World Cup 2002 - The British Are Coming, The British Are Coming!!

R. Sanborn Brown

According to recent press reports in Japan, schools near Osaka's Nagai Stadium are considering closing or ending early on the day England plays Nigeria this summer to avoid any potential trouble with English hooligans. The June 12th match kicks off at about the time children in neighboring schools will be let out and on their way home. One school board member said, "There is nothing more important than the safety of the children. There will be some who will say that we are overreacting, but this is Japan's first World Cup—and we can't predict what will happen."

There are nine public elementary and junior high schools and one private junior high close to Nagai Stadium. In addition to the above match, there will two other games at Nagai: on June 14th Japan will face Tunisia, and then on the 22nd there will be a quarterfinal. Both first round games start at 3:30, the timing of which overlaps with the end of the school day.

"We don't know how many hooligans will come to Japan, or what they will do when they are here," said one official. The head teacher of Nagai Elementary School, recently said, "We watched videos of the hooligans in action, and no matter what kind of security you have in place, you can't stop them once they go crazy. At the same time, though, we can't say for sure that the students will be safe at home either. It's a real headache. We need more data and information."

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