Security fears were at the top of everyone’s minds in the lead up to Euro 2016 in France and two days into the tournament, things have got really ugly, really fast!

Before the tournament, police were on high alert for potential terror threats after the jihadist attacks in Paris in 2015, but so far it has been the old plague of hooliganism that has marred the Euros.

An England football supporter was fighting for his life on Sunday after clashes with Russian fans in the French city of Marseille, as football’s plague of violence hit the Euro 2016 tournament.

These are the worst scenes at an international tournament since the 1998 World Cup and fears of more such incidents are running high in France, across venues.

After the final whistle in the entertaining 1-1 draw between England and Russia in Marseille, things took a turn for the worse.  

English and Russian supporters fought ugly battles before the kick off of their countries’ opener on Saturday.

An Englishman who had apparently been beaten around the head with an iron bar was left in a critical state in hospital and more than 30 other people were injured.

Fans who had been drinking heavily for hours pelted each other with bottles and cafe chairs in Marseille’s Vieux-Port district as 1,200 police tried to control the crowd with teargas.

Ten people, including English, Russian, French, German and Austrians nationals were arrested, police sources said.

England fans said the clashes were caused by Russians, who charged at them.

“There were about 100 Russians. They just came out of nowhere, something was thrown and that started it all off,” said one England supporter, who asked not to be named.

Another fan, Danny Hart, 23, said the 9:00 pm (local time) kick-off time had fuelled the violence because the supporters had been drinking beer all day.

European football’s governing body UEFA slammed the violence.

The violence will also raise concerns about Russia’s hosting of the 2018 World Cup.

The scenes caused revulsion in England, where hooliganism is often thought of as a phenomenon of the past.

It was the third consecutive night of violence involving England fans.

  • “Back in the dark ages?” read the front page of the sports section in The Mail on Sunday.
  • The Sunday Telegraph said the rioting fans had been a “disgrace”.
  • “Fear has already won at the Euros,” French sports paper L’Equipe said.

However, there was one heartwarming incident too, this involving the Welsh fans:

UEFA said on Sunday it was opening disciplinary proceedings against Russia after crowd disturbances in the stadium at the end of the Euro 2016 match against England.

Europe’s football governing body said Russia was charged with crowd disturbances, racist behaviour and letting off fireworks and its disciplinary committee would make its decision on June 14.