譯/田思怡 Holding on to the ankles of two of his opponents, Alex, a 33-year-old member of a Moscow soccer hooligan group, felt the blows on his head but wouldn't let go. The third man on top of him was battering his skull with both fists, but still Alex held on, hoping to buy his teammates, battling around him, breathing space. At last, the man rammed his elbow down into Alex's face, shattering his eye socket. He let go.
And that last fight, nearly a year ago, had been a good one, Alex said in a recent interview. His side had won.
What had unnerved him was a new feeling: He realized it was getting harder to keep up.
33歲的艾力克斯是莫斯科一個足球流氓團體的成員，他緊抓住兩個對手的腳踝，儘管感到有人在打他的頭，但仍不放手。壓在他上面的第三個對手用雙拳猛搥他的腦殼，艾力克斯卻仍硬撐著，好讓在他身邊奮戰的隊友能喘一口氣。最後，對方往他臉上狠狠給了一拐子，擊碎了他的眼窩。他放手了。
艾力克斯最近受訪表示，前面提到的是將近一年前的上一場架，打得不錯。他們這邊贏了。
一種新的感覺讓他不安：他明白要繼續下去愈來愈困難了。
When it first appeared in the 1990s, hooliganism in Russian soccer modeled itself heavily on the English version, adopting its clothes and terminology, including the term for its groups: firms. The Russians also embraced the English's passion for blackout drinking and drunken brawling.
In fact, Russia's hooligan scene has undergone a transformation. The new generation bears little resemblance to the beery bravado and off-balance punch-ups associated with traditional European hooliganism, or even the sometimes militialike violence of South American ultras.
俄國足球流氓活動在1990年代首度出現時，幾乎都是以英國的足球流氓為師，採用英國的服飾和術語，包括對足球流氓團體的稱呼：公司。俄國人也承襲英國人樂此不疲的喝到掛和酒醉鬧事。
事實上，俄國的足球流氓鬧事已經轉型了。傳統歐洲足球流氓灌啤酒鬧事和歪歪倒倒打架，甚至南美洲超狂熱球迷時而半軍事化的暴力行為，在新的一代身上已難看到。
Instead, the fans who have emerged in Russia over the past decade are obsessed with physical fitness, elite martial arts training and — at least while fighting — militant sobriety. Christened Okolofutbola, or "around football," Russia's hooligan scene has developed into perhaps Europe's toughest, and just over a year before their country hosts soccer's World Cup, the most hard-core Russian fans may be in the best fighting shape of their lives.
But while their prowess is not in doubt, fan monitors, soccer officials and even the hooligans themselves say there is virtually no chance the disorder that the Russian fans brought to last year's European Championship in France will be repeated on home soil.
相反的，過去10年在俄國出現的球迷沉迷於健身、精英武術訓練，以及─至少在打架時─保持戰鬥清醒。俄國的足球流氓鬧事被稱為「足球場邊」，已發展成堪稱歐洲最強悍者，而再過一年多一點他們的國家就要主辦世界杯足球賽了，最死忠的俄國球迷此際也許正處於畢生最佳戰鬥狀態。
不過，儘管他們的英勇無庸置疑，球迷的監管人員、足球主管官員，甚至流氓本身都說，俄國球迷去年在法國的歐洲杯所造成的混亂，幾乎不可能在本國重演。
Instead, Russia's hooligan groups are enduring an unprecedented crackdown by the authorities, who are determined that the World Cup will go smoothly.
"Believe me," said Andrei Malosolov, a soccer journalist who helped found Russia's national supporters club, "the years before the 2018 World Cup will be the quietest in the history of Russian soccer."
相反的，俄國的足球流氓團體正遭到決心讓世界杯順利舉行的當局空前的打壓。
協助創辦俄國國家後援會的足球記者安德烈．馬洛索洛夫說：「相信我，在2018年世界杯之前的這些年，將是俄國足球史上最平靜的時期。」
