Rioting across England calling into question open of EPL season

Rioting across England is effecting the nation's soccer calling into question the opening of the English Premier League season scheduled to kick off on Saturday across the country.  The FA has already called off the Wednesday internaiotnal friendly between England and Holland scheduled for Wembley.  London's police force has struggled to contain the spiraling violence across the city, but are preparing to have 16,000 officers on the streets to stop the violence.

he violence first broke out late Saturday around Tottenham, a low-income district in north London where outraged protesters demonstrated against the fatal police shooting of a man who was gunned down in disputed circumstances August 4.  Groups of young people rampaged for a third straight night in London on Monday, setting buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps on fire, looting stores and pelting police officers with bottles and fireworks.   The Football Association made the decision Tuesday after talks with the British government and the Metropolitan Police, who struggled to contain a third night of unrest in the British capital.

"There were certain concerns about the protection of players on both sides with the travel in coaches," said FA chairman David Bernstein, who added he believed this is the first time an England match has been canceled because of such circumstances. "We have to put safety and security matters first. I am very sad indeed. This is the only thing we could have done."

A Tuesday exhibition was called off between Ghana and Nigeria in Watford, 20 miles northwest of London. A statement on the Watford Football Club website said the match had been canceled on the advice of local police, who "advised the club that they will not be able to police the fixture."

England's Wayne Rooney appealed for an end to the violence.  "These riots are nuts why would people do this to their own country. Own city," the striker wrote on Twitter. "This is embarrassing for our country. Stop please."

Tottenham's soccer club is working to make sure that its Premier League opener Saturday against Everton still can go ahead despite damage to a ticket office at White Hart Lane.  Four League Cup matches scheduled for Tuesday already have been called off. West Ham, which was to host Aldershot, said police told the east London club that "all major public events in London were to be rearranged."  In south London, Charlton's match against Reading and Crystal Palace's match against Crawley also were postponed.