England's top police officer at Euro 2000 wants the Government to ban football thugs from travelling abroad to follow the national side for 20 years.
Chief Supt Eddie Curtis, England's Operational Liaison Officer at the tournament, has produced a five-point plan to counter the hooligan threat.
He will present his proposals to an Association of Chief Police Officers committee meeting soon after a Euro 2000 debriefing with Dutch and Belgian officers. If his blueprint wins ACPO approval, his recommendations will be passed to the Home Office.
In response to a widespread clamour for legislation, Curtis was invited by Sportsmail to come up with answers to the hooligan problem, based on lessons learned in Belgium, Holland and previous trouble spots.
Curtis proposes:
-Twenty-year international banning orders for those convicted of violence at or around football grounds at home or abroad. They would not be allowed to leave the country from two days before an England match until one day afterwards.
-Five to 10-year banning orders for those with violent convictions not related to football but still known to associate with football thugs.
-Those associating with hooligans or considered a threat to public order to be stopped at foreign frontiers and returned to England where passports would be confiscated.
-Anyone wanting to stay a member of an official supporters' association, at England or club level, and travel abroad for matches must consent to the police passing details of previous convictions for violence to the association. The Data Protection Act is now used as a reason not to supply them.
-Ticketing arrangements for big tournaments to be changed to satisfy the demand of nations or clubs with large followings. This would reduce the thriving black market in tickets.
Curtis explained: 'Banning people for two or three years won't hurt them when the next big tournament in Europe is Euro 2004 in Portugal.
'We must also prevent the ridiculous scenario we had where troublemakers were deported two or three times from Holland or Belgium and still turned up in Brussels riots.'
