Ex/Reformed Football Hooligan wanted for Case Study

[richinspain]

I never got into any trouble. I was the smallest of my mates and would have had trouble swatting a fly in that period. The nearest I ever got to having to at least defend myself was one of the 1-0 wins at Sheffield United. I rarely took a scarf to away games unless it was really cold and I could hide it under my coat. In the euphoria of the victory I forgot to hide the scarf and as we walked to the station someone tapped me on the shoulder. "That's your side of the road over there. I'd get over there pretty quick if I were you". Suffice to say I was over the road in a flash.

Another occasion was at the tree's place. Walking back to the station again Derby fans started running past us. We looked back and saw what looked like a wall of red coming towards us, so obviously we started to run too. After a few yards a policeman told us to stop running. We asked if he was going to stop running with us? He said no, so we kept running 😂. The copper then tried to grab my mate, who jumped over one of those big concrete pipes that was waiting to be laid in the ground. The copper followed him, but misjudged the jump. He tripped on the pipe and fell onto his Crown Jewels. When his colleagues went to his aid we ran off as quick as we could. A bit further down the road a Derby lad had stopped and shouted to his mates " there's only a couple of dozen of them, we can take these!". We later saw him on the football special, covered in blood, shouting at his mates " why didn't you go back, we could have taken them easy" 😂

[RebelScum]

15 hours ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Filmed at the BBG and directed by Mikey Dolenz of The Monkees if memory serves

Both true (used to have footage from Derby home games)... Also, Gary Holton (Wayne in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet) sang the theme tune & Mac Murphy was played by Ken Hutchison who was a Californian police detective in the 1970s 😆.

[Mucker1884]

2 hours ago, Kathcairns said:

Only had one bit of trouble,walking through a churchyard after a game at stoke, early 70's, being a female it never seemed to bother me in them days. Incidentally all my relations are potherbs.

I've just had to double check my assumption re the meaning of that.

I have never heard that term before... certainly not in this context... but I guessed right, so yeah me!  😁👍

[Ram-Alf]

36 minutes ago, richinspain said:

I never got into any trouble. I was the smallest of my mates and would have had trouble swatting a fly in that period. The nearest I ever got to having to at least defend myself was one of the 1-0 wins at Sheffield United. I rarely took a scarf to away games unless it was really cold and I could hide it under my coat. In the euphoria of the victory I forgot to hide the scarf and as we walked to the station someone tapped me on the shoulder. "That's your side of the road over there. I'd get over there pretty quick if I were you". Suffice to say I was over the road in a flash.

Another occasion was at the tree's place. Walking back to the station again Derby fans started running past us. We looked back and saw what looked like a wall of red coming towards us, so obviously we started to run too. After a few yards a policeman told us to stop running. We asked if he was going to stop running with us? He said no, so we kept running 😂. The copper then tried to grab my mate, who jumped over one of those big concrete pipes that was waiting to be laid in the ground. The copper followed him, but misjudged the jump. He tripped on the pipe and fell onto his Crown Jewels. When his colleagues went to his aid we ran off as quick as we could. A bit further down the road a Derby lad had stopped and shouted to his mates " there's only a couple of dozen of them, we can take these!". We later saw him on the football special, covered in blood, shouting at his mates " why didn't you go back, we could have taken them easy" 😂

My 1st "escape" came against Spurs as a 15 year old, I'd stand where the floodlights were at the Vulcan St End right next to the Normanton Stand...a great view of the game and also the shenanigans along the Popside, At the end of the game I was intrigued(nosey)to see where all the fighting was after the game, Derby's main lad in those days was a guy called "Fagin" a guy that always wore a long coat and was a double for Jesus Christ, We got to Harrington St just off Shaftsbury St when we heard the noise from Spurs fans, Fagin held the line then Spurs ran down Harrington St, I was on my toes 😁I never stopped running until I got to TC Harrisons in Normanton🏃‍♂️😁

Fagin disappeared around a year or so later, He was thrown in the River Trent by Trent Bridge by the red dogs, To be replaced by Kev O'Reilly, Phil Clarke, Billy Parker, Freddie Howard, Herbie, Ossie Owen, Acca, Geordie, Larry Lightning, Phil Millward, A few years later I progressed to the back of the Popside...singing "you'll never take the Popside" a few tried...but never did 👍

  

[BatRam]

My previous comment was sarcasm as i think its pure stupidity. Especially anyone that wears stone island clothing thinking theyre hard🤣

But my friend was a hooligan (hes a forest fan), said it was fighting for your club and making a name for yourself or seeing if the opposition were all that they made out to be. He said there was only 2 rules an that was no knives and dont run away. In ripley theres derby and forest fans and he said they used to fight each other all the time but when another bus full of opposition fans stopped off in Ripley the derby and Notts fans would team up 🤣 He also said when he used to go to all the England matches abroad that you was fighting for your country. Its seems daft to me but he said any hooligan would say the same thing. He said he couldnt wait for the weekend and feel the rush of adrenaline and he said that they only would fight with people that wanted to scrap. 

Its all quite primitive from what i understand 🤣

[richinspain]

14 minutes ago, Ram-Alf said:

My 1st "escape" came against Spurs as a 15 year old, I'd stand where the floodlights were at the Vulcan St End right next to the Normanton Stand...a great view of the game and also the shenanigans along the Popside, At the end of the game I was intrigued(nosey)to see where all the fighting was after the game, Derby's main lad in those days was a guy called "Fagin" a guy that always wore a long coat and was a double for Jesus Christ, We got to Harrington St just off Shaftsbury St when we heard the noise from Spurs fans, Fagin held the line then Spurs ran down Harrington St, I was on my toes 😁I never stopped running until I got to TC Harrisons in Normanton🏃‍♂️😁

Fagin disappeared around a year or so later, He was thrown in the River Trent by Trent Bridge by the red dogs, To be replaced by Kev O'Reilly, Phil Clarke, Billy Parker, Freddie Howard, Herbie, Ossie Owen, Acca, Geordie, Larry Lightning, Phil Millward, A few years later I progressed to the back of the Popside...singing "you'll never take the Popside" a few tried...but never did 👍

  

I started out clinging to the same floodlight as a nipper when my dad would take me along with him. I later progressed to a private seat that my dad made for me that slotted into some holes in the wall at the back of the Popside before they built the Lee Stand. When I was tall enough I was either in the season ticket holder's pen on the Popside, or on the corner where the gully started to cut down also on the Popside.

[Kathcairns]

27 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

I've just had to double check my assumption re the meaning of that.

I have never heard that term before... certainly not in this context... but I guessed right, so yeah me!  😁👍

My cousin from near leek is a rams fan ands sits with me. All the different fans who dont like stoke who live in north staffs call them that🤣

[TheHomunculusLives]

I think the 'fighting for your country' mentality adopted by football hooligans is particularly ludicrous, and has done significant damage to England's international reputation. Fighting for your country is something our armed forces do while putting their lives at risk. It has no place in sport.

[BatRam]

12 minutes ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

I think the 'fighting for your country' mentality adopted by football hooligans is particularly ludicrous, and has done significant damage to England's international reputation. Fighting for your country is something our armed forces do while putting their lives at risk. It has no place in sport.

As i said its something we wont understand unless youre a hooligan. i dont like fighting at football. 

[Ram-Alf]

18 minutes ago, TheHomunculusLives said:

I think the 'fighting for your country' mentality adopted by football hooligans is particularly ludicrous, and has done significant damage to England's international reputation. Fighting for your country is something our armed forces do while putting their lives at risk. It has no place in sport.

You may or may not be surprised on how many squaddies were involved in the above, Here's a story I was told by someone who was there, 2 Soldiers went over the border to Holland from Germany to watch a game, After the game they went into a Dutch bar...one where the girls sit on your lap and you pay for their service, They were hit with the bill...extortionate to say the least, They refused to pay and got a good hiding by the doormen, The next weekend 50 squaddies get on the coach and head to the Bar, Beers flowing until it was time to pay, They never paid, The bar was trashed along with the bouncers, The local police did nothing...which was a good idea.  Today I agree with the above in bold, At home imo you were fighting for your territory those who would come to your town/ground and try and take over, When England played over seas it was called "the English disease" by Politicians, Eventually the England fans became the whipping boys for the local police forces...for just being English.

And then you wonder why we finish bottom every year when we enter the Eurovision Song Contest 😉

[Mucker1884]

I'm pretty sure I've regaled my peers on here with this before, but I'll repeat for any newbies out there...

 

My name is Mucker, and I'm a former football hooligan.
There, I said it.  That's the first step, right? 

 

... Last game of the 81/82 season... home to Watford.
Memory says we needed a win to guarantee staying up, they needed a win to stand a chance of finishing top.

 

I'd be 19.  Gobby in awayday numbers maybe, but otherwise wouldn't say boo to a goose!

Walking with a couple of mates (Ayear or so younger, and much less gobby, so I can't claim I got in with the wrong crowd for my defence!), as always, from the bus station to the BBG.  As we turned right onto Douglas St up by Ivy Square, we were immediately confronted by c.850* Watford fans.  The atmosphere immediately became intimidating, and the 3 of us were immediately and fully surrounded.  A few words were exchanged, mainly by their "Gang leader".
This was the point that it suddenly dawned on me that I had only ever been in one fight (at the school gates)... which ended up with me being sparko'd first punch.  Since then... and to this day... I have continually assumed "I can't take a punch"!  It was this very thought that entered my mind, as I stood surrounded, and effectively corralled in.

I truly felt that one punch would flatten me, and remember, we were still in the era where a good shoeing couldn't be dismissed, and let's face it, folk have literally died from a good shoeing!

So I took the brave decision to make the first (physical) move, and made their "ring leader" the target.
...I swung... and missed!  (Turns out, I can't give a punch either!)  He and his mates copied me (swung and missed!), all whilst we simultaneously attempted to scatter, whilst also attempting to keep up the appearance of looking mean and tough!

Then Mariah turned up, and she immediately spewed out 15... count 'em... Fifteen rozzers... who joined us in attempting to look mean and tough, whilst seemingly also scattering in all directions!

The upshot was me, and 3 of the Watford fans were apprehended from this specific tête-à-tête, and after being handcuffed to the roadside railing panel thing for 10 minutes or so, transported via a van to "The Peartree Slammer" (As I like to refer to it as!), fingerprinted, and bunged in a cell for a then indeterminate period of time.

The cell-guy kept me informed on the proceedings on the pitch (He was being nice, as he wanted my evidence to "stick one on the Watford fans, particularly that ring leader"!)

We won 3-2.  (Yeah!)
I was charged and released around 6:30, once the crowds were well on their way home.
The charge was Breach of the peace, or some similar "minor offence".
I made my excuses back home (To the then missus and the Father in law) for being home later than normal, and it appeared at that stage that "I had managed to get away with it".

I believe the Watford ring leader got a stiffer charge (Riotous behaviour, or some such piffle?)

Now, this was the era when Maggie had "Just about had enough", and courts were just starting out making an example of all football hooligans, and stiffing up the sentences.  I was therefore advised to plead guilty to such a minor charge, and keep my fingers crossed.  "Any attempt to plead innocence would almost certainly lead to lengthy court proceedings, national press headlines, and dying in gaol"**

Monday 10am, I was up before the beak.

If I recall, there were about a couple of dozen "of us", in total, from Saturday's all round shenanigans.
(As this was all new to me, I almost shat myself when we had to go down from the pulpit (or whatever it's called) down to the cells.  I honestly thought I'd never taste freedom again, but it turns out it was M'Lady's lunchtime, and she'll dish out the sentencing in an hour or so!  Phew!

I got fined £80 + £30court costs... all at £3 per week!  
I also had my name in print in the DET Naughty boys court column!  If it wasn't for those pesky Paps, I'd have got away with it, and avoided a bollocking from my staunch DET reading father in law, who it turns out, seemingly read every single word of every single column!  Grrr!  

The Hornet yobmeister got something like a £600 fine... and no time to pay! (£600 was a lot of money back then, etc, etc...)
His team took second spot, and promotion.  My team survived relegation, and went on to conquer Europe*** 

 

I have carried the shame ever since, to this day and beyond... but that gobby t*** never bulleh'd me again, yeah!  

 

 

 

Disclaimers:

*By decades old tradition, this number has increased each time I've told the story.  The true and accurate figure was more like "7? Maybe 9 at most!"

** I exaggerated!

*** I lied!  

 

 

 

... And remember kids, do as I say, not as I do... etc, etc...

Edited January 10 by Mucker1884

[GB SPORTS]

2 hours ago, CodnorRam said:

My previous comment was sarcasm as i think its pure stupidity. Especially anyone that wears stone island clothing thinking theyre hard🤣

But my friend was a hooligan (hes a forest fan), said it was fighting for your club and making a name for yourself or seeing if the opposition were all that they made out to be. He said there was only 2 rules an that was no knives and dont run away. In ripley theres derby and forest fans and he said they used to fight each other all the time but when another bus full of opposition fans stopped off in Ripley the derby and Notts fans would team up 🤣 He also said when he used to go to all the England matches abroad that you was fighting for your country. Its seems daft to me but he said any hooligan would say the same thing. He said he couldnt wait for the weekend and feel the rush of adrenaline and he said that they only would fight with people that wanted to scrap. 

Its all quite primitive from what i understand 🤣

The Ripley Derby/Forest lads would go drinking with each other before Derby/Forest games get p****d and then fight each other, it became a bit of a ritual in the 90's 

 

In the 70/80's less so although you knew who each other were

Edited January 10 by I DONT MIND

[BatRam]

2 minutes ago, I DONT MIND said:

The Ripley Derby/Forest lads would go drinking with each other before Derby/Forest games get p****d and then fight each other, it became a bit of a ritual in the 90's 

 

In the 70's less so although you knew who each other were

Im 30 and iv never seen any hooliganism. I still live in ripley/codnor area and its always just banter between derby and forest lot as everyones grown up together.

[GB SPORTS]

Just now, CodnorRam said:

Im 30 and iv never seen any hooliganism. I still live in ripley/codnor area and its always just banter between derby and forest lot as everyones grown up together.

To call what it was as hooliganism is a little strange in this case, it was more like a mates disagreement over anything close to football rivalry and the drink takes over.

 

Punch up matchday buying each other a drink the next. Don't live too far from you even now but i am a Ripley lad born and bred.

[TheHomunculusLives]

2 hours ago, I DONT MIND said:

To call what it was as hooliganism is a little strange in this case, it was more like a mates disagreement over anything close to football rivalry and the drink takes over.

 

Punch up matchday buying each other a drink the next. Don't live too far from you even now but i am a Ripley lad born and bred.

 

Edited January 10 by TheHomunculusLives
replied to wrong poster

[TheHomunculusLives]

2 hours ago, CodnorRam said:

Im 30 and iv never seen any hooliganism. I still live in ripley/codnor area and its always just banter between derby and forest lot as everyones grown up together.

I think it's generally less of an issue with the generations who started following football from the mid 1990s onwards, you've grown up in an era when the hooliganism of the early 70s - early 90s was thankfully largely stamped out. I don't think young men grow up today wanting to have a fight at the football every week in the same way as they did in the past.

[Anag Ram]

I once sneered at a Reading fan. Does that make me a tough guy?

 

[uttoxram75]

5 hours ago, Anag Ram said:

I once sneered at a Reading fan. Does that make me a tough guy?

 

I wouldn't have thought so. I imagine Reading fans have been sneered at by almost everyone they've ever met.

[uttoxram75]

On 09/01/2024 at 18:07, Ellafella said:

It’s all to do with telic- & para-telic meta-motivational states, modified by the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol and/or other drugs and, if you are of the Freudian persuasion as a psychotherapist, being stuck at the point of penis-envy added to a failure to process feelings of maternal warmth, possibly due to an absence of breast-feeding, wherein you are driven to sublimate internalise feelings of inadequacy by subjecting perceived rivals to violence and aggressive verbal abuse. Or summat 🤷‍♂️

I've been trying to fit that into a good old fashioned chant of "You're gonna get your f****** heads kicked in" all day.

[BobdeBilder]

On 10/01/2024 at 10:51, Ram-Alf said:

My 1st "escape" came against Spurs as a 15 year old, I'd stand where the floodlights were at the Vulcan St End right next to the Normanton Stand...a great view of the game and also the shenanigans along the Popside, At the end of the game I was intrigued(nosey)to see where all the fighting was after the game, Derby's main lad in those days was a guy called "Fagin" a guy that always wore a long coat and was a double for Jesus Christ, We got to Harrington St just off Shaftsbury St when we heard the noise from Spurs fans, Fagin held the line then Spurs ran down Harrington St, I was on my toes 😁I never stopped running until I got to TC Harrisons in Normanton🏃‍♂️😁

Fagin disappeared around a year or so later, He was thrown in the River Trent by Trent Bridge by the red dogs, To be replaced by Kev O'Reilly, Phil Clarke, Billy Parker, Freddie Howard, Herbie, Ossie Owen, Acca, Geordie, Larry Lightning, Phil Millward, A few years later I progressed to the back of the Popside...singing "you'll never take the Popside" a few tried...but never did 👍

  

Just wondering if this Phil Clarke and Freddie Howard are the same guys I was at Nightingale Juniors with. If it was, Howard was a gobby little s**** back then but I believe he is dead now.