Euro 2016

Kevin Miles: 'England expulsion from Euro 2016 would be unfair'

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 13 June 2016

Football Supporters' Federation chief executive Kevin Miles believes that kicking England out of Euro 2016 as a result of fan trouble would be an inappropriate sanction.

Football Supporters' Federation chief executive Kevin Miles has claimed that expelling England from Euro 2016 would be harsh.

This summer's tournament has been marred by scenes of violence so far, with English fans heavily involved in clashes against French and Russian supporters.

That violence continued during England's opening match against Russia on Saturday, leading UEFA's executive committee to warn that any similar incidents could see either of the two nations kicked out of the tournament, but Miles has leapt to the defence of the English supporters.

"To make the same threat against both countries would seem to put the behaviour of both sets of fans on a par and I think that's unjust as well. Any misdemeanours that you saw involving English supporters in Marseille paled into insignificance when you saw the organised brutality from some of the Russian hooligan groups," he told PA.

"But in both the English and the Russian case, I wouldn't support expulsion from the tournament because once again that punishes the majority for the actions of a very small minority.

"The large majority of the Russian supporters as well as the English ones have been impeccably behaved. It punishes the whole country [and] it punishes the team for things out of their control. I don't think that's an appropriate measure."

Meanwhile, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has called for alcohol to be banned near the Euro 2016 venues.