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THE SIDELINES : English Match With Dutch Canceled

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From Times Wire Services

The English Football Assn. voted today to cancel a trip by the national soccer team to the Netherlands in December because of a fear of hooliganism.

The decision came a day after the British government asked the association to call off the match and two days after English hooliganism re-emerged during a World Cup match in Sweden.

The association said members of its executive committee, who were canvassed by telephone, voted unanimously to call off the exhibition match set for Dec. 13 in Rotterdam.

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Sports Minister Colin Moynihan sent a letter to the association Thursday seeking cancellation of the match “in the interests of the future of English football and of the country as a whole.”

More than 100 English fans were arrested Wednesday night for vandalism and rampaging through central Stockholm before the World Cup qualifying match against Sweden.

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