Lizzie, it is at this point that sadly our views diverge.

NF = Football fan ... is a significant fallacy.

The NF infiltrated football and gave it a bad name just as it infiltrated the original skinhead movement and gave it a bad name.

Original skinheads?

Yes - they were into ska and two tone and definitely not into neo nazi politics, being pioneers of black white integration in English culture.

Whats so good about football?

When the industrial revolution happened, people were forced into cities and had to leave their rural culture behind.

They needed to reinvent their identity as their old cultural norms were incompatible with their new environment.

Football in England is the working mans game.

Up north he loves his rugby league, and in wales he likes a bit of rugby union, but football is the dominant working class sport in Britain - and funnily enough the rest of the world.

Why can't they behave like rugby fans?

Most football supporters behave perfectly respectably if a bit noisily. They wear their class literally on their sleeve in the form of a West Ham shirt or an England shirt. They take pride in their urban working class identity and no amount of moralizing can dent that.

Why doesn't yobbishness in football happen elsewhere in the world?

Actually it does, often with more violence than has been the case in England for a long time - korea - brazil - argentina - turkey - holland - germany - italy - spain ...

Rugby Union in England is traditionally a rural and middle/upper class pastime.

Of course these divides are becoming slightly more superficial nowadays, but in terms of peoples identities, English culture should not make the mistake of eschewing football from its rightful place at its heart.