Soccer: Warning issued to England fans

An expected 40,000 England fans began arriving in Frankfurt today for the opening World Cup match as authorities warned them not to "cross the line" with anti-German songs.

Only 18,000 England fans have tickets through official sources for Saturday night's (NZ time) match and authorities believe the key to a trouble-free weekend is by accommodating ticketless fans at two giant screens in the city.

Bars in the city will be open on the day of the match at 11am and temperatures are expected to climb to 28c, conditions conducive to rowdiness.

The home office has already warned England fans that they face arrests for using Nazi chants and salutes but renditions of World War Two songs, already underway in city centre yesterday, remains a grey area.

Asked how his force would react to mass renditions of tunes such as The Great Escape and The Dambusters theme tune, Frankfurt chief police Dr Achim Thiel hinted at a tolerant approach to songs that poke fun at Germans.

"We have no order to police officers to interrupt this funny situation" he said.

But home office minister Vernon Coaker said: "We hope that people from Britain will recognise when the fun might start to become offensive. We want people to take responsibility. Please act responsibly and think about when you cross the line between having fun and causing offense."

He spoke as nearby fans in the Roemerberg, a square overlooked by the town hall in the old town, were testing the police guidance to the limit by singing wartime songs, anti-IRA songs and ditties like "Who Do You think you are kidding, Mr ... ?".

Petra Roth, the mayor of Frankfurt, said she was looking forward to a weekend "in the best British tradition".

She said Frankfurt, Germany's fifth largest city, had a proud record of racial integration and its police were equipped to deal with its five matches, including Holland and Iran, which has become the adopted team of Germany's far-right.

"We are ready for our British guests and we are certain we will celebrate a great and peaceful party in the best British tradition" she said.

The behaviour of England fans over the next few days provides the first real test of anti-hooliganism measures prepared since the England team's qualification.

Around 15,000 police officers will be on duty in Frankfurt, drawn from the surrounding state of Hessen.

In an unprecedented precaution, around 40 uniformed British officers will also be on the beat and crowds will be infiltrated by plain clothes "spotters".

At least 3,500 known troublemakers have been prevented from leaving the UK, although police revealed yesterday that 180 of them, thought to still be in the UK, have not surrendered their passports.

Only two banned fans have tried to enter Germany - a tout with no record of violence and another hooligan turned back at the Czech border.

Uncertainty continued to surround anti-touting measures yesterday, with Dr Thiel saying that anything between "10 and 100 per cent" of fans would be checked as they enter the stadium.

The tournament organisers had planned to demand every fan shows their passport to match the ticket bearing their name, but this has raised concerns of a crush outside venues, especially because many England fans wait until late to go to the stadium.

England fans have 18,350 tickets purchased through official channels - 13,000 via the Fifa website and 5,350 though membership of supporters club, England fans.

Mr Coaker told fans not to risk buying on the black market but authorities will not know until kick-off at the 42,000 capacity stadium how effective the deterrent of named tickets has been.

Three England fans from the Midlands were arrested early yesterday just minutes after they stopped off their flight from Cologne.

They were arrested around 1am after they got into an argument with a taxi driver and attacked his vehicle.

They went to court and pleaded guilty and were fined and banned from the city.

A Crown Prosecution Service lawyer was travelling to Cologne yesterday to see if the incident was football-related and whether they face football banning orders.

- INDEPENDENT