Police prepare for influx of England fans
British police were today planning for a new batch of England fans preparing to head for Japan if England get past Denmark in today’s World Cup second round match in Niigata.
The supporters would have six days to arrange to travel for a quarter final, expected to be against Brazil on Friday.
Assistant Chief Constable Ron Hogg, leading the British operation to assist the Japanese police, told reporters: ‘‘I have been in touch with my counterpart in England to make sure we step up the operation with the prospect that England may progress to a quarter final against Brazil.
‘‘We have no concerns that troublemakers will come out but we want to make sure that we are on top of the situation, we don’t want to become complacent.’’
There has been no disorder at the tournament involving England supporters so far.
There have been 1,040 banning orders issued in the UK preventing people travelling and 51 people have been turned away from Japan and Korea, about half of them following information supplied by the British.
Today fans were arriving in Niigata, many after a two-hour ride by bullet train from Tokyo.
Many went looking for tickets on the black market, with police saying they were changing hands for £160 STG to £350 STG yesterday.
‘‘I expect all the England fans to get into the match - they are prepared to pay those black market prices,’’ Mr Hogg said.
He did not expect them to watch on two big screens which the Japanese were providing.
There were signs up in the city today saying the hotels were full, but Mr Hogg said he expected fans to take the train back to Tokyo.
They were running for three hours after the match.
Mr Hogg said numbers of England fans in Japan were diminishing, and he expected about 6,500 to 7,000 at today’s game rather than the 8,500 at earlier ones.
Many fans had only bought tickets for first round games and police spotters were reporting more people leaving than arriving at the moment.
Meanwhile the British Embassy said a British national living in Hong Kong was arrested in Osaka yesterday for alleged attempted shoplifting of a key ring worth 600 yen (£3.50 STG).
That took to 14 the number of arrests of Britons at the World Cup.
However, eight have now been freed, including four more yesterday who were held in Sapporo a week ago.
These were three who had been accused of ticket touting and David Astle, 28, who had been accused of assault.
