A TOTAL of 17 alleged hard-core England football hooligans from East Anglia have been banned from next month's World Cup. The fans – nine from Ipswich Town, seven from Norwich City and one from Colchester United – should have surrendered their passports by midnight on May 16 and will not get them back until the end of the tournament in Japan and South Korea.

A TOTAL of 17 alleged hard-core England football hooligans from East Anglia have been banned from next month's World Cup.

The fans – nine from Ipswich Town, seven from Norwich City and one from Colchester United – should have surrendered their passports by midnight on Thursday and will not get them back until the end of the tournament in Japan and South Korea.

As revealed in later editions of yesterday's Evening Star police have said the total number of banned alleged British hooligans was 1,007 – a ten-fold increase in the number who were banned from the Euro 2000 championship in France.

Two Japanese intelligence officers have been in the UK for the past week and profiles of another 200 potential troublemakers have been passed to them. The fans have previous hooligan convictions or are suspected by police of planning violence at the World Cup. They face up to six months in jail if they disobey the order.

Around 8,000 English fans are expected to travel to the finals in Japan, where England will play their qualifying matches.

Of those, 4,000 have secured tickets through the Football Association and 2,000, who are being vetted by police, got their tickets through FIFA, world football's governing body.

The remaining 2,000 are expected to travel without tickets.