All Quiet on the Eastern Front
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For all the concerns about stadiums being completed on time, infrastructure being in place and overpriced hotel rooms, the biggest fears around the tournament being partly-held in Ukraine centred around the threat of racism and violence in the country.
Both the BBC and Sky Sports screened undercover reports about neo-Nazi hooliganism being rife in the country, with former England defender Sol Campbell stating to the BBC ,
"Stay at home, watch it on TV. Don't even risk it… because you could end up coming back in a coffin."
However, most of the main incidents of anti-social behaviour—fighting between fans, hooligans attacking innocent members of the public, fans racially abusing players etc—have happened in neighbouring Poland, with Ukraine so far enjoying a relatively peaceful record.
This is not by any means to disparage Poland in their role as co-hosts or as a nation on the whole, but simply to point out how differently things have transpired compared to expectations before the tournament.
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