Hooliganism: Football's Ugly Tradition
The Football Association has set a deadline that gives West Ham United and Millwall until Monday, 19 October, to respond to charges made after crowd disturbances marred the Carling Cup match between the two sides at the end of August.
Though such high-profile disturbances are rare these days, both clubs have had problems with hooliganism in the past, as Panorama discovered when it filmed with Millwall in 1977.
West Ham United fans like to claim that . That the two England goal scorers - Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters - and captain Bobby Moore played for West Ham at the time gives some credence to the tongue-in-cheek claim.
They have had relegations and last minute Cup Final agonies of late but the point stands - have a legacy. They have a pedigree.
on the other hand have generally played outside the top flight and - odd glory aside such as their run to the 2004 FA Cup Final - they have never enjoyed sustained success.
One area where Millwall do match West Ham though is when it comes to hooliganism.
When it comes to their hooligan support, Millwall and West Ham are pretty much peerless - they are Premier League contenders.
In the dark days of the 1970s Millwall's hooligan support was legendary. In the 1980s West Ham's 'Inter City Firm' continued the tradition.
Despite this, the after August's Carling Cup shocked many who thought that hooliganism had largely been consigned to the past.
A past that, in 1977, saw Panorama film with Millwall and some of the club's notorious hooligans in for the film . The programme took its name from some of the supporter 'firms' Panorama filmed with.
Millwall supporters claim their violent reputation is undeserved, that they are no worse than any other club and any trouble associated with the club is caused by a small minority.
Back in 1977, Panorama applauded Millwall's openness as the only club to welcome the cameras in to film what was a widespread problem at the time.
That open access may have backfired somewhat as the film has achieved a small-scale cult status in the intervening years, specifically some of its more unsavoury characters like 'Harry the Dog' and 'Bobby the Wolf'. You can make up your own mind here:
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At least 40 hooligan-related memoirs pack bookstore shelves and the topic still fascinates online chatroom users. There has been a spate of movies on the subject of late, including , , .
The issue of hooliganism also featured in a prominent story line on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ soap in late 2007, sparking controversy of its own.
All of these tap into a sense of nostalgia for a game long gone - football as it was before the rise of the Premier League, all-seater grounds and £50 tickets.
Even though , it is on a drastically smaller scale, which is perhaps why events at Upton Park seemed .
And why the Football Association are intent that the doesn't mark a resurgence comparable with the hooligans' heydays.
Comment number 1.
At 18th Oct 2009, Mathna wrote:As a football fan old enough to remember the bad old hooligan days of the 70s and 80s I find the growing trend of nostalgia for those days promulgated by films such as Green Lane, The Football Factory and The Firm as cynical at best a repulsive at worst.
Football hooligans were violent, usually racist and people with so little going on in their lives that the only way they could find any expression was in cowardly acts of mass violence usually on smaller groups or individuals.
There is nothing brave or "cool" about such people, they are to be loathed and, to a small degree, pitied.
I don't want to see any more licence payers' money wasted on any discussion of these people, leave them to history and let them rot in hell.
Move on.
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Comment number 2.
At 18th Oct 2009, Colsyboy wrote:Green Lane?
I think you'll find it's Green Street.
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Comment number 3.
At 18th Oct 2009, Mathna wrote:Sorry I should have just said "films for cretins I watched once and sent back". I don't really care what this garbage is called..
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Comment number 4.
At 19th Oct 2009, Steelroundhead wrote:It must be said that mixing football and alcohol is a recipe for disaster! that is not to blame booze for the mindless idiots who go to matches looking for any excuse to cause trouble, they don't need to drink to incite trouble, now who are these people? well some are from ordinary backgrounds, some are from well off area's of society and should know better, their apparent motive is to be part of the tribal culture that is obviously still very much to the forefront of the simple minds of people who frankly have not grown up and need to show there immaturity by pack mentality and the rule of force, those of us who have no desire to cause trouble have had to endure these morons spoiling our social events and the streets of our cities for too long! the courts seem to feel that we should feel sorry for them because of their lack of advantages,we are way past the stage of tolerating their behaviour I feel,just think how nice it would be to be free of this continuous problem, why should the majority have to suffer because of these comparatively few,the human rights of the decent people should come first and not be used has an excuse to cover up the crimes of those who do not wish or care about their actions, if we do not face up to this we face the possible breakdown of all that we have gone through to reach the present society!
we may be there already because this seems pretty much in the news all the time now,we need to get this sorted as a matter of urgency!
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Comment number 5.
At 19th Oct 2009, OTHofMillwall wrote:The lefty, do gooding attitude on here is the reason why football hooliganism has never been solved.
Carry on believing that it is drunk, meatheads who know nothing about football.
When the chips are down at a club, have a look at who makes up the away following on a Tuesday night away game. It is a mixture of the die hard loyals and a few 'chaps'.
They have always been there for the club. Give me them over the 'new age' Euro '96 mob any day.
It is a problem that will never go away as most just dont understand it.Groups of lads have always clashed.
I am not a hooligan, far from it. As a Millwall fan I am not ashamed of our past. It carves our identity. If it was not for the reputation of our fans we would be another Brentford and Leyton Orient. Travel the world and everyone knows of Millwall.
No One Likes Us, We Dont Care.
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