h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Everyone probably knows EURO 2000 (European football championship) is taking place in Belgium and the Netherlands... Here is some pretty information about the nicest match: United Kingdom - Germany.
A couple of months before this match, it was already big news: seen as a 'risk-match', the UK wanted it to be in Brussels instead of Charleroi, whose stadium wasn't good enough. Finally, it has been played in Charleroi.
Some facts: there were 3500 policemen. A lot of english and german hooligans had been arrested at the border and sent back to their country: some English football-fans even tried to get in Belgium by taking the plane from Heathrow to Duesseldorf (a German city) to go by train to the Netherlands and, from there, to Belgium. Unfortunately, they were recognized as hooligans in Duesseldorf and sent back. On the D-Day, a computer in Heathrow also tried to protect Belgium: a lot of people stayed at home (or at the airport) thanks to a system error (or something like that). A lot of people had already been put in prison as a result of the delicious belgian beer or because they were trying to sell tickets... Can someone explain how it comes there were still so much fans?
On saturday night, 6 C-130 (army-)planes went to England with 40 hooligans and 50 policemen each. After the match, copters kept flying over Charleroi with big torch-lights to make sure everything was OK...................
The world must be mad.