Hooliganism: We Won't Stand For It

Over the past decade and a half, English domestic football has reached dizzying heights – both in terms of its popularity and its quality on the pitch. Of course, people still have their gripes. Whenever a player takes a stand over his wages, we always hear a chorus of old-timers pining for that bygone era when the love of the game and loyalty to your club were the only things that mattered. But last night’s ugliness between Millwall and West Ham reminded us that the biggest threat to football isn’t money-grubbing players, owners or even fans… it’s the same menace as always: violence. We cannot – we must not – return to the days when football was played under the specter of hooliganism.

England has done a remarkable job stamping out this dark pestilence. Over the several decades that we’ve been going to football matches we’ve experienced very, very few instances of hooliganism. There was a pitch invasion at Craven Cottage a couple of seasons ago which fortunately ended peacefully. There was another time outside White Hart Lane when we saw Spurs fans hurling projectiles at the Chelsea team bus. And we’ll never forget traveling with a group of England supporters to the 1998 World Cup in France. While we were waiting for our charter to fly us back to Stansted Airport, one of the flight’s passengers who had a bit too much to drink escaped onto the tarmac, hopped on one of those baggage trailers and started driving it around like a fool.

All of these incidents were trifling compared to the more deadly events that grabbed the front pages during the 1980s. But in each personal experience, we sensed first hand how fast the tenuous grip of order and security can slip away in a football stadium. We saw just how easy it can be for a mob of passionate fans to be set off by one silly act of mayhem. It was not a good feeling, and it certainly takes any pleasure out of the game.

With next summer’s World Cup fast approaching, we hope Tuesday night’s violence is what many West Ham and Millwall fans claim it to be: a one-off episode caused by a tiny subsection of idiots and not a sign of a wider, more serious problem reemerging from the deep.

The thin line between excitement and violence.