Millwall and Everton supporters fighting show football violence has died down, but not died out – and it’s driven by ‘hoolifans’
- Hooliganism sells as Millwall’s FA Cup fracas shows the demand voyeurs have for organised fan violence
- Incidents garner millions of views on social media
Footage of Everton and Millwall fans fighting before Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round match in southeast London went quickly viral. Two Everton fans were slashed and both clubs have condemned the trouble, but what could they do when it happened away from the stadium among two groups who wanted trouble and found it, despite the police trying to keep them apart?
These weren’t balloons of England fans throwing bikes into an Amsterdam canal, but lads – “lad” being the usual term hooligans use for themselves – in black and no club colours, with their faces covered, who knew what they were doing.
Millwall’s stadium, The Den, is only a mile across the River Thames from the luxury towers and penthouses of Canary Wharf – but The Den’s environs of rail underpasses, housing estates and a power station make for an intimidating place for away fans.
Most Millwall fans abhor violence, but their “no-one likes us, we don’t care” moniker has long rung true in the predominantly white, working-class area from where they draw their fans. Trouble with Millwall fans is rare, but it’s far from isolated.
Despite the best efforts of their club to change it and the excellent work of the Millwall For All trust, the name Millwall has long evoked hooligan connotations and there will always be a voyeurism around football hooliganism that extends well beyond the hooligans themselves. There are millions who want to see the scenes that “nobody wants to see”.
Hooliganism sells, with witness videos on mainstream news sites which get watched millions of times. For those with a deeper interest, there’s a slew of “hoolifan” literature – books where British football firms give nostalgic accounts of their actions, which rarely saw them lose a fight. They mostly sold in large numbers – when they weren’t being shoplifted. A book on Manchester’s City’s “Guvnors” was the most shoplifted in Manchester.
And now there’s video. Everyone is a potential cameraman and footage is rife of any incident.