SultanOfSwing

That's what they all drove round our way. Well, it used to be a Saxo before the off-brand plastic body kit and naff paint job got applied, that is.

N1cky

Funny you say that, as the people I think of as Chavs in California are all the people with their Coach handbags.

HumphreyC

We have groups in the US that are seen as counterparts to the chavs in the UK but it differs between urban areas and the countryside. In this town the demographic that gets stereotyped as 'chavvy' are the Puerto Ricans - meaning people perceive them as living off welfare, playing music too loud, behaving trashyily (e.g stabbing each other at Chucky Cheese) etc. In the countryside the chav counterpart is the hick or redneck who lives out in the woods down a dirt road and drives a rusty pickup - usual uniform; shirtless, NASCAR baseball cap and tattoos. Difference between the UK and the US is you typically don't get youths prowling the streets harassing people round here like I was used to back home. Reason for that is probably the large number of cops, different drinking culture and the fact that people drive everywhere. Closest you get to it is probably the flash-mob phenomenon in the inner cities.

Michael

I live in downtown San Jose and on the weekends, about 20K-40K people visit the bars, restaurants, and nightclubs each night in the one square mile downtown area. A significant number that visit the downtown area are from gangs in east San Jose (gang markings all over) but seldom is there any problems. The police have zero tolerance for problems in the downtown area and if a bar owner has a problem, the police are there within minutes, if a fight or argument breaks out in a parking lot, the police are there in minutes, and if people are harassed, the police are there in minutes. The police doesn't just warn the violators but immediately hauls them to jail to make sure that everybody understands the rules of behavior in the downtown area.

Ruth16

Totally different too here going to a ball game , it a pleasure to take the whole family , you can't even go to the pubs in the UK with a team shirt on .

Pulaski

An interesting theory, but not borne out be the reality that there is an average of 20% more police per capita in the UK than in the US.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...olice_officers

Pulaski

You're not comparing like with like. I hear that NFL fans inside and in the streets and nearby bars are often aggressive towards fans of other teams, whereas cricket is generally a family friendly game for spectators.

SultanOfSwing

It might be different in other cities but in the Chicago area people get overly tribal about their (in national terms rather crap) sporting teams, often to the point of stupidity.

I used to go to the pub wearing a Liverpool shirt all the time back home and other than the obligatory friendly rivalry with United fans, nothing untoward ever happened. I'm not so sure that would work around here in certain places if one was wearing, say a Packers jersey

Ruth16

I didnt just "hear" of football hooligans in the UK I've seen them for myself

Ruth16

Then why are they banned in pubs ?

SultanOfSwing

****ed if I know. I didn't even know they were.

All of this is completely anecdotal, which, while fun, is completely meaningless. I went to a baseball game once (for my sister) and the only thing that ruined the day more than my hatred of baseball was a couple of loudmouthed, classless drunks right behind us. I had my son with me. Not exactly good clean family fun, that day.

Pulaski

Me too, but I have had negligible face to face exposure to NFL fans on game day.

jeffreyhy

I've always been curious as to why so many of the posters in the immigration and marriage-based immigration sections of the forum are concerned about their past warnings, arrests, or convictions for drunkeness or brawling in pubs. So I guess it wasn't over football, then?

Regards, JEff

HumphreyC

I stand corrected

Sally Redux

Don't forget Christmas has been banned in the UK.