Violence 'may hit Austria-Swiss 2008 bid'

A senior Nationalist MP today claimed the main rivals to Scotland and Ireland’s bid to host the European Football Championships in 2008 had been dealt “a major blow” after rioting by Austrian soccer fans.

Angus Robertson, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman, said violence at a friendly match between Rapid Vienna and English champions Arsenal last night proved Austria had a “policing and hooligan problem”.

The match in Eisenstadt had to be abandoned with 20 minutes left when Rapid fans clashed with police and the players were forced to take cover.

Austria and Switzerland’s joint bid to host the tournament is seen as the main obstacle to Scotland and Ireland’s chances of staging the event.

But Mr Robertson, who is also MP for Moray, said he believed European football’s governing body Uefa would take account of last night’s events when deciding who will win the race to stage Euro 2008.

He said: “I have no doubt this is a major blow to the bid by Austria and Switzerland for the 2008 European championships.

“Despite the fact that the majority of Austrian and Swiss football fans are overwhelmingly non-violent, this incident has underscored a policing and hooligan problem in Austria.”

Mr Robertson added: “This is a problem for Austrian football and I’m certain that Uefa will take it into consideration when assessing the joint Austrian-Swiss bid.

“This also shows how important it is for Scottish and Irish fans to maintain their outstanding record of friendly and non-violent behaviour.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has even threatened to pull Arsenal out of their pre-season tour of Austria unless his fears over security are allayed.

No Arsenal supporters were involved in the trouble and Rapid officials have apologised.

“I was concerned from the moment we came into the ground,” revealed the Arsenal boss.

“I sensed this was an extremely hostile atmosphere and the lack of security was extremely worrying.

“There appeared to be no protection for the players of each side, people could just wander around the place with no restrictions.

“I had been warned beforehand that the Vienna fans had a reputation for getting nasty, but this was a pre-season friendly. I never expected anything like this to happen.”

The trouble broke out when local fans fired rockets on to the field and as police moved in to stop them, they were attacked by bottles and seats.

Rapid Vienna president Rudolf Edlinger declared: “These people are not Rapid fans.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive, which is backing the Scottish-Irish bid along with the Scottish Football Association, did not wish to comment.