you may remember the case earlier this year of the middlesboro football fans who were stabbed in the alleyway off warmoestraat after watching their team play the UEFA cup final on TV. i understand they had been in the pimpelmee bar watching the game after failing to get tickets for the final which was being played in eindhoven. the tale around this city in the days after was that there had been an altercation with one of the coke/ecstasy guys after they had bought (predicatably) rubbish from him. anyway, this is from todays english newspapers...

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'Dealer jailed for soccer fan deathAug 2 2006

A Dutch court has jailed a drug dealer for four years for stabbing to death one British soccer fan and seriously injuring another in a drunken brawl in Amsterdam.

Iwan Roy Vyent killed Brendan O'Connor, 36, and seriously wounded Howard Boville, 38, during a fight in Amsterdam's red light district in the early hours of November 25 last year.

The men had travelled to the Netherlands to watch Middlesbrough play AZ Alkmaar in a UEFA Cup tie but could not buy tickets and instead followed the 0-0 draw in an Amsterdam bar.

After hours of drinking, the two Middlesbrough fans got into a fight with Vyent, a known drug dealer, in an alley.

During the vicious confrontation Vyent picked up a 25 centimetre kitchen knife he had dropped and stabbed both men before fleeing in a taxi.

In a written judgment, the court said that Vyent had the right - given the attack on him - to defend himself, but not by stabbing at the two soccer fans' vital organs.


"For killing a person - and taking into account the importance of self-defence - there must be a long custodial sentence," the court ruled, convicting him of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.
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(Ooooh this is my first post, maybe its because I am no Amsterdam expert, but this one really called out to me and is something I can understand).

I am pleased he has gone to prison because I'm a Brit and feel hideous for the poor fans relatives who must be deverstated by what happened to them. I mean going off to watch Middlesbrough in the UEFA cup and not coming back, thats got to be hard for anyone to deal with.

However I find it so frustrating that they started on the dealer, I mean he's a dealer, don't start a fight with him, only a total idiot would buy from those guys, I see them like those people that offer you leaflets, ignore them and they leave you alone.

It just gives the English a really bad name in Europe, so many people in Europe hate us anyway, I just hope the lovely people of Holland don't think we all get violent and hit people when we're drunk, trust me, we really don't :)

I don't think there's any need for you to apologize for England here. This Iwan Vyant character could've very well asked for a punch in the face. I've mentioned before that I've had a hard time in the past with bridge trolls. It's easy for someone who's never been reasonlessly fucked with by one of them to say ignoring them means you'll be left alone. Let me just say, that is not always the case. What happened that night was an absolute tragedy. I also feel for the victim and his family here. It could've happened to any of us tourists. It's not an English thing, or even a Dutch thing. It was a case of two tourists and a local who victimizes tourists. It happens anywhere you have tourism, only this time shit went too far and instead of somebody losing their money, they lost their life. It's a real shame and let's all hope this remains an isolated incident.

Hey Withnail,the article states the incident ocured in November.However the Middlesboro football match final in Eindhoven was in May.

you are correct - my mistake suggesting it was when the final was on. as the article states this occurred when they were over to watch boro play up in alkmaar. apologies for the confusion.

doog!

withnail

one more thing i should re-iterate is that the exact circumstances are based on rumour. the only folk who truly know what happened are the 3 in the alleyway concerned (this is the alley almost opposite hunters bar on warmoestraat, btw). but, as i wrote originally, the story circulating at the time was of them having tried to buy coke, realising theyed been burned, then an altercation ensuing. all sounds plausible and the info came from my friends on warmoestraat but i think its important to point out that i cannot say 100% exactly what happened. all terribly sad regardless of the facts and sadder still that you still have dozens of these scumbags strolling the red light area every day with apparent impunity.

anybody suggesting that the junkies are less visible these days should see what i see every morning as i cycle to work and lunchtime when i pass through fetching a sandwich. these filth are still everywhere, mobs of them. be aware. the wallen after dark is, generally speaking, blissful by comparisen.

withnail

The BBC say the altercation took place after buying bunk gear...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5238966.stm

i seen what went on that nite, a lots of Middlesbrough fans in and outside hunters bar, all very drunk picking and looking for fights from everyone who went by, they pull on me.
i was waiting in luxer hotel.. bout 12,30 just back from a club having a beer in hotel went out to get food came across bout 20 english all fucked out of their head pullin on everyone going up and down warmoestraat, chairs flying and all, on way back up seen a few guys in alleyway on ground, few english round them, fuck all dutch round would think they pick on wrong guy,
self-defence i think so.