It is pretty accurate to say that as a result of the scenes witnessed in Marseille over the last week, the travelling football supporters who follow the England side are regarded with little or no affection by the general public. The scenes of so-called English fans hurling bottles and punches at both the locals and the police have indeed brought shame on all of us who follow the English national team. This is nothing new of course. What we are witnessing is simply the latest in a long and undistinguished history of mayhem involving England and its supporters.

But it is not just the actions of these people that are shameful. It is the fact that they are taking place in the first place. Indeed, the question we should be asking of the authorities in England is not why were apparently known football hooligans allowed to travel to France, but why are we still talking about this issue at all?

After all, weren't England supporters causing mayhem across Europe back in the 1970s? Weren't English clubs banned from Europe after Heysel (when Liverpool fans rioted and caused the death of 39 Italians at the 1985 European Cup final) and didn't England fans force a game to be abandoned in Dublin only three short years ago?

The reason we are still talking about this is because, despite all of this terrible history, nothing has ever been done to tackle the hooligan problem. Nothing at all. The authorities in England will of course deny that, but then they would, wouldn't they?

But it is a fact. And I know it is a fact because I say it from experience. You see, I was once a football hooligan. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when I first began to go to football I became aware that surrounding the game I had fallen in love with was a culture that existed to cause mayhem.

It was a culture that to a young impressionable teenager was both exciting and attractive and which, eventually, I became a part of. Up until the mid 1980s I travelled around England regularly to support my club and, if the opportunity presented itself, I would indulge in a bit of mischief.

Eventually, in the mid 1980s, I gave up hooliganism. I gave up because it was becoming more dangerous but also because I simply wasn't enjoying it any more.

The realisation that I could get very seriously hurt (as opposed to only badly hurt) began to hit home and I decided that enough was enough. But I stopped because I wanted to, not because of any outside influence. I have never been arrested at football nor have I even been ejected from a ground.

Yet, having left it all behind, I maintained an unhealthy interest in hooliganism and soon began to recognise the culture for what it really is - bullying. I also began to realise that nothing of any substance was being done to deal with it. Even after Heysel, I was astonished to discover, the hooligan culture continued unchecked.

The fact that this lack of action continues up to the present day was the real reason my younger brother, Eddy, and I set out to write our first book.

We set out to reveal the realities of life as a hooligan and to expose the myths and stereotypes surrounding the problem for what they are - foolish theories put forward by academics who have no real idea of how it feels to be standing toe-to-toe with someone who wants to hurt you for no other reason than that you support another football club.

Furthermore, having become totally opposed to violence of any kind at football, we wanted to put forward our suggestions for dealing with hooliganism. Suggestions based on things that would have stopped us. As two individuals, we could, and can, do no more than that.

This book came out in the spring of 1996 and was, amazingly, an instant hit. Naively, with Dublin still a close memory and Euro '96 on the horizon, we believed the game would listen to what we had to say. Yet despite three further books accumulating almost 100,000 sales between them we are still waiting to be heard and that is tragic.

It is tragic because I have been forced to say "I told you so" so many times it hurts but also because everything we are witnessing in France at the moment is avoidable.

The irony is of course that by refusing to face up to its responsibilities English football is the thing that suffers. In the aftermath of Dublin it was difficult to imagine how the image of the England football supporters could get any worse and yet that is what we are facing at the moment.

The English Football Association bid for the 2006 World Cup is surely doomed to fail now, and if the situation in France deteriorates - something that is highly likely given that the French police in Toulouse have already gone on full alert - even future participation in any kind of competition outside England could be placed in doubt.

So what should be done? How can English football get to the point where England fans are talked about in the same breath as the Irish and the Scots? A situation which 99.9 per cent of England fans long for.

Like all such things, there are, of course, no easy answers but the fact remains that there are answers. The first thing football must do is to face up to its responsibility and admit it has a problem. It must abandon its excuse that this is a social issue and accept that English citizens are involved in violence in Marseille not because they fit a stereotype (or not as the case may be) but because the English football team is there. Once it does that we can start to move forward.

To do this we must remove this cancer from our game once and for all and this must start at domestic level. We do not even need any more legislation. What we need to do is to use the powers we already have. If the English police know who the hooligans are - and they keep telling us they do - then ban them from grounds for life. Even this isn't as difficult as it sounds. Remember, these hooligans go to football every week, watch the same clubs and stand in the same places. They are also policed by the same stewards who invariably recognise them. So why are they still there?

Furthermore, the English game has made massive strides against racism in recent years, so the next step is to extend that to target other forms of intimidation, including violence and abuse - a campaign I advocated two years ago. Players must also be made to stop cheating and abusing officials as these can cause major problems inside stadiums.

English football has to do the one thing it has always refused to do - to begin some kind of meaningful dialogue with the decent law-abiding supporters (the vast majority, remember) who have had to suffer the consequences of hooliganism for over three decades. When it does that, and everyone starts working together we will begin to see the majority win back the game from this tiny thug minority. When that happens, as it surely must, the English game will finally win not only the battle; it will also win the war.

However, most importantly of all, English football must finally be seen to be doing something.

Dougie Brimson is now an author and broad- caster. He has written several books on foot- ball hooliganism, including england my england (with his brother Eddy). His latest book is Derby Days (published by Headline).