Soccer in empty stadiums — a Thatcher dream come true

When the Bundesliga restarts this weekend behind closed doors, the wishes of Conservative UK politicians from the 1980s will at last be fulfilled. In an era of violence and stadium disasters, it wastheir policy to vilify the fans and, as far as possible, exclude them from attending games. Many on the political right wanted to ban away fans completely, while the government of MargaretThatcher  tried to introduce an ID card scheme for supporters to use the power of the state to keep fans under control. The scheme was a failure.