Euro 2016

I think they said that 37% of goals had been scored in the last 5 mins. Quite incredible

OK thanks anyway

Tiredness. Heat. Long season. Takes a lot of mental and physical endurance to keep your shape. Jumpers. Goalposts. etc.. and so on.

Croatia are the best side I've seen in this tournament, Rakitic and Modric might be the best creative midfield pairing of any team, always available, great in close quarters and able to thread a pass or spray it wide.

Proper dark horses in this competition, just got to hope the emotions don't get to them.

bang

They even managed a tear-up amongst themselves after letting of a couple of firecrackers.

Tossers.

But why specifically 'tawny'? Why not just like owls in general?

My first thought was that the Croatia fans who weren't throwing flares were probably trying 'restrain' those who were, to put a stop to it. If that's true, it puts a slightly different complexion on it.

how do they get this stuff into the venue ?

@ 1.04

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36565189]

Flare in the back passage?

They're not massive and not everyone is searched, so just in their pockets or down their trousers I guess.

I actually fully approve them as long as they're not thrown on the pitch.

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/supporters-of-bologna-fc-let-of-flares-and-wave-flags-during-the-a-picture-id158163073

They don't half smell funny, though.

Is it just me finding the ITV commentary a bit xenophobic? Making a big thing of De Gea and one of the Turkish team being in hot water over rape and domestic violence and questioning whether UK players would be in the squad under similar circumstances, then stating it's a case of different cultures; don't the UK have a culture of "innocent until proven guilty"?

https://www.linktv.org/sites/kl/files/atoms/article_atoms/www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/images/kennethangerfireworks.GIF.

People have died at football matches due to flares bring fired at them. Even in England. That is the main reason they are banned. How can you fully approved something at a football match that can kill or seriously injure?

Did you see that picture I posted? Have you not watched Italian or South American football when it's a full-on flag, drum and flare fest and not thought it looks like the most amazing thing to be part of?

Your stance on health and safety suggests to me you might be young. I'm not calling for them to be made legal, just saying that flares are kind of exciting. In any case, you could say the same things about fireworks. Would you like to ban fireworks?

Flares can't be fired, signal rockets can. As a Croatian, I need to explain that this was a small radical group of Hajduk Ultras (Torcida) that was hoping to break the match and kick Croatia out of the competition (as a part of their fight against corruption in Croatian Football Federation). All they achieved was to piss off the whole nation and kill our players psychologically. Rakitic said that the referee was thinking of braking the game, and perisic said that it's maybe better if we go straight home after this match. Hopefully they will be able to come back after this, because we have a really talented and experienced team this year which could go far (if we don't get kicked out already).

I was lucky enough to see last two home games of FC Bologna in play off for serie A last season, amazing, one of the last bastions of old school ultras.

I'm an away travelling football fan who has been subject to attacks by opposing ultras including attempting to set fire to vehicles, buildings, stands with flares. I have also been in situations inside stadiums where flares have been thrown into enclosed spaces where fans are being kettled and nearly cause a crush.

I've seen somebody suffer serious burns to the face as a result of a flare throwing incident at a match I went to in Argentina.

Less of an issue, but a serious one, is the severe asthma attacks that can be triggered by the fumes.

Yes, they look great but there is a flip side.

Your firework comparison is invalid. Of course fireworks and flares should not be allowed in large scale crowd control situations that are subject to violent outbreaks.

The 'ring of steel' out here is a cursory pat down. I could have carried a full fireworks display into the stadium. That's for an NI game, don't know if the approach changes for higher risk fan groups, which would definitely include Croatia.

"Your firework comparison is invalid. Of course fireworks and flares should not be allowed in large scale crowd control situations that are subject to violent outbreaks."

I wasn't talking about fireworks in relation to large scale crowd situation; I was making the point that flares aren't dangerous in and of themselves - they have a practical application - but become dangerous when thrown at people. The same could be said of fireworks.

You list a litany of misbehaviour. All I'm saying is that I find excitement in the flared enhanced carnival-like atmosphere of a Serie A football game. That's all. Nothing more than that. Not condoning anything. Just making an observation.

They have a great stadium too, do Bologna.

^^ Fair enough.

On the basis that there are always going to be twats who takes things too far or do something stupid, I'd rather they weren't readily available in a ground. Like it or not, football is a family affair now days.

The Olympic Stadium in Rome is truly a site to behold when lit up with flares. Roma have a team of people with fire extinguishers, tongs and buckets of sand for home games. I saw Roma lose at home a few years back and the home fans tore up a lot of seats and set a big fire in the stands using flares to start it. Was not a nice atmosphere to breathe.

I think we can apply this broad sweeping statement, people are generally idiots.

Ireland are getting fucked over, shame the penalty wasn't given before the first goal.