Service Crew: The Inside Story of Leeds United's Hooligan Gangs

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About 100 yards away we could see thirty or forty ‘scufflers’ milling about and the chief inspector decided that a charge would be appropriate. We formed into a line, drew our pegs and, with a blood-curdling cry, off we went. Hewitson, D. (2008) The Liverpool Boys Are in Town: The Birth of Terrace Culture (Liverpool: Bluecoat Press). Smaller’ clubs, ostensibly without well know firms, have often been covered in these texts. In particular, the Brimson brothers Dougie and Eddy have contributed numerous hit and tell accounts, initially about Watford but eventually over the years on British football hooliganism in general (Brimson and Brimson, 1996a, 1996b, 1997, 1998, Dougie Brimson, 1998a, 2003, 2006, 2007, and Eddie Brimson, 1998b, 2001). Dougie Brimson has denied that his, and his brother’s, books fall, properly, into the specific football hooligan memoir genre:

Redhead, S. (2004c) ‘Hit and Tell: A Review Essay on the Soccer Hooligan Memoir’, Soccer and Society. Vol 5 No 3.They thought us coming along was just going to create trouble, and they both went out of their way at first to say we were troublemakers.”

Redhead, S. (2008b) ‘Firms, Crews and Soccer Thugs: The Slight Return of Football Hooligan Subcultures’ in Young, K. and Atkinson, M. (eds) Tribal Play: Subcultural Journeys Through Sport. (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol 4) (Bradford: JAI, Emerald). The ‘hit and tell’ football hooligan literature has been a surprising commercial success over a number of years. Pete Walsh of Milo Books, publisher of Guvnors, a Manchester City football hooligan gang memoir, has claimed that ‘ our small expectations’ were exceeded: The CI shouted in true Monty Python fashion: ‘F*** me, right lads, run away,’ and we retraced our charge at about the same speed.

George Best’s double hat-trick & the goalkeeper whose day he ruined

Colin Ward, author of a number of football hooligan books for publishers like Mainstream, has argued that he stopped when he realised that ‘he was not making any money out of it’. As Ward has put it, ex-football hooligans from Britain no longer write books but ‘all sit in bars in the Far East…and have a good reminisce’. 33 On the pitch, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Ipswich, Tottenham and Everton won European finals. Six different clubs, including Coventry and Wimbledon, won the FA Cup. Seven different clubs, including Wolves, Norwich, Oxford and Luton, won the League Cup. No one in their right mind would go in halton moor unless you'd been invited. Not sure about IRA being in white horse, how long ago was that? Dont think the old "boss" would have allowed anyone in his pub that wasnt one of his lot, that includes IRA. I think Tony O’Neill had come to know Steve Barnes following Steve’s retirement from Greater Manchester Police. Steve left the force after an operation to remove a brain tumour. Subsequently he was involved in a hospitality business with his father in law, the former Manchester United player Wilf McGuiness. It may well have been through this that he met Tony, who has a travel business around United matches, although obviously they would have recognised each other from Tony’s days as an active hooligan. When I started working on the second of Tony’s books, which I ghost-wrote, he suggested that Steve might be prepared to talk. We met in an Indian restaurant and Steve was very friendly and was happy to reminisce. He was not discussing anything of any current operational sensitivity because he had left the force in 2000, some years earlier, so he talked quite freely. One thing he remarked on was that after his operation, the first people to send him a get well card were the United hooligans. I think it still rankled with Steve that he had not received a similar card from any of his bosses or his colleagues in football intelligence. Without second guessing his motives, perhaps that was at least partly behind him agreeing to talk. From my point of view it was fascinating to hear about the same violent incidents told from two opposing viewpoints. 28 Earlier this year, Leroy Rosenior recalled in his autobiography how he and Paul Parker were greeted with Nazi salutes while visiting Elland Road with Fulham in 1984.

Crabbe, T. (2008) ‘Fishing for Community: England fans at the 2006 FIFA World Cup’, Soccer and Society. Vol 9 No 3. Off the pitch, supporters were defining casual culture and style, while footage of oceans of fans toing and froing on the terraces in hysteria remains exhilarating to this day. Chatterton, P. and Hollands, R. (2003) Urban Nightscapes: Youth Cultures, Pleasure Spaces and Corporate Power (London: Routledge).

Can you name the top scorer for every Serie A season since 1990?

Hooliganism remained rife, overt racism was common, and the nadir was reached with the tragedies of Heysel, the Valley Parade fire, and Hillsborough.

So it was that I found myself sat in the Railway End stand at St Andrew’s for match briefing, looking around at a few score officers scattered in the seats and thinking that this could be an interesting afternoon." The second book by Steve Cowens (Cowens, 2009) on the Blades Business Crew, BBC 2, was initially published by the author himself. It went so well that it ‘sold out in months’ so he subsequently had it published with John Blake. Cowens has pointed out that the mistakes in it: The pub’s exterior windows were smashed, causing several thousand pounds’ worth of damage. Some injuries were reported, none of them major. For Hough, the historical origins of casual youth culture are deep and detectable, and required the football hooligan memoir books to set the record straight. As he has argued:the slip inn on a sunday dinner after watching the pub team were they had there own football crew. great memories and happy days. The Zulu Warriors have a fierce rivalry with Aston Villa Hardcore as well as firms from West Ham, Cardiff City, Stoke City, Millwall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. The Zulu Warriors also featured in the movie Green Street, alongside the Green Street Elite. Hesmondalgh, D. (2005) ‘Subcultures, Scenes or Tribes: None of the Above’, Journal of Youth Studies. Vol 8 No 1. Theone, J. (2003) The Frontline: an Account of the life of a Football Devotee, Chronicling 37 years following Middlesbrough Football Club (Lytham: Milo) There are several events throughout history which became high profile events and they can all be found below: