ORGANISED violence blighted Middlesbrough's last home game of the season on Saturday as 30 people were arrested around the Riverside stadium.

Another 100 Spurs supporters were detained at Darlington station as they tried to make their way into the town centre for an arranged conflict at a pub.

Police said last night that more arrests were likely once closed-circuit television footage had been examined.

It is believed the violence was a "return fixture" after there was a trouble - again apparently arranged - when Middlesbrough met Spurs in London in September. Some troublemakers were said to have come from Scotland to take part in the violence.

The weekend's events are especially concerning as England are due to play Slovakia at Middlesbrough on June 11 - a fixture that was feared would be played behind locked doors when football authorities threatened to punish England for violence at Sunderland's Stadium of Light in April.

At 10.30am on Saturday, a trainload of about 100 Spurs supporters arrived in Darlington heading for Middlesbrough. Knowing that Darlington would be awash with Quakers supporters preparing for the last game at Feethams, the Spurs fans headed for the Boot and Shoe pub in the Market Place - a well-known haunt of Darlington fans.

It is understood they arranged to return to the pub for a fight after the afternoon's games.

At the Riverside, a riot broke out among the away supporters as Middlesbrough scored three goals in five minutes just before half-time.

Police broke up the disturbance. A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "We made around 30 arrests, most of them visiting supporters.

"Fifteen were released unconditionally to prevent a further breach of the peace while some were remanded on bail pending further inquiries.

"Others will appear at court for public order offences.

"It is likely that more arrests will follow after officers have viewed CCTV footage of the incident.

"This was the last away game of the season for the visiting fans, and the offences followed a similar pattern when Middlesbrough played at Tottenham's ground earlier in the season."

Rob Nichols, editor of the Boro fanzine Fly Me To The Moon, said: "I understand that it was an organised fight between thugs from Middlesbrough and London.

"It had nothing to do with the football clubs. In fact, there were even people travelling from Scotland to take part.

"I knew nothing about the arrests until after the match, which shows it was totally separate from the game.

"Decent fans are getting tired of being associated with these thugs - they are just jumping on the most convenient sport."

In the evening, a joint operation between Darlington police and the British Transport Police stopped more than a hundred Tottenham fans from leaving Darlington station. A police spokesman said: "The difficulty we had was that the fans could head down to the Boot and Shoe, or to other pubs, and cause problems. In order to stop them from going to the pub and causing a disturbance, we held them at the station until the London train arrived."

The manager of the Boot and Shoe said of the morning's events: "There was no trouble and the Tottenham supporters were spot on. They were fine.

"They never caused a spot of bother at all. I don't know if they were planning to come back."