Hooliganism, a problem that has plagued England and Germany in the past, is rapidly turning into a uniquely French problem, writes Paul Marshall of Soccernet. While English soccer is increasingly becoming a sport more for the middle and upper classes, French soccer stadiums are rapidly devolving into breeding grounds for gangs. Two months ago, a 25-year old man was shot and killed by a plain-clothes policeman who had come to the defense of a young fan of Hapoel Tel Aviv-an Israeli team-who was chased by PSG supporters following the French club’s shock loss in their UEFA Cup match. The man killed was a member of the Boulogne Boys, PSG and France’s most notorious right-wing group of soccer hooligans. Their emblem is of a skull wearing a top hat. ‘We knew that they were capable of something like that,” said Thierry Vautrat, a soccer journalist in Paris. “They all have pro-Nazi leanings.” Meanwhile, French journalists report that politicians who frequent PSG’s games and the police who are supposed to keep their behavior in check, simply “turn their heads and do nothing about” the violence, the Nazi salutes and the racial slurs. “The photos of supporters we’ve seen on the news are archive photos, so we know who they are,” said Lawrence Leenhardt, a French freelance journalist. “I don’t know why they didn’t do anything, but we shouldn’t have had to wait for a death before acting.” Since the incident, the number of PSG fans banned form the Parc des Princes has more than tripled, and ticketing has become more tightly controlled, Marshall says.