A HARD CORE of suspected North-East football hooligans were ordered to hand over their passports last night in a bid to prevent bloodshed ahead of England's crucial World Cup qualifier.

Government officials used new powers to crack down on 454 suspected troublemakers throughout the country.

In the North-East and North Yorkshire, more than 20 people were told to surrender their passports as a way of stopping them travelling to Greece for the match.

The move was the first large scale use of new powers under the Football Disorder Act, which allows Home Office officials to stop fans travelling abroad on suspicion they may cause trouble.

The Act was introduced after England fans were involved in a series of violent clashes in Belgium during Euro 2000.

Of those banned, six are from the Sunderland area and four from Newcastle. A further four people from North Yorkshire have been banned, along with five from County Durham. Most of these are from the Darlington area.

Cleveland Police refused to say how many fans had been barred from travelling in the Teesside area.

Sources close to the operation indicated that one of the fans barred from travelling was Michael Hawdon, of Mildred Street, Darlington.

Last year, Hawdon was banned from every match in the country for the next two years. He was made the subject of a football banning order - the first time Durham Police had applied to the courts to make such an order.

His solicitor did not oppose the application, which will run for the minimum of two years.

The order means that Hawdon is banned from every football match in England and Wales, from Nationwide Conference level upwards.

The ban applies to domestic and international games.

It also applies to matches abroad involving the England national team or any team representing a club from the Football League or Premiership.

A Home Office spokesman said last night: "Under the Football Disorder Act 2000, more than 450 individuals subject to the banning orders will be prevented from travelling to Greece. This comes into force five days before the match takes place.

"There hasn't been any significant disorder involving England fans since Euro 2000 last August, but the police will now look closely at this."

The Home Office is working closely with the Association of Chief Officers and the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and extensive preparations have been made in the run-up to the match.

The NCIS's Football Intelligence Service has been working with its Greek counterpart, and UK police spotters will be mingling with fans in Athens collecting evidence to pursue further banning orders in courts at home.

An NCIS spokesman said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to show the world that England fans can be well-behaved abroad at the time of an important game.

"These 454 orders show that the legislation is working. It's now really starting to bear fruit.These pests must not be allowed to ruin the game."

He said 44 of the 454 banned fans had been prevented from travelling using the "on complaint" process.

This allows the police to ask the civil courts to impose a banning order on people who have not been convicted of football related offences, or any other offences.

However, in the case of all these 44 people, all had criminal records for violence or disorder