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Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviors perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism typically involves conflict between pseudo-tribes, formed to intimidate and attack supporters of other teams. Certain clubs have long-standing rivalries with other clubs and hooliganism associated with matches between them can be more severe. An example of this is the Devon Derby . Conflict may arise at any point, before, during or after matches and occasionally outside of game situations. Participants often select locations away from stadiums to avoid arrest by the police, but conflict can also erupt spontaneously inside the stadium or in the surrounding streets. In extreme cases, hooligans, police and bystanders have been killed, and riot police have intervened. Hooligan-led violence has been called "aggro" and "bovver".
The Chelsea Headhunters are a notorious English football hooligan firm linked to the London football club Chelsea.
The Zulu Warriors are a football hooligan firm associated with English football club, Birmingham City. The Zulu Warriors were formed in the late 1980s and the name allegedly came from a chant of "Zulu, Zulu" which Manchester City fans aimed at Birmingham in 1982, due to their multicultural following. However, both the "Zulu" chant and the term "Zulu Warriors", in the context of a fan following rather than as an organised gang, were in use from at least the mid 1970s.
The Leeds United Service Crew are a football hooligan firm linked to the English EFL Championship team, Leeds United F.C. The Service Crew were formed in 1974 and are named after the ordinary public service trains that the hooligans would travel on to away matches, rather than the heavily policed, organised football special trains. The Service Crew are one of the most notorious hooligan firms in the history of English football.
The Muckers are a football hooligan firm linked to the football club Blackpool F.C. They take their name from the word mucker, a colloquialism meaning good friend.
Section 5 are a football hooligan firm associated with Championship football club West Bromwich Albion F.C. Whilst Albion have had several other firms since the 1960s, including Clubhouse and the Smethwick Mob, Section 5 is the largest, with activity peaking in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Millwall Bushwackers are a football firm associated with Millwall Football Club. Millwall have a historic association with football hooliganism, which came to prevalence in the 1970s and 1980s, with a firm known originally as F-Troop, eventually becoming more widely known as the Millwall Bushwackers, who were one of the most notorious hooligan gangs in England. On five occasions The Den was closed by the Football Association and the club has received numerous fines for crowd disorder. Millwall's hooligans are regarded by their rivals as amongst the stiffest competition, with Manchester United hooligan Colin Blaney describing them as being amongst the top four firms in his autobiography 'Undesirables', and West Ham hooligan Cass Pennant featuring them on his Top Boys TV YouTube channel, on which their fearsome reputation for violence was described.
The Red Army is a hooligan firm who follow English football club Manchester United. Although today the term Red Army is used mostly to refer to fans of the club in general, the hooligan firm has been one of the largest firms in British football. Firm members – and the firm itself – are sometimes known as the Men in Black, due to the members dressing in all black clothing. In his book Hotshot, Red Army hooligan Harry Gibson states that there are also sub-divisions of the firm known as the Young Munichs, the Inter City Jibbers (ICJ), the M58 Firm and the Moston Rats. In his book Undesirables, Colin Blaney has also stated that the ICJ is dedicated to carrying out acquisitive forms of crime in addition to football hooliganism. He claims that members of the group have been involved in smuggling drugs to Europe and Asia from Latin America and the Caribbean, organizing jail breaks, carrying out armed robberies, travelling overseas to Asia and mainland Europe in order to steal jewellery and committing street robberies. It is the criminal wing of the Red Army.
The MIGs are a football hooligan "firm" associated with the English football club Luton Town, which was originally formed in the 1980s.
The Suicide Squad was an association football hooligan firm linked to Burnley Football Club. The self-imposed title is derived from previous behaviour at away games where the single-minded involvement in violence against overwhelming odds could be described as suicidal. The name became synonymous with the group during the early 1980s.
The South Wales derby is a local derby between Welsh association football clubs Cardiff City and Swansea City. The fixture has been described by The Independent as one of the fiercest rivalries in British football. Although based in Wales, both clubs play in the English football league system and have won English honours: Cardiff the FA Cup in 1927 and Swansea the Football League Cup in 2013.
The 6.57 Crew is an English football hooligan firm and Vigilante group linked to Portsmouth F.C. The name, 6.57 Crew is taken from the time that the Portsmouth to London Waterloo train left Portsmouth and Southsea station. The firm were one of the most active firms in the 1980s.
The Baby Squad is a football hooligan firm linked to Leicester City F.C.
Newcastle Gremlins are a football hooligan firm associated with the English football club, Newcastle United F.C.
Aston Villa Hardcore is a football hooligan firm associated with the Premier League club Aston Villa, based in Birmingham, England.
The 2000 UEFA Cup Final Riots, also known as the Battle of Copenhagen, were a series of riots in City Hall Square, Copenhagen, Denmark between fans of English football team Arsenal and Turkish team Galatasaray around the 2000 UEFA Cup Final on 17 May 2000. Four people were stabbed in the scuffles, which also involved fans from other clubs and were viewed by the media as part of a retaliation for the killing of two Leeds United fans by Galatasaray supporters the month before.
Beginning in at least the 1960s, the United Kingdom gained a reputation worldwide for football hooliganism; the phenomenon was often dubbed the British or English Disease. However, since the 1980s and well into the 1990s the UK government has led a widescale crackdown on football related violence. While football hooliganism has been a growing concern in some continental European countries in recent years, British football fans now tend to have a better reputation abroad. Although reports of British football hooliganism still surface, the instances now tend to occur at pre-arranged locations rather than at the matches themselves.
The Capital City Service (CCS) is a Scottish football hooligan firm associated with Hibernian and active from 1984 when the casual hooligan subculture took off in Scotland. Their roots were in the previous incarnations of hooligans attached to the club and also the wider Edinburgh and surrounding areas gang culture. They are more commonly known in the media and amongst the public as the Hibs Casuals though within the hooligan network they may also be referred to as Hibs boys.
Seaburn Casuals are a football hooligan firm associated with the English football club, Sunderland A.F.C. The group's activity was prominent in the 90s and the early 00s, with the club being involved in some of the most violent incidents in British hooligan history, in what was described as "some of the worst football related fighting ever witnessed in the United Kingdom," and sometimes topping the football arrests table.
References
- ↑ "Running with the 'Naughty Forty'". BBC News. 2002-05-02. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
- 1 2 3 "Reformed Naughty Forty hooligan tells his tale". BBC Sport. 2003. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Hooligans troublespots: Stoke City". BBC News . Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- ↑ "Violence mars weekend sport". BBC News. 29 March 1998.