I know you've been missing your hooligan news, and the pending World Cup is so close now that madness is endemic. You don't watch the World Cup; the World Cup watches you.

Important personnel movements covered in this news item:

• English cops are going to Germany and German cops going to England. The English cops are working the tournament, and the Germans are working the airport, which sounds about right. In fact, a lot of clubs will be represented by police from home: even the Argentines are worried about their barra brava, or "fight clubs."
• Over 3,000 fans in the UK face serious, some say oppressive, setbacks. They aren't even allowed to leave the country -- they have to hand in their passports before the games start. If you make it to Germany but are on the banned list, you have to hand in your passport and hang out at the police station every time they play -- yeah, that'll happen.
• Violence predictions from past events:
  World Cup 1998, France - bad.
  World Cup 2002, Korea and Japan - nearly without event.
  Euro 2004, Portugal - also nearly without event doesn't count.
  World Cup 2006, Germany - somewhere between 1998 and 2002. Somewhat alarming.
  

p.s. British fans might like this New York Times scandal sheet about their national team, which tries to out-Sun the Sun.