SPECIALIST police units are being set up amid fears the region's most notorious football hooligans are planning to cause mayhem at the European Championships.

More than 100 known thugs could be banned from leaving the North-East to support the England team during the competition in Portugal this summer.

The move comes after detectives intercepted messages on an Internet chatroom between fans who talked of buying tickets and causing chaos at the matches.

Cleveland Police have set up a Football Intelligence Unit which will target trouble-makers at Middlesbrough and Hartlepool United matches, while the Northumbria Police unit will tackle those who follow Newcastle United and Sunderland.

Northumbria will use £223,000 from the Government to secure orders from courts banning up to 40 known hooligans from travelling.

And officers on Teesside believe there is a hardcore of about 50 Middlesbrough and 30 Hartlepool followers who regularly seek trouble at matches in the UK.

Detective Sergeant Ian Fawcett, one of the officers spearheading the new Cleveland Police unit, said: "We are building up a database of names of trouble-makers and we will actively be seeking banning orders preventing them heading to the championships.

"We are advocating a more proactive and robust approach to hooliganism at grounds.

"All football-related arrests will be supported by ourselves in going for a banning order from the courts."

His colleague, Detective Constable Steve Burke, said: "This is an opportunity to make a difference.

"I would like to see football supporters act like rugby supporters and grounds become a place where the family can go without witnessing threats, violence and being subject to foul and abusive language."

The move follows violent scenes at Sunderland's Stadium of Light when rival fans clashed before and after England's Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey in April.

Last October, trouble also flared when Newcastle played Breda in Holland in a UEFA Cup match.

Latest figures show 21 Sunderland followers are subject to banning orders, while there are 16 from Newcastle, 14 from Middlesbrough and 11 from Hartlepool.

Ten Darlington supporters are also banned from travelling abroad and have to surrender their passports to police five days before England play overseas.

Other conditions of the orders can include trouble-makers reporting to the police on match days.

Magistrates who refuse to issue banning orders will have to give their reason why in open court, but the Cleveland Police team is prepared to go through the civil courts to get them.

The crackdown follows fears that thugs could wreck England's reputation during the tournament in Portugal, and even force the authorities to kick the team out of the 2006 World Cup.

Det Con Burke added: "Most hooligans are working men between the ages of 20 and 50, respectable and, in the main, married.

"On match days they simply snap and want to become involved in organised violence. Clashes are usually pre-arranged over the telephone or on the Internet."

The target of 40 banning orders for hooligans on Tyneside and Wearside is contained in a Northumbria Police Authority report.

North Yorkshire Police - which introduced its own football intelligence unit in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster - has three people subject to football restriction orders.

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