ALLAS. July 5: K—g fans in Brazil and the Netherlands have
■———1 reminaea soccer's rulers that hooliganism still afflicts ‘the game despite the relative absence of trouble at the World Cup. reports Reuter. - Middle America, long suspicious of soccer as a sport surrounded by thugs and lunatics. may so far have seen only capacity crowds enjoying trouble-free matches at USA '94i
But the news from abroad has been the same as ever, with tales of football fever in distant lands.
"Soccer is simply paying the price for being such a popular sport." said FIFA press officer Andreas Herren on Tuesday, shrugging off any suggestion that violence abroad might be overshadowing the tournament.
Fans in Brazil and the Netherlands battled with police on Monday after their teams set up a quarter-final clash.
"An enormous crowd had gathered in the'centre (of The Hague), making it difficult to get the mob under control." a Dutch police spokesman said on Tuesday. Fifty Dutch supporters were arrested in the cfty.
Brazilian police said more than 50 people were hurt and more than 30 arrested In clashes in the southern city of Curitiba and the central eastern city of Uberlandia
The fans, celebrating Brazil's 1-0 win over the United States in California, hurled stones and bottles al police, who responded with tear gas and baton charges.
The murder of a player in Colombia on Saturday, appar ently for conceding an own goal that contributed to his country's early exit from the World Cup. was by far the most horrific incident to overshadow the tournament.
"Will this hideous murder be an excuse for Americans to fear or revile this sport?" Wondered a New York Times columnist on Sunday.
Americans, who tuned Into the Brazil game in record numbers, have had plenty of other examples of soccer-related madness to contemplate as well
In Sweden last month, a woman stabbed her partner dead with a pair of scissors after he forced her to stay awake in the early hours for a World Cup match.
After the kilHrut the woman
fell asleep. Two other Swedes who had been drinking with the man were so engrossed by the match that they did not notice what had happened.
A Romanian fanner stabbed and wounded seven passers-by In a street dispute sparked by Romania's historic 3-2 win over former champions Argentina in the second round.
A 43-year-old Argentine man died of a heart attack in the northern city of Resistencia after Romania scored their third goal, a local news agency reported.
In Norway, an angry fan threw his television set Into the street from the window of his third-floor flat after Italy beat Norway 1-0 in a first-round match.
Closer to home. Los Angeles police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at rock-and bottle-throwing Mexican fans celebrating their team’s progress. In Mexico City, one person died of burns and about 70 people were injured.
Ireland reported beer consumption up by around 20 per cent and the government rescheduled the announcement of key economic indicators because of one match.
Women's groups and social workers there meanwhile warned of families being broken by debt and tales of men calling home collect from American to order the family cat be sold to raise extra cash for them to watch more matches.
The withdrawal of Argentine captain Diego Maradona from the tournament for doping provoked anger in Bangladesh.
Fans there tobk to the streets in protest, burning an effigy of FIFA president Joao Havelange in the northern town of Jessore and accusing FIFA of a heinous conspiracy against the "prince of football
A local newspaper quoted former Prime Minister Kazi Zafar Ahmed as saying 1 shall not see the World Cup (matches) any more because of the Maradona affair.
An Albanian soccer fan may not be seeing his wife any more either after a true attack of World Cup fever.
Short of cash for gambling, he bet his wife on the outcome of Bulgaria's match against Argentina and lost.
His wife promptly disap-peared with the winner