Prime minister Tony Blair called it “a total disgrace”, the head of the Football Association said he was “sickened”, and the sports minister said a “moronic minority” were ruining England’s reputation abroad.
At least 32 people were injured during three days of rioting and violence when England met Tunisia in Marseille in their opening game of the World Cup in France in 1998.
Much has changed on and off the pitch in the 20 years since, but England will again play Tunisia in their first match of a major tournament when the sides meet in Volgograd on 18 June.
So what happened in Marseille? And why?
You can watch the whole match from 1998 in full on the BBC Sport website and app on Thursday from noon BST.
Marseille ‘a recipe for disaster’
After the World Cup qualifying failure of 1993, the game with Tunisia in Marseille was England’s first in the tournament since their excruciating defeat to West Germany in Turin eight years earlier.
Expectations were high, and even manager Glenn Hoddle’s decision to leave Paul Gascoigne at home did not deter thousands of fans from making the journey across the Channel.
But not everyone was happy with the decision to play the opening game at the Stade Velodrome. Sir Brian Hayes – former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police – was recruited by the FA as a security advisor for the tournament and says they wanted the game moved.
“In the build up to the World Cup we tried to get the game switched to a different venue,” Hayes told BBC Sport.
“I fought personally quite hard, and the chief executive of the FA tried because of the large resident north African population in Marseille. It was going to be staged in very hot weather, there was obviously going to be a lot of drinking by the British fans and the whole climate was wrong, the venue was wrong.
“We tried to get them to switch the matches around so that the Tunisia game could be played in Lens, for example, but they couldn’t or wouldn’t bow to that at all.
“The recipe was there, from a security point of view, for a disaster. And that’s what we got.”
‘Tear gas in the air’ – the build-up
England fans had to wait five days after the start of the tournament to see their side in action, the Tunisia game scheduled for a Monday lunchtime kick-off. As millions back home booked time off work to watch, thousands poured into the Mediterranean port over the weekend.
After some isolated trouble on the Saturday night, Sunday saw 400 England followers involved in pitched battles with Tunisian fans, local youths and police during seven hours of violence which left at least 32 people injured.
Police fired tear gas to break up groups of several hundred England and Tunisia supporters, there was a constant hail of bottles and missiles and as fans retreated they destroyed shops and premises.
Two Britons required operations for serious injuries, one for a slashed throat and the other for a knife wound to the stomach. There were nearly 50 arrests. Hayes’ prophecy had come to pass.
England fan Tim Rolls: “We realised Marseille could be a flashpoint and best avoided in terms of staying there.
“Our mood the night before the game was not helped by images on French TV of England supporters fighting with police and locals in Marseille and, worse, setting fire to a Tunisian flag. You didn’t need to be a diplomatic genius to realise this was going to crank up the tension a few notches.”
BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce: “There was some trepidation about the fans. Bad fighting had broken out in what is always a spiky city on the eve of the game. There was talk that England would be thrown out of the World Cup if there was a repeat.
“I was worried because I had family there who had tickets. I remember the relief when I met them outside the stadium and they were OK.”
Hayes: “The English fans didn’t start it. Some of the African population started lobbing cans of beer at England fans, and even if England fans don’t start a fight they are up for one.
“I had seen occasions where England fans started trouble but in Marseille I can say they didn’t – from what I saw. They were heavily provoked. It was not a good experience.”
BBC news correspondent Robert Hall: “I remember the Sunday very clearly. We jumped out of the van as we arrived in Marseille and saw the trouble down by the harbour and ran off towards it.
“There was tear gas in the air, it was very hot. There were a lot of young north African guys, locals, who came into town to join in with any trouble.
“It was full on. French police in full riot gear with tear gas charging the fans. I’m always careful to use the word fans as it was the usual hardcore group of people you always find in any sort of trouble like that. We stayed at a reasonably safe distance.”
England fan Matt Stewart: “We were aware that there could be trouble due to the reputation of England fans at the time, so we decided to stay in Avignon.
“The night before the game there were hundreds of fans in Avignon but the atmosphere was good. Around 11pm a huge football match broke out in the main square. It was about 80 a side! There were locals and England fans on both sides.”
The UK’s home secretary of the time, Jack Straw, backed the actions of the French police, saying there were no excuses for hooliganism.
“I don’t want to hear any kind of examination of whether these people had bad childhoods,” he said at the time.
“I’ve seen football hooligans myself. They always have a huge amount of money, get completely drunk and then commit this kind of act and then offer excuses.
“We have to try to get a grip of it.”
Prime Minister Blair said the fighting was a “total disgrace”. He added: “It may be a small number of fans, there may be other fans that have been involved, but that is no excuse, there aren’t any excuses for it. We have to put a stop to it.
“These people have the absolute condemnation of everyone in the country.”
‘An air of bristling tension’ – game day
As the tear gas cleared overnight in Marseille city centre, it was time for action on the pitch as Hoddle’s England lined up against Tunisia live on BBC One.
Thankfully – unlike during the England v Russia game in 2016 – there was no trouble inside the Velodrome itself, but scuffles were ignited down on the beach fanzone following Alan Shearer’s opening goal in a relatively comfortable 2-0 win.
During the BBC coverage of the game, FA chief executive Graham Kelly hit out at the “400 drunken English people who have come here and caused immense inconvenience and distress”.
“We have made progress but as long as people are allowed to leave the country and have the inclination to sit in bars and drink for 24 hours – there is something in the mentality of the English that they are going to cause trouble,” he said.
“Their behaviour sickened everyone connected with the England team and all the genuine supporters. It really is terrible. They are not fit to be allowed here. It was frightening, to be honest with you. The only silver lining is that it showed this must be nipped in the bud.”
At the time, Kevin Miles of the Football Supporters’ Association said England fans were caught up in tension between locals and French riot police.
“What happened was a war on the streets of Marseille between the local Arab population and the police for their own reasons about French politics, not English football,” he said.
“English fans have been caught in the middle of that with no protection from the police.”
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