There's a pantomime element to it, also group mentality singling out individuals in the 'out-group' as a bonding exercise and - what was always accepted as a core element of the experience until recently - blokes letting off steam from the pressure of work and home that had built up Monday-Friday.

You can't have heroes without villains, joy without pain and so on. If we want genuine passion in the game and a level of emotion that's meaningful, then you can't be selective about it. It's two sides of the same coin.

The way things are going though, English football supporters likely will eventually come to resemble what we saw with the stage managed enthusiasm in sections of the crowd for the host nation at the last World Cup and for North Korea when they were last in it.