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Once went to Anfield with a particularly dopey mate of mine.

I was buying a programme for a workmate's son when a Scouser booted me up the arse.

There was a brief flare up but it didn't really amount to much.

This was watching Burnley, who weren't very well represented fan wise on the day in question. A good idea to keep a low profile.

We watched the game from the paddock, the stand opposite the Kemlyn Road stand. I told my mate than when we got outside he should keep his mouth shut and let me do the talking, because I can mimic a Scouse accent to perfection.

So what happens?

We come out and we're walking down Walton Breck Road when we're approached by a couple of little kids. (This was a well known Scouse ploy at the time. Probably still is.)
The kid asks if either of us has a light.

My dopey mate says in a broad Burnley accent: "I don't smoke."

Kid whistles and about fifty Scousers appeared from a back street. Only thing to do was leg it. They chased us down Walton Breck Road, all the way down Scotland Road, and up to Lime Street Station.

Where a big mob were waiting at the entrance.

Having been there before I was aware that there's a small side entrance on the left. We took this.

Once inside my dopey mate pointed out that were some Burnley fans waiting for the train home and a couple of coppers were on hand, so we should go there.

This was on the right hand side of the station, where the taxis line up.

We got attacked for a solid hour from all directions.

I don't think I've ever been hit so many times in one session. But despite being vastly outnumbered we somehow got through it in one piece with a few bruises.

After that I stuck to watching United, my first love.

Never went to a match with that bloke again. He really was a dangerous liability.

I've got loads of footy stories.

But I'll hand over to somebody else and come back later.

Regards

Skoob.

Having read rather interesting and nostalgic pieces from Duncan and Skoob on the other forum, I thpought it would be a good idea to start a separate thread solely for musings on the forgotten art of kicking-someone's-fucking-head-in.

I'm sure there must be a few ex-football thugs on here, and quite a few tales worth telling. I, myslef, have a good few to tell.

At the moment though, I can't, because I'm in an ad break during Blue Velvet, one of my favourite films. I'll do some later, or maybe tomorrow. Now fuck off, or I'll do ya.

My favorite football violence (okay, yes, it's American football) came in a Dallas Cowboy game from 20+ years ago.

SOmeone on the opposing team made Randy White mad (Randy was an all pro defensive linemanand was one of the biggest and strongest men in football). Anyway, Randy grabbed the offendor by the facemask, ripped the guy's helmet off, and then started to beat him with his own helmet.

When the referees broke up the fight, Randy punted the guys helmet across the field and then refused to go and get it.

Needless to say, the "Manster" (he was called that because he was supposed to be half man and half monster) got kicked out of the game.

Just shows you: Don't mess with Texas...or Texans.

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Quote: Monkey Woods

Having read rather interesting and nostalgic pieces from Duncan and Skoob on the other forum, I thpought it would be a good idea to start a separate thread solely for musings on the forgotten art of kicking-someone's-fucking-head-in.

I'm sure there must be a few ex-football thugs on here, and quite a few tales worth telling. I, myslef, have a good few to tell.

At the moment though, I can't, because I'm in an ad break during Blue Velvet, one of my favourite films. I'll do some later, or maybe tomorrow. Now fuck off, or I'll do ya.

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Used to storm the Clock End at Highbury and fuck the Gunner scum as a proud ex-cockney Red should do!

Once (like over 30 years ago) I went to a West Ham v Man U match at Upton Park. The home team lost 3-0. Going home on the tube the West Ham supporters outnumbered us - ie me and some rabid nutter Man U supporters I'd gone to see the match with - about 25 to 1.

Suddenly someone lit a banger/chinese firecracker and threw it down the carriage over the heads of the largely drunken hoi polloi. But the window at the end of the carriage was open and it landed somewhere in between carriages.

When we got to Mile End station dozens of cops boarded the train, frogmarched everyone out on the platform and made everybody lie face down on the platform while they searched for weapons/ammo/incendiaries etc.

"Ahem (I said) you can't do this sort of thing, chaps, this is England blah blah blah and I am the lawyer who's just successfully defended one of your Met commanders on GBH charges viz a distressing incident at the Grunwicks (a notable picketing standoff)."

"Shut your f***ing legal gob or I'll kick it in" was the general gist of the reply.

Suddenly one of the tethered police dogs sprang from its handler and went straight for the throat of the PC haranguing me!

And then at least two other police Alsatians went ballistic, joining in frenetic barking and going apeshit - like in solidarity with Dog No 1.

The ensuing fracas saw the cops try to deal with the canine fiasco as loads of the supine footie supporters got up & legged it out of the station.

The incident made the Mile End Courier the following week.

QM - You're a red!

You kept that quiet!

Not really all that surprising.

Class attracts class.

Erm... apart from me.

ICF - Warwick Road. And? We never moved.

Tottenham?

Didn't budge.

Chelsea - joke.

Liverpool - hurl a beer crate at me and see if I care. See if I do a runner.

Heart Of Midlothian - pull a blade on me and I'll just keep beating you so you can't use it.

Football violence?

It was shit.

Regards

Skoob.

It wasn't all about nastiness either.

I once saw an Everton fan, who was with his wife and two daughters, get punched in the face. His glasses shattered badly cutting his eyebrow.

A friend I was with, and I, fended the baying mob off and accompanied the man, his wife and two daughters to the station. The poor kids were petrified.

We got them back to the train without further incident. They weren't hooligans. They didn't deserve that.

On another occasion - this was at Turf Moor - I saw a Newcastle United fan on the wrong end of a serious kicking. He was unconscious on the ground. His loose change and various bits of paper had been battered out of him and were lying on the ground.

A helpful citizen whose identity I don't know to this day helped me to put the guy's stuff back in his pockets. We managed to get him back on his feet between us, and helped him back to his bus.

When we approached the Newcastle fans coach park (Fulledge Recreation Ground) the Newcastle fans were bristling, because they'd had a bit of a tough time.

When they realised that me and this other guy were just trying to help, they mellowed. We sat and shared a cigarette with them.

We parted as friends.

The football violence thing had two faces. If you were really into it, you'd never attack a'civilian' That would have just been wrong. You fought with the guys that were up for it.

So many stories...

Regards

Skoob.

Blackpool v Rochdale 1984 - We were the away fans and we outnumbered them 2 -1 - after the game a massive riot - my mate 'Tubby' pulled some guy of his moped and twatted him. Rochdale fans all ran - so we headed into Manchester looking for United fans who had been playing Arsenal I think - about 100 of us - could not find any so went to Preston and waited for them to come back from Torquay - turned out only about 15 of them - families, so we went back to Blackpool and fought with anyone Scottish.

Blackpool v Bury - same era - we took 3000 and the crowd was 4500 - they tried to pen us in after the game but we took down the wall and threw bricks through windows near the ground - mounted copper hit me with a truncheon!

Porstmouth v Southampton - Waited for the scummers after the game - they ran - but came back later that night - massive fight on Southsea Seafront.

Portsmouth v Derby - Some Derby fan on the bus (they had one 1-0 I think) got off Bus and undid his jacket and showed of his Derby top - unluckily for him we were near a traffic light.......

Portsmouth v Oxford - I was in the pub (Shepherds Crook) about midday - in walks three Oxford fans and they turn the TV over - I turn it back over - next thing half the pub hurl pint glasses at them.

England v Ireland - Match abandoned - I was there - no trouble after game.

England v Holland final group match of Euro 94 I think - beat them 4-1 - went to Covent Garden and found a load of cloggies singing - mass brawl.

Rotterdam - 1987 - me and 20 mates walk into the Fusch Bar - home of the Feyernord hard core fans - began chanting - bar man calls the Feyernord boys and we wreck bar and I break jaw of bar man,

So many memories.......

Yes, this is more like it!

Skoob, what do you mean: "Football violence? It was shit"

It wasn't shit; it was great! And of course, as I mentioned in that Millwall Brick article, it wasn't always fighting. In fact, it was usually a lot of posturing and machismo.

A Millwall Brick: How To Make One

But the social development, the camaraderie, the belonging! Ah, yes, I wouldn't have been the disaffected, moaning, complaining wanker that I am today without the experience of football violence.

A NOTE FOR JMAN: There seems to be a basic lack of understanding here, Jman. When we refer to Football Violence in the UK, it's taken for granted that the protagonists are not paid sportsmen. They are usually - but not always - members of the public who claim to follow one of the teams involved in the game.

Also, the violence may not have anything to do with a football game. It is just as likely to take place in a town centre miles fom a football stadium - for example a train station - on any day of the week. It could even happen in your house if one of your brother's mates, who supports a rival team, comes round to see your brother, and he gets a bit lairy.

It's exclusively a 'spectator sport'.


I may compile a book on this if I get enough good stuff. Keep those Bloomfield Road tales coming, Dunc.

J-Man,

Couldn't find footage of helmet punting, which would have been awesome! Did find this:

Tough Man Competition, NFC vs AFC

Randy White vs Joe Klecko.

KO Randy White in 2nd Round

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aSTzOSBRy4&feature=related

Yes'r... Don't mess with Texans.

Enjoy!!

SFO

Arsenal v Manchester United 1992

Arsenal 0 United 1

(Hughes)

Clock End, Highbury.

Got a snide ticket off a tout on Gillespie Road.

Obviously many other reds did too. The police cordoned off an area for United fans down by the corner flag, adjacent to the "official" United section.

As the whistle goes for full time a mass of Arsenal come steaming down the terraces at us. The old bill are panicking.

I'm standing next to some Greek guy. I told him to stand. No backing off here, that's a no-no. He stands.

This swarm of Arsenal come flooding down the terraces at us. The old bill bottle it. We stand our ground and this wave of Arsenal Gooner boys stops dead in its tracks.

There's a bit of handbags - we were outnumbered by about 50-1 but they weren't really up for it. Much posturing and what have you then the old bill arrive in force.

They herded us into the "official" United section, where we were soundly cheered by our fellow reds for being so game. We gave not one inch of ground despite overwhelming odds.

After the game, Waterloo station. Train down to Pompey to see my eldest son. Go to a party in Rowner, Gosport. This woman was there who'd previously been just a friend. We talked in the kitchen. I kissed her.

The following year we moved in together. We finally married two years ago after I proposed to her on the Ponte Vechio in Florence.

Mr and Mrs Skoob remain a happily married couple.

Now that was a memorable day.

Skoob.

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Quote: Jaggedone

I proposed to her on the Ponte Vechio in Florence.

You old romantic!

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Welcome home JO!

Yeah I am an old romantic (and that is true. I did propose to her on the Ponte Vechio. In Firenze, as they call it.)

When I wasn't, as Monkey Woods so succinctly puts it "kicking somebody's fucking head in" I was a proper culture buff.

I've got to do more of these on this thread. I don't think I was such a badass as Duncan, but I got my fair share in.

Regards

Skoob.

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Quote: The San Francisco Onion

J-Man,

Couldn't find footage of helmet punting, which would have been awesome! Did find this:

Tough Man Competition, NFC vs AFC

Randy White vs Joe Klecko.

KO Randy White in 2nd Round

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aSTzOSBRy4&feature=related

Yes'r... Don't mess with Texans.

Enjoy!!

SFO

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SFO,

I used to be a big Dallas Cowboy fan back in the days of Tom Landry and Roger Staubach (when they actually had players with morals and ethics).

I still cheer for them, but am not the rabid fan under the current owner and coach (and with the prison cell of degenerate players).

About the time of the last strike or collective bargaining agreement or some other nonsense, I turned more to college football. The games are better and players are trying to win more for school pride than for the almighty dollar.

I proposed to her on the Ponte Vechio in Florence.

You old romantic!

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Quote: Jaggedone

I proposed to her on the Ponte Vechio in Florence.

You old romantic!

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Sorry guys, not my mistake, double whammy!

Thanks Skoob for you greetings, as for JP over there in the US, what the fuck does he know about footy hooligans!!!!

Their balls are all the wrong shape!

Wimbledon v Manchester United.

Selhurst Park, 1993.

Last game of the season.

This was the first big game that Mrs Skoob ever went to.

In a pub (for a change) before the match. The pub was drunk dry. Not a bottle, not a shot, not a draught beer to be had.

Got tickets off a tout I knew from back in Manchester.

Inside Selhurst Park, Mrs and I separated by fence.

United fan scaling floodlight pylon.

"Going up going up going up!" United fans sang as a copper went in pursuit. The kid just climbed higher and the cop bottled it.

Some serious overcrowding going on. Memories of Hillsborough. Police not letting anybody move, despite protestations and the fact that there was a lot of sparsely populated terracing beneath us to the right.

It was starting to get dangerous.

Fuck this.

I'm off over the fence.

An obliging United fan lets me use his shoulder to assist me.

"Fucking go for it Linford" he tells me. ( Linford Christie)

Find Mrs Skoob on terraces.

Pete Boyle (a legendary red) streaks on the pitch.

Much madness ensues.

Train back to Victoria station.

A pissed up red swigging from a can singing "Who's the Champions now scum? Who's the Champions now?" to the tune of Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport. (referring to Leeds United)

Train after train after train pulling into Victoria disgorging jubilant reds.

Went for a stroll down the Mall after that. Some United fans offered me a camera and asked me to take a photo of them outside Buckingham Palace.

As I took the photo for them, I said:

"Smile. Say Champions."

Not much violence to report but it was an unforgettable day.

Regards

Skoob.

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Quote: Skoob1999

Wimbledon v Manchester United.

Selhurst Park, 1993.

Last game of the season.

This was the first big game that Mrs Skoob ever went to.

In a pub (for a change) before the match. The pub was drunk dry. Not a bottle, not a shot, not a draught beer to be had.

Got tickets off a tout I knew from back in Manchester.

Inside Selhurst Park, Mrs and I separated by fence.

United fan scaling floodlight pylon.

"Going up going up going up!" United fans sang as a copper went in pursuit. The kid just climbed higher and the cop bottled it.

Some serious overcrowding going on. Memories of Hillsborough. Police not letting anybody move, despite protestations and the fact that there was a lot of sparsely populated terracing beneath us to the right.

It was starting to get dangerous.

Fuck this.

I'm off over the fence.

An obliging United fan lets me use his shoulder to assist me.

"Fucking go for it Linford" he tells me. ( Linford Christie)

Find Mrs Skoob on terraces.

Pete Boyle (a legendary red) streaks on the pitch.

Much madness ensues.

Train back to Victoria station.

A pissed up red swigging from a can singing "Who's the Champions now scum? Who's the Champions now?" to the tune of Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport. (referring to Leeds United)

Train after train after train pulling into Victoria disgorging jubilant reds.

Went for a stroll down the Mall after that. Some United fans offered me a camera and asked me to take a photo of them outside Buckingham Palace.

As I took the photo for them, I said:

"Smile. Say Champions."

Not much violence to report but it was an unforgettable day.

Regards

Skoob.

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Have you been "blued" lately?

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Quote: Jalapenoman

I used to be a big Dallas Cowboy fan back in the days of Tom Landry and Roger Staubach (when they actually had players with morals and ethics).

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Do you remember when QB Steve Pelluer was second in rushing yards to Herschel Walker? I think it was back in '88.

Man, those were tough days to be a Cowboys fan.

SFO

Used to get it all the time JO

City fans telling me that "proper" Mancunians all support City.

Born, Hope Hospital, Salford.

Salford is redder than Moscow.

Proud to carry on that tradition.

Regards

Skoob.

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Quote: The San Francisco Onion

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Quote: Jalapenoman

I used to be a big Dallas Cowboy fan back in the days of Tom Landry and Roger Staubach (when they actually had players with morals and ethics).

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Do you remember when QB Steve Pelluer was second in rushing yards to Herschel Walker? I think it was back in '88.

Man, those were tough days to be a Cowboys fan.

SFO

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Another yank pretending to know about hooligans (must be that crap film!), whatever next, Australian rules "footy" being accepted by the FIFA!

Beam me up Golden Balls "Dicky" Branson or give me a Virgin!

Burnley v Liverpool

1970's

A guy I used to go to college with got badly hurt at the corresponding Anfield fixture. He got japped in Stanley Park.

Somebody walking a dog found him the morning after. Not only had they kicked the shit out of him, they even stripped him of his jeans. Leaving him half naked and unconscious.

Vengeance was required.

When Liverpool visited Turf Moor we decided that they were in for it. For the uninitiated Liverpool have a much bigger fan base than Burnley. We were obviously going to be outnumbered but we didn't really care.

We didn't want to make it obvious that we were looking for trouble, so a bunch of us turned up dressed in suits and shirts.

The Longside, the Burnley 'end' looked more like the kop when we got in.

Everybody knew what they had to do.

We filtered into the middle of them and let rip. A battle royal ensued. Loads of Burnley supporters came in to join us.

A Scouser kicked a young kid in the face so I grabbed the Scouser and smashed his face into a crush barrier.

Next news I have a cop smashing my back with his truncheon.

Sometimes I get pain from that even today.

I have a scar there that I didn't even know existed, until Mrs Skoob told me.

It's just the way things were back then.

It was so hectic I never even knew I was bleeding.

There's more...

Regards

Skoob.

Burnley v Aston Villa

FA Cup

Turf Moor.

1974

Got into a ruck with a Villa fan in one of the entrances at the back of the Longside.

Probably the hardest bastard I ever fought.

I'd hit him, then he'd hit me, and so on.

Nobody was giving in.

This went on for about 20 minutes, non-stop.

Must have looked like something off a comedy sketch show.

Eventually the bizzies swarmed in and broke it up.

I was dizzy, my head was spinning. I think his was too.

If by any chance that Villa fan should ever read this:

I salute you. You were the hardest bastard I ever bumped heads with. Anywhere.

Regards

Skoob.

Burnley?
Alistair Campbell's alma mater.

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Quote: queen mudder

Burnley?
Alistair Campbell's alma mater.

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That's the one QM

I was always United, but as I was living there I went to a lot of games with mates.

Still have a soft spot for them.

Regards

Skoob.

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Quote: The San Francisco Onion

Do you remember when QB Steve Pelluer was second in rushing yards to Herschel Walker? I think it was back in '88.

Man, those were tough days to be a Cowboys fan.

SFO

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Yes, I remember all of the bad years from the end of the Staubach era to the beginning of the Aikman era (when they started improving again.

Danny White was an okay quarterback, not great, but merely okay. I think that he could have been better if they hadn't crushed his ego by putting in Pelleur and Hogeboom and always looking for someone better.

I also remember the year before Dorsett was drafted that Doug Dennison was the leading rusher on the team with less than 800 yards (and Newhouse was second and Staubach third).