On The Line - Sorry to mention it but violence is back

It suits everyone — the police, the Premier

League and the clubs — to believe serious

football violence is a thing of the past. But an

incident after last weekend's North London

derby suggests tales of ugly scenes are more

than internet chatroom bravado.

A few hours after Arsenal had seen off

Tottenham on the pitch, an altogether less

pretty clash took place near King's Cross

Station.

But despite eyewitness accounts of

up to 150 fans being involved in the fighting,

little has been heard of an incident which

left one 38-year-old man seriously injured and

in hospital.

No arrests were made, but police are

investigating a possible offence of assault

causing actual bodily harm. They will also have

to decide whether the incident is classified as

football-related.

Although the Football Disorder Act of 2000

allows a crime committed 24 hours either side

of a match to be recorded as a football offence,

it is at the local police's discretion whether it is

treated as such.

Home Office figures for football disorder in

the 2006-7 season are due to be published

next month.

The 2005-6 statistics showed a

third consecutive fall in arrests but the number

of people detained in connection with Premier

League games actually increased by more than

24 per cent.

Yet in the biggest, best and richest

league in the world, that is not a topic for polite

conversation.

Kid McGuigan cooking up a strom

Fresh from his mashed

potato-based triumph in

Hell's Kitchen, Barry

McGuigan is whipping up a frenzy of

expectation for British

boxers ahead of the 2012

Olympics.

Although

McGuigan does not at

present have a formal role

in the set-up, following a mix-up over the

application for a senior post, he has studied

the age group likely to reach their amateur

peak in five years' time and likes what he sees.

The former world featherweight champion,

speaking after being honoured for his

contribution to boxing at the 26th Variety Club

children's charity sporting awards, said: "2012

will be a very exciting time for boxing. The age

group of 15 to 16-year-olds is full of talent."

With a twinkle in his eye, he added: "Watch

out for a kid called Shane McGuigan.

He won the national title this year, his first in

competition."

McGuigan added that his

18-year-old son "is only one of a bunch.

The standard of boxing is really exceptional."

Come on FA, you can afford a new home

While Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich

prepares to invest a few more millions in a

national training centre for the Russian

Football Federation, the fate of England's

moth-balled National Football Centre at Burton

should become clearer after Thursday's

meeting of the Football Association Board.

The Board were forced by the FA Council last

year to reconsider their secret decision to

scrap the scheme and write off the £25million

already spent.

Now it appears the only debate

will be whether to proceed with the

compromise option of a scaled-down centre

with a hotel and golf course run by a third

party, or return to the original vision of a

fully-functioning new headquarters for

English football.

Given the improved television deals for the

FA Cup and England internationals, the

answer should be obvious, even to the Premier

League representatives.