Whatever the truth as to what was happening in the cabin, the Captain obviously had to divert based on the information available to him. Equally, it would be pretty silly for one of the two guys responsible for flying the plane to get involved in a brawl down the back.
After that, it all gets more interesting, and subjective. It's sad that the debate is so polarised:
- All football supporters are irrational, drunken yobs.
- All cabin crew are peerless professionals with unimpeachable credentials.
Not much room for compromise there! None of the people here were actually on the plane. The people closest to the incident (Astraeus management) have spoken to the crew and clearly cannot be regarded as independent. Apologists for the supporters have only spoken to passengers, and clearly are not exactly independent either.
For what it is worth, I have seen unreasonable behaviour by passengers on planes. (Stood between cabin crew and passenger in one such incident.) But I have also seen cabin crew react in a totally irrational manner to perfectly reasonable questions, and threaten legal sanctions against the passenger who asked. (I gave my name and address as a witness to a passenger threatened in this manner by one crew, but never heard any more about it.) I have heard cabin crew threaten legal sanctions against a passenger who, in my view as a disinterested observer in the next seat, had experienced behaviour so extreme that I was surprised he didn't lash out. I have seen cabin crew whose behaviour I, as a heterosexual male, found extremely off putting (offensive is too strong, but off-putting not strong enough).
One of the most depressing features of this website is the thinly veiled contempt that many of the aviation professionals seem to have for the people they carry.
Again, I was not on the flight. Maybe the passengers misbehaved, maybe the cabin crew over reacted. I don't know. But this thread seems to be more about prejudice (on both sides) than about what happened! Shouldn't the police decide if there is a case to answer, and the courts decide who is to be believed?