THE disgraceful pictures of rioting English fans in Belgium has confirmed all the stereotypes of the football hooligan. The unruly mob throwing bottles, chairs, insults and punches at foreign supporters and by-standers was made up of shaven-headed tattooed male thugs, clutching pints of strong lager and waving Union Jacks.

But there are reports of lawyers and engineers being among the 800 English fans deported after Saturday's violence, and the Government has protested that most of the fans kicked out of Belgium had not been in trouble before, were unknown to the police and therefore free to travel to the match.

So is there such a thing as a 'typical' football hooligan? After all, many criminals have a profile - a social or psychological identity which police use to identify suspects. Is the same true of the football thugs who have embarrassed England in Belgium this weekend?

Who are the football hooligans?

''The average football hooligan is a white, working-class male, someone seeking status and a reputation through the terraces,'' says Dr Peter Marsh, co-director of the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford. ''Most are very knowledgable and passionate about their club but they see violence as a way of achieving status.

''Young working-class men do not have channels for achievement elsewhere. They have unfulfilling lives and the majority of them have little status, having low status jobs, so they become jack-the-lad on the terraces.

''And if you can get yourself on TV or in the papers - then you increase your reputation.''

Where are they from?

They are from working class communities all over Britain where violence is a fact of life, says Dr Ivan Waddington, director of The Centre For Research Into Sport And Society at the University of Leicester.

''They tend to come from particular communities which are characterised by an aggressive masculinity. They come from communities in which people tend to be in relatively low-paid insecure employment. Here, the forces of law and order are less effective then in some other areas. Young people tend to spend a lot of time on the streets and young men in particular attain status in the community by being tough and hard and being able to look after themselves.''

Dr Waddington points out that whereas most people attain satisfaction and status through jobs, education or good housing, for these hooligans, it is physical toughness that counts.

What jobs do they do?

Dr Waddington says that these men's education is generally poor and there is little chance of hooligans being educated, middle-class employees.

''When it comes to reports of bank managers and accountants being hooligans, there is a very small number of hooligans in non-manual occupations. The overwhelming number are semi-skilled or manual workers.''

Do these men have families, wives and girlfriends?

There has been little research done on this aspect of hooliganism, says Dr Waddington, but there is nothing to suggest that violent football hooligans are any different from the majority of fans.

Do they have criminal records?

Some do and some don't. Dr Marsh says that because they tend to come from tough neighbourhoods, aggression can be seen as a ready answer to any problem. In a footballing situation that will turn them into a hooligan, while in a local nightclub, it is often a feature of a Saturday night.

Why does the violence occur?

Dr Marsh says: ''If you talk to hooligans, they will give you a different story and they say they were defending themselves. They espouse the values of honour, pride, sticking up for their nation. They take the values of nationalism and aggression and apply them with violence.''

There is of course, an element of racism and xenophobia to the violence of the football thugs, says Dr Marsh. ''But we have this jingoistic thing about the role of England. Those fans will just say 'We are proud to be English'.''

Dr Waddington points to another reason for the violence. ''Many fans get a real buzz from this kind of thing. From my research, I have found that some of the hooligans say they get more of a kick from violence than from sex. That gives you an idea of what they get from it.''

Are they organised into gangs?

''There's an image of well-organised groups of people who conspire to commit violent crimes. That is, in my experience, extremely rare,'' says Dr Marsh. ''There are some groups associated with clubs but most violence is reactive and not organised. It is only 'organised' once it starts.''

Are we breeding football hooligans for the future?

Undoubtedly, says Dr Marsh. ''We have always been pretty xenophobic people and the idea that working class cultures now should be any different is wrong. There have been big steps to stamp out racism campaigns and there are more black football players.''

But he points out that the minute a British fan steps abroad, everyone else is 'the enemy' and so, for a football hooligan, a target of aggression.

Lee Owens - the "Belly of Brussels" who was arrested on Saturday - would appear to fit many of these criteria.

He hails from the Hardwick estate in Stockton, which has traditionally suffered very high levels of unemployment and is one of the country's 47 education action zones that receive extra Government money to counteract the cycle of low income and joblessness.

He is married with three children, has a history of football violence and yesterday his stepfather suggested that he would only have been standing up for himself.

But despite being a typical football troublemaker, no one was able to stop him travelling to Euro 2000.