[Football] Your First Taste Of Football Hooliganism

[OzMike]

Chelsea '73, a couple of friends and I were duffed up in Hove Park and had our scarves nicked.
I was 13 and my mates were 14 and 15.
There were 6 Chelsea supporters in the group and in their 20s I would say.
Very brave.

 

[sydney]

Agadir v Tangiers 1985 season.....away team scored to go 0-2 up , the stadium went off , police , army , tear gas , smoke bombs , army with 5 ft long canes just wellying everyone .....nothing came close , only time i ever got scared at the Goldstone was the Arsenal game when they got into the north....wasn't at the west ham game as i think i had a match myself......oh and a stag night in Pompey when they were playing WBA on the sunday afternoon ....had to get through hoards of pilled up baggies fans at pompey station but we were all in fancy dress ....it was comical.

 

[jakarta]

Was a student at Lanchester Polytechnic (Coventry) back in the 1980's and West Ham were playing Coventry, a bunch of WH skinheads wandered through the town centre, found a young asian lad (not difficult in Coventry) and beat the shit out of him in full view of everyone.

Sadly I was neither hard nor brave enough to do anything except get away from the scene.

 

[sams dad]

What year was that then
Regards
DF

1972.
There was a lot of bad feeling between Luton and Brighton around that time.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

My first ever game (home) vs Cardiff in the last season at the Goldstone.

5 of us (14 years old)were attacked by a a group of Cardiff fans, with the stand out being a fat bloke with a yellow jacket. Had it in my head a few seasons later when I was 19 that we would repay the favour at their place on the notion he seems the type to wear the same clothes for years, alas!

In more recent years Carlisle away, where some locals took exception to us taking over their pub (grasshopper I think) and they made it difficult during our walk back to the station.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[el punal]

1972.
There was a lot of bad feeling between Luton and Brighton around that time.

In 1969 (I think that was the year) didn’t a load of Brighton fans cause trouble at Kenilworth Road and burned down Luton’s supporters’ club hut? Didn’t improve the appearance of the ground though.

 

[The Optimist]

Thankfully I’ve had very little first hand experience of hooliganism. I’ve watched Brighton regularly home and away from the late 80’s onwards. It does seem a theme of this thread that most incidents were from the 70s or early 80s. A clear sign of progression?

 

[wellquickwoody]

Guessing at 76/77, Fulham at home, I was about 10 years old. At the junction of Fonthill Road & Newtown Road. Post match, walking back to the car with my uncle, a roar went up, the crowd began to move in opposite directions to open up a space in which men were fighting. Then the police arrived, with horses, and chaos ensued. Both terrifying and exhilarating.

And their began my experience of football trouble. It was not good, it was not clever, but that era going into my teens and then on to my twenties shaped how I saw football. It was adversarial, it was rivalry, it was what you did on a Saturday. I was not a hardcore hooligan, far from it, but Saturday’s were tribal, what you looked forward to all week long, a chance to lord it over the opposition (players or fans).

It was also something that your parents did not get involved in, it was for young people (or so we thought).iIt gave a reason to learn your independence by travelling and watching your team. It taught you to look out for both yourself and your mates.

Unfortunately it also tainted you for life. Modern football seems rather dull in comparison.

 

[Norman Potting]

Bit boring but I have not witnessed anything particularly dreadful when following the Albion.

However. Mid '80's saw a very rare trip to an away game with a few friends - v Wimbledon at Plough Lane midweek. Dismal game, lost 1 - 0. Walking back to the car a small group of young Wimbledon fans were doing their best to be hard. One of them was "giving it large" and invited the Albion fans to "stand and fight, it's now or never".

Striding toward us were two very large members of Surrey Constabulary. The Albion fans politely parted like the Red Sea and without breaking stride the two policeman each took an arm and lifted him off the ground - his legs were going like Wile E Coyote when he had just gone off a cliff. The largest copper then uttered into the oiks ear a phrase that I thought only existed in "Sweeney" scripts "you're fuc*in nicked son!

 

[El Presidente]

If my memory is correct, that game at Oldham in 86 was a cold one with sleet throughout the game
Went up on the train,when we got off the train at Manchester Victoria after the game there was a mass of steam walking down the platform, great days
Regards
DF

TBF PPF I cold day in Oldham with sleet doesn't narrow the days down very much. Checking the records in 1986 we played them in September at Boundary Park so you are probably right in terms of the weather.

 

[El Presidente]

Gillingham away 1976/77, we won 1-0 with a goal from Ian Mellor. I vaguely remember a couple of 'crews' from other teams being at the match before and after it took place to add to the total mayhem.

There were scenes.

They were marvelous.

 

[El Presidente]

Perhaps I shouldn't of opened this thread.

So subtle, superb!

 

[Mo Gosfield]

In 1969 (I think that was the year) didn’t a load of Brighton fans cause trouble at Kenilworth Road and burned down Luton’s supporters’ club hut? Didn’t improve the appearance of the ground though.

That's right...69/70 season. Arrived at Luton to hear sirens everywhere and mounted police all over the place. Around the ground was terrible. Cars overturned and set alight. Club hut on fire. Gangs roaming looking for trouble. Noise of fights breaking out. Went through turnstiles to find we were in a non-segregated section. Attacked. Punches flying. Horrible day. Horrible atmosphere. Eye opening experience for a young lad and my first real taste of football hooliganism.
The decade that followed was one long catalogue of violence in football. The norm rather than the occasional.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Brighton V Bournemouth early in the 70s on Boxing day loads of arrests in the ground. Probably many others around or before that time but I guess that sticks out as does a villa game that year.

the roughest were two games in 1975 at Burnley with them playing Blackburn and Liverpool..

 

[Pogue Mahone]

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/simon-dobbin-full-story-brutal-3244018

"The attack left him permanently brain damaged and he isn't able to walk, talk or control his movements."
Cowardly C**ts the lot of them. I can't find words shit enough to describe exactly how I feel about all those c**ts.

And another coward, [MENTION=11191]Pretty pink fairy[/MENTION], is invited to defend this.

On you go, son. Let's hear it.

He doesn't give the tiniest shit.

I put a thread on when this happened five years ago. I've just found it. For how much he cares, read his responses from back then,

https://www.northstandchat.com/show...for-his-life-after-being-attacked-in-Southend

 

[Surf's Up]

I was at the Milwall v Ipswich FA cup game in March 1978....it was total carnage.

 

[Surf's Up]

This report tells the story
www.eadt.co.uk
Web results
Violence erupts at The Den | Ipswich Town FC and Suffolk & Essex Sport

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

He doesn't give the tiniest shit.

I put a thread on when this happened five years ago. I've just found it. For how much he cares, read his responses from back then,

https://www.northstandchat.com/show...for-his-life-after-being-attacked-in-Southend

As I'm sure you appreciate, I wasn't expecting a reply. I wouldn't have read it in any case. It just seems like a good thing to call him out on a regular basis.

Not replying sensibly to any direct question* is the hallmark of a troll. Who knew?

Thanks for the link, anyway

*unless it is 'do you remember that game/fight?' - why do people still feed the fool? . It beggars belief to see the likes of [MENTION=31]El Presidente[/MENTION] having matey chats with him. On a par with having chats about young pop fans of the late 60s with Jonathan King

 

[Official Old Man]

Got a smack in the mooey, first game of the season in Div 1 against Arsenal. I was 14 at the time and My old man and me were in the chicken run right next to the herd. My Nan ( god bless her) lives in Sackville Rd, so my old man naively said we walk back around through the Arsenal lot. Wrong move.
I had a blue and white scarf on and some pissed up gooner smacked me right in the gob and split my lip. We laughed about it when we got through it, probably nervously.

Being around in the 70's hooliganism was just an accepted thing at away games. But in reply to your post, for some unknown reason I smacked a gooner on the chin who was stood in 'my spot' on the East terrace at that game. Only time I've hit anyone. Hope it was the guy that smacked you.

 

[GREASED WEASEL]

. Cars overturned and set alight..

Malcolm MacDonald's,or so the story goes