threat of the expulsion from the tournament at Europe 2000. But after that, as a result of that actually, there was big efforts made by the government, by the police, by the football association and by supporter's organizations to change the way that we behaved abroad and since that the situation in England become very different and we no longer have major hooligan problem. The sports deal with hooligans by banning them, they are not allowed to leave the country at the time of major tournaments and we have no arrests for violence with English football fans abroad for last 10 years.
Do you have any concerns about the match with Wales?
Not about the English fans or the Wales fans, no. I don't have any concerns about that. What we do have some concerns about is that because the England-Wales game is in Lens, and Lens is a very small town with no hotels and many of the English and Welsh will be staying in Lille because it is next nearest biggest city. And Russian team plays in Lille. And we have concerns about the Russian hooligans attacking English fans again.
Do you agree that local authorities are also responsible for what happened?
Yes, we were disappointed with the role of the French police. French police did not do enough to protect the innocent people football fans from the activities of the hooligans. So it was possible to see in advance that the Russian hooligans were preparing attacks for English football fans. French police just watched while the attack took place and did not intervene until afterwards when they used teargas and water cannon. And the problem of teargas and water cannon is that they affect the innocent, victims as much as it do the people who carried out the attack.
How do think was that right that Russians fans were sent back to the country from France in a bus?
I don't know, what I do know is that most Russian fans were absolutely fine. What we are concerned about is that people who carried out the attack and violence they are the ones who should be punished. I don't know if the ones who were in a bus were the ones who were involved in the attacks or not. I do know though that the French police at the time of the attack did not make any arrests, they were just interested in the firing of teargas. I don't want to see innocent Russian fans punished no more than I want to see English fans punished. I don't support the expulsion of the Russian teams from the tournament either, because that punishes the innocent fans as much as the guilty ones and most Russian fans have nothing to be ashamed as they properly behaved.
But according to The Telegraph, you said that Russia should face expulsion.
No, I wasn't misunderstood by you, I was misunderstood by the Telegraph. On purpose or accidentally — I don't know, but I don't support the expulsion of Russia from the tournament.
So, what should the Russian side do to prevent such events in the future?
One of the changes that has made a big difference was that the British government introduced a new law which allowed to ban hooligans who had been involved in violence from leaving the country. Maybe Russians could use a similar sort of legislation, the ones who guilty or being involved in violence they should also be banned from travelling.
How do you think it was an accident or it was the deliberately organized fight?
There is no doubt in my mind that it was planned on the Russian side. But I want be absolutely clear they were no English hooligans there, so there were no arrangements of English hooligans to have a fight. It was not a fight between two groups of hooligans. It was an attack by one group of hooligans, Russian hooligans, on families, on children, on women, on ordinary supporters. This was a cowardly attack on people who did want to fight.
Do you have doubts about going to the World Cup in 2018?
I think there are many people football fans from many countries who do not look forward World Cup in Russia, many people will not feel, because of what we have seen, they will not feel that we can be safe in Russia at World Cup.
Is it possible that Russia will be deprived of the right to host the World Cup?
I don't think so. I am not sure that will be a solution. Again, I don't like punishments that punish the innocent people as well as the guilty people. And most Russian fans, I stress it again, most Russian fans do not deserve any punishment. The only people who deserve punishment are the individuals who carried out the attacks and between the French authorities and the Russian authorities those people need to be stopped.
Have you heard about Kazan and our football club Rubin?
Yes, I have. I don't have a great knowledge about Rubin, but I just know that they were qualified for Euripean championship and English clubs played there.
And the last question, what would you wish to the Russian football fans?
For the 99% of Russian football fans, the ones who behaved just like football fans, who went on very well with the English fans, I hope you will have a really good enjoyable tournament and I wish every success. For the minority of hooligans, I hope they will be arrested, sent in jail, and I hope that they are banned from every attending any football tournament again.