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The Death Of The Football Casual
Recent years have seen the slow demise of a culture I once loved. Now all we're left with are kids and wannabes. RIP to the Football Casual.
The fact that I was born in the ’80s rather than grew up in the decade meant that I got involved in the football casual scene on tail end of its glory days. Many would say it was over long before I came along, but the scene was still vibrant with lads of all ages involved when I started going, a decent mix of dressing and violence, if significantly scaled down compared to the generation before me.
There have already been an exhaustive amount of essays and studies written on why young lads get together to fight at football, so I’ll save you the psychoanalytic bollocks and come straight in with rule number one: no matter how straight we walk or how we dress ourselves up, we as men are animals, tribal, and be it for pride, sport or survival, we will fight each other. Rule number two is that within those base instincts, that raw aggression and the uncontrolled environment, your body jolts into survival mode and pumps a dose of adrenaline so fiercely through your blood that it creates a rush more intense than any drug I’ve experienced. It’s that feeling which makes it so addictive.
After a few years having the time of my life, touring the country and continent engaging in recreational violence with my mates, I began to see the scene I loved changing. Films like Football Factory and Green Street had been released, and with them came a new generation of ‘casuals’ who I recognised none of myself or my mates in. As far as I knew, if you wanted to knock about with a mob as a youngun you had to show a bit of respect to the older heads, recognise there’s a way of doing things, and above all show that at the very least you’d stand your ground in a row.
With these lads it was solely about emulating a lifestyle they’d seen on screen: wearing the right clothes, using the right words, listening to the right music, toying with the violent aspects but not wanting to get their hands dirty. These boys weren’t from the same stock as the past three decades of casuals in Britain, the football factory had got a new supplier and was knocking out cheap synthetic copies. Cardboard cut-out casuals.
If you don’t believe me, do a Twitter search for ‘casuals’ or ‘awaydays’ on the morning of a match day. You’ll be greeted with hundreds of muppets across the country sporting their spiky hair and Stoney gear, or posing fully goggled up in their Migs. They’ll either be pulling a well’ard face or looking solemnly at their trainers in some grey urban landscape, desperately trying to create a lifestyle they’ve pieced together from books and films. The reality is chaps, football violence isn’t a scene from Kes. Do you think lads in the ’80s had time to take photos of their footwear while some mental Scouser tried to stab them up the arse?
Before I get accused of being a grumpy old bastard longing for days gone by and moaning about the youth of today - I’m still in my twenties. Admitedly I don’t go to football anymore - HMCS and the Football Banning Order Association have decided I’m not responsible enough to go within a mile of any football ground in the country, presumably for fear I might erupt into a frothing rage at the sight of a blue and white scarf and whack a load of pensioners. But what I experienced was that my generation were the last to uphold, or at least try in the face of an ever growing police presence, the core values of the football casual.
For me, the realisation that the game was over came one morning at our local derby. Our rivals had arrived early and got themselves into a boozer off the beaten track. The usual phone calls ensued. Muffled voices, crowds of heads gathering round the blower like a family sat around the wireless for the Queen’s speech. They were over the road.
Drinks slammed down, caps on, single file out the side exit. Look both ways, no old bill. Touch. Across the road and straight in through the double doors we went, waiting for the roar to go up, jacket up, cap down, ready to shield the bottles that I knew were about to come raining down any second…
And nothing.
They got up and ran. Literally ran past us, heads ducked down, and out the door. Teenagers. Kids with frightened looks on their faces. Sorry mate, we don’t want to play any more. Give us our ball back and we can go home.
More…
You see, they thought they were on the phone to their equivalents, the young pretenders like themselves (and believe me we had them the same as everybody did) who’d jump around in the street shouting until the police separated them and they could claim a result for simply being there. When it transpired that they’d actually riled up a sizeable group of twenty-to-forty somethings who were intent on causing damage, and without the salvation of the police escort anywhere around, I saw their faces turn pale.
For me and the majority of mates my age, regardless of club, we got into it because we wanted a row. We were of a different generation to the original 70s and 80s terrace lads, it wasn’t something all the kids in our area were into, there were no running battles of 200 up and down streets on the news every week to excite us, it was very tight and close knit, you were there because you wanted to be there. More often than not you’d wait all day and nothing would happen, but if it did there was no front line to hide behind, no mele to lose yourself in, and a large chance you were going to get a pinch for it in the forthcoming weeks. We knew the risks involved, but like every other like-minded lad up and down the country who bounced out of their front door full of energy on a Saturday morning, we were proud of our area, our team, and each other, and we’d take every opportunity to show it.
Yes we liked to look smart; we queued up in the morning for the latest adidas city series, we spent the equivalent of a Burkina Faso’s GDP on a jacket we had no right to be bowling around in at our age, but the image was always an add-on. Don’t get me wrong, it was important. It told the world you had a bit more about you than the beer bellied lager lout in a replica shirt, it let the opposing lads (and paradoxically for a movement which was born out of the desire to avoid attention, the police) know that you’d arrived and what you were there for, but it wasn’t enough to just stick on an expensive jacket and bowl around calling it on, you had to back it up or come unstuck very quickly.
There were fellas at the football who’d turn up in a pair of Reebok Classics and the same Lacoste polo every game, but would back you to the last man even if, from my own experience, it meant beatings or nickings. Believe me, when you get that sudden jolt in your belly, when you’re outnumbered and it’s about to come on top, I’d rather have one of them next to me than a dozen blokes worried about getting beer on their vintage adidas Pandoras, no matter how smart they look. These days, I’m not so sure the mentality is the same.
But as CCTV footage, police escorts and draconian, civil liberty infringing Section 27/60s became a weekly occurrence, people could get away with calling themselves a football casual without actually having to have had a row in their life. And in a close-knit mob like ours where your liaison copper knows the majority of you on first name terms, nobody’s taking any needless risks to have it with Norwich on a Tuesday night (easier said than done, admittedly).
So what now for the football casual? Is he to become like his Mod cousin, a striking reminder of Britain’s past cultural flair but of no current, social importance? Merely a uniform coupled with a redundant mindset, an instruction manual for an out-of-production lifestyle. Will you find him not in the plastic bowl arenas of modern middle class soccer, but at nationwide conventions, with ageing lads and wide-eyed newbies having a beer and comparing adidas or CP Urban Protection gear? Forgive me if I seem dejected, but I’ve never been one for treading water culturally. When the game’s up, as it now is, move on, leave the past where it is and find a way to express yourself in your own time. After all, wasn’t it that attitude which gave the casuals life in the first place?
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COMMENTS
Good words there mate, see a big truth.
Dead good article. I've never been into the violence myself but it always annoyed me that lads would watch films like Football Factory and start aping the lifestyle and image without any idea of the reality. Either walk the walk or just STFU. Out of interest, who's your team?
what a load of old bollocks
Adidas Pandora you say? Have we met?
Spot on lad
Spot on.
Past cultural flair? Hugely funny! Crowds od yobs hitting each other is cultural flair? Wy dont you travel to a communal riot in India for some real cultural flair. IMHO all these football rowdies were bunch of unemployed thugs who fought to prove their manhood since they couldnt get laid with anything that resembled a human being.
the rise in yoof affecting the causal culture is also down to the literary escapades of some of those involved in it. My club's various ex-hooligans now tuned authors rivalling Dorothy Parker and the Viscious Circle in their caustic observations on modern society. egChapter 26 We wore Sergio Tacchini at Portsmouth in 1983 and had a fight. There were 30 of us and we took a beating but we loved it. Yeah. We did them back at ours Sad individuals who did untold damage to football in this country imho. Still they did wear some nice clothes.
I'm just as passionate about football as you, believe me, but I simply don't go around getting into fights to prove that's the case, or else to prove my masculinity. As someone who enjoys going to the odd game here and there, I can only be thankful that people like yourself are being banned from stadiums. I don't have anything against you personally, but I just feel it's actions like that, and more importantly, attitudes like that, which are ruining our country.
One of the best pieces ever written on the casual scene. I'd say you've captured to mood of many lads with this.
Well written piece, interesting. Never really understood why grown men meet up to fight in the name of football. Would you have gone out looking for mass brawls if it hadn't been in the name of your football teams firm? I suppose its less romantic organising a fight with 40 liked minded chaps in Stoke-on Trent car park.
Won't someone please think of the children?
Sterling read, incredibly insightful last paragraph.
you moan about your civil liberties being infringed then take pride in fighting on the streets, for fun. You fucking piece. If you want a scrap, go to a boxing gym.
hi, this would be good if it had been written in 1991 but not now. it is not a crime to wear stone island now, i was wearing it in 1985 after copying ticket touts from London and i will wear it till 2035. like the brand - looks the best in my humble opinion
Proper nawty read, that. You slags.
Past generations could get away with just about anything if they didn't get collared there and then. If you so much as fart in the wrong direction these days, there's every chance that a bunch of hairy arsed coppers will be kicking your door in at 5am one morning in the near future. Don't think young lads have changed, as you say, it's an innate expression of something primal, they've probably just put their energy into something else.
@wrw: Back to your shed, mate.
True to a point. But you fail to acknowledge the other side of this. There are far too many older people coming online, particularly Facebook, claiming that they were involved BITD, when they clearly do not have a scooby. Their knowledge and understanding of the gear is seriously deficient. Indeed, most of em would feel comfortable in a knackered La Coste polo and a pair of cut price Sambas from TJ Hughes. And their idea of a result is sitting in some obscure boozer getting pissed up for the afternoon, or getting escorted from the coach park to the ground and back again. These "never-have-beens" are far more embarrassing than the "wannabes" that you are analysing in your article. Someone should do a piece about them
As Keith said. adidas Pandora, have we met?
Whatever one thinks about football violence, the penultimate sentance of this article is spot on.
Jack, please do another article explaining 'The Core Values of a Football Casual'. I could do with a good laugh.
"We" certainly didn't queue up outside Size? early hours for any city series reissues, bit sad that imo
A striking reminder of Britain’s past cultural flair? Absolute horse-shit. A bunch of fatties in over-priced gear knocking shite out of each other. Nothing more; nothing less.
This guy has pretty much got it spot on in his article but thankfully its still going, true to a lesser extent nowadays but still here.And these wannabe danny dyers that are now involved in the scene need to fuck of and let the real boys have it..
For us fellas in the 80's,there was always a sense of oneupmanship.Scouting for that obscure piece,you know no one else will have.That entailed jaunts away to the other end of the country and abroad and hangers on were quickly sussed out as most teams/firms were active every week.Now,a click on the net and you can buy whatever you want.The scene has stagnated fashion wise as well as violence wise with 90% of lemmings wearing the same gear which those ITK stopped wearing donkeys years ago.A lot of the youth nowadays seem to be copying the terrace trends abroad........pyro anyone.The individuality has gone.
LOL @ Danny Dyer. Cahnt.
Pandoras is a bit of an in-joke and yes Fat Bloke we have met. Will Facebook you.
I hear the next big thing is taking these pills and darncing to some new electronic music out of the States in warehouses and that apparently all the footy lads all love each other now? Anyone else heard of this scene?
Fucking bang on lad!!!
For once a well written article on the subject, even if written by someone born 30 years too late to know what it was really all about: i.e. what you did, not what you wore.
What a load of crap. I take my young son to games now, so I don't miss those days at all.
Ah, they were days, summer’s that lasted forever, white dog poo, Massimo Otsi jackets for goal posts and thrill of getting opened up in piss stained backstreet of some provincial shit hole all in the name allegiance to small global corporation. I can remember the good old days of rioting down the Goldhawk Road, watching Saturday shoppers and their kids running for cover from the flying bottles and bats, and shop windows went in. Scarfers getting filled in the train to Seven Sisters. Getting a clump because you had the wrong accent when someone asked you the time on Wembley Way. Taking the Clock End and everyone and anyone getting a slap. They were the days. Before our civil liberties were infringed of course...
Very well said nice bit of reading mate, Some of the dressers really do make you chuckle,1- never had a dash in there life.2 - would get slapped about one on one. Alot of it is about numbers but rest a sure i bet you'd prefer 30-50 boys who'll always have your back even if it is against a firm with 100 (40 dressers) keep up the good work lads can't beat getting yourself up for a game
Jack, it was me that came up with the 'Adidas Pandora' almost 10 years ago or so. When eBay started getting daft, the reissues were springing up and people were frothing over Trimm Trabs. Stuck on a forum I couldn't wait for the Pandora reissues and it went from there. Interesting to see it still being mentioned!
started going as a youth,went on to become grimsbys main face ,got to say i,ve never seen us get done or take a step back.top story
core values of a football casual eh,what a load of tosh.keep flapping your arms around in the air mate,you have been living in a dream world. casuals went out in about 85,and you sound like one of the mugs that made us all retire.
Section B
I can't get my head around youngsters of today trying to attach themselves to an irrelevant culture thats been non-existent for 20 years. Instead of desperately clinging onto an outdated culture you were never apart of and never will be apart of - with some delusion of faux nostalgia, why don't you belong to something of the time, something you can tell your kids what 'you' did, what you started, and not spending your lonley friday nights in on internet forums, reading about how much fun your peers had in the Hacienda back in '81 and taking pictures of your 7 pairs of adidas re-issues. Get a grip.
Brightside has nailed it. The irony of this whole piece is that a 20 something lamenting the death of football casual culture of the noughties is a bit like postcard punk complaining that Carnaby Street isn't as good as it was in the 90s. CP Company, Adidas reissues and 'caps on'? You should be on a postcard yourself.
I meant to say 91 but you get the idea.
It stings when something you love and put a lot of effort and money into get's snatched up, re-packaged and sold like it never meant anything. But what still fascinates about mods, rockers, skinheads and casuals is that they where such finite cultural expressions, never really meant for any other time or place. It captures the imagination and, yes, does make some people trip out on nostalgia. And I think that's okay. The brands themselves where taken from other cultures and made to mean something else within the casual culture. Today these same brands might represent some nostalgic nod to casual culture, but really, outside that time in the 70's and 80's when they meant something else, they don't mean anything at all. Businessmen wear surf-brands, teen girls wear hip-hop-brands, dads wear streetwear-brands and it almost never means anything at all. And the Dyer-apes are all over anyway. They'd take on just about anything to hide their lack of personality and originality. I like casual culture and therefore wear some of the brands associated with it. But for me it's just as much about Britain and music and football and pubs and canals and movies and clothes and fish and chips as nostalgia. It's all parts of a whole. Just like casual culture itself.
Dearie me, what a load of old cobblers. No one regrets the passing of the so-called casuals except those copycatting social inadequates themselves.
No football=No Casualism Get out of our world hipsters with beard.
very true too may plastic gangsters
Admittedly the scene is dying. But it's a life style, it's the love of looking smart, having beers with ya pals and seeing whatever comes your way and the odd bit of confrontation, because it does still happen just not as often and not as unorganized. Being a casual isn't just about the ruck on a football day, it's about the whole life it brings with it. But yeah, I agree..the 80s,90s and early 2000s are definitely gone, we can only do our best to keep the clothes, music and it all together. Better than looking like one of these feminine boys in a snapback and a beige chinos.
Fucking bollocks, the casuals were - and always will be - posers who wanted to hang around with the Top Boys to look like they had a fucking cause. Most of 'em couldn't stand their ground in an argument in a ladies' hairdressers, and would cry off home after the first slap with a duster. The Crews were the real Boys, Casuals were nothing.
Football casuals are, and always have been, cunts. Mindless, stupid dicks in shit clothes looking for a punch up. WELL DONE. I hate that this was ever part of football culture in the UK. This hilarious article simply tries to imply that the scene was ever more than a bunch of jobless, feckless twats clubbing together to bring down a great sport. More damage was done to English football by the casual than anything else.And the stuff about getting to the shops early to get the latest Adidas is hysterical - what a bunch of juvenile tossers! Not fans, just dicks.
Culture: either the EVOLVED human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and the distinct ways that people living differently classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively. "Culture" is hardly a word you could use in relation to the violence that is football hooliganism.
Beth. Culture is this instance means the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social group. It's really a waste of everybody's time trying to wade in on an argument with half-baked knee jerk opinions on a topic you don't seem to know much about.
Tom, I know fine well what 'culture' means - I was being 'sarcastic' - something you would appear to know very little of yet you waded in!
Football casuals are, at best, little more than glorified "chavs"..(two sub-cultures which are barely indistinguishable and are very much united in their zeal for mob/herd mentality, the glorification of violence and are often popularized by lary, knuckledragging bellends with a penchant for designer labels who misguidedly believe its ok to attack others who differ fom themselves) This article goes to great lengths to reinforce the idea that hooliganism is some kind of honorable exploit. It's not. It's bullshit endorsed by the socially inadequate. It really is that simple.
Molly. Absolutely categorically wrong.
When people started wearing griffin baldecut jackets, you might as well have ran in the pub shouted chase me chase me ooh you naughty boys. It was game over and bend over.
Violence is for mugs....clothing has evolved not died. End of......
Bunch of violent wankers aren't quite the same as bunch of violent wankers of old? Aw Diddums. You aren't part of British culture, you're a bunch of violent wankers thinking you're 'real men' because you can punch the shit out of some other twat who comes from a different area to you. I'm glad whatever pathetic bollocks you had going on is in decline because, and I think you'll see a pattern emerging here, you're a bunch of violent wankers.
Chavs anyway jim fucking pathetic the lot of em. Want to grow the fuck up its laughable....
Violent folk they were / are, but I like to think that the culture they're part of - and it certainly is a culture, or subculture - is one that demands they reserve their violence for their own kind. Not the random thuggery of the young un today, who are after those minding their own business.
Molly summed it up perfectly: "bullshit endorsed by the socially inadequate" If you're into that clothing (as I and many others are) then great, and check out Umbrella Magazine online. But if you're into charging into pubs to start fights with strangers, then pissing and moaning about your civil liberties, then you're nothing but an embarrassment to the team and area that you claim to be so proud of. And that bellend Danny Dyer can fuck off too.
Society has changed. The circumstances that created the scene in the 80s have gone and anyone trying to re-create for the sake of it needs to get a life. I understand the old lads enjoying a bit of nostalgia but young ones should create their own thing. If it's violence you're after it shouldn't be hard to find. amazingly most of the casuals I knew back in the day weren't interested in a fight unless the Police were there to separate them, at least 90% fell into that category.
Attention seeking whore, ''look at me im a casual' pathetic..
Hooliganism = bunch of social inadequates trying to assert their masculinity. Forgivable in the young but truly pitiful in an adult man. Matt - yep the behaviour of this violent minority pretty much tars (by association) the reputation of more respectablel fans..
I am about the same age as the guy that wrote this piece,i can completely agree with everything he writes and also with some correspondences.This was a very real culture whether you were part of it or not it probably effected you in some way.My problem is this,you sit in a stadium next to little trumped up arseholes that try to create what i would describe as 'ULTRA' style atmosphere.I grew up in an area where you fought almost everyday with rival areas......now i always seen that as the precursor to football violence/firms but the future of this scene has been taken away by kids from private well-to-do housing estates that probably only registers house egging as a crime,wearing there chinos/skinny jeans and river island jackets that have never probably had a fight in there entire lives.Liberal socialists have pretty much made sure that this type of thing wont ever happen again,think about....social unrest leads to sub-cultures and that wont do in todays society hence ridiculously draconian laws being introduced to football.
Good article this, I dont understand the negative comments about the Football Casual movement, you dont seem to get this about the Mods and the Punks they are remembered fondly and in a sense its a similar type of thing. Im not a casual but have a fondness for the clothing, still smart as fuck, so I will always be grateful to a culture that brought the likes of CP Company, Stone Island etc to the "mainstream".
Honestly, who's a 'casual' these days? The dressers have had their day but I can take away with me a love of well made European and British clothing and footwear. Violence? It was never a part of it for me in the 80s and it wasn't for a lot of lads. These days there is such a wide of small manufacturers from all around the globe churning out very nice gear. All easily found with a google search, nothing is hidden or unknown like it was. And that was part of it, being the first with something no one else had. Perhaps that's partly why these days I prefer the labels on the inside and just look for interesting details, nice fabrics and the look. Perhaps I'm just getting on. The movement has had a lasting effect, like the mods that went before it has influenced menswear completely. That's no bad legacy.
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Footy casual culture is still strong in stoke-on-trent, Both Vale an Stoke have massive youth firms sporting causal kit, though some are scared of getting trainers dirty these days.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. Little boys and their toys. Seems to me that these young'ns who only wear the clobber and listen to the right music have simply taken the best parts of something and left behind the most pathetic parts. Progress.
Bobby C blaming everything on 'liberal socialists.' LOL It's pretty funny really as I get the impression that Bobby is most probably another of those far-right (authoritarian) EDL type fuckwit casuals. Casual culture seems to attract the types of right wing arseholes, especially racist / nationalist types. Yeah blame the liberals for your shitty culture dieing you fucking muppet.
You sad wanker.
POO
How can someone born in the 80's comment on terrace culture? You were 3 at best when it was at its height. Stone Island isn't terrace culture. Fila, Borg Elites and ST are.
Born in the 80s...so the earliest the author could have been going with a firm would be around 95? What the fuck does he know about Casuals then? All over by the end of the 80s leaving just the very violent minority to indulge in their back street meets in the middle of nowhere fighting fights that no one knew or gave a fuck about..
The casual is no longer a term just for lads who like a scrap on match day . There are still plenty of them around who love a tear up and put their heart and soul into it to the point of getting locked up for two years at a time . But they are just fucking stupid . Films like the football factory green street etc have spawned two types of casuals . Number 1 the type of people mentioned above who are basically just flogging a dead horse and making a total fool of themselves . And then there are the true casuals of this generation . Lads who like to get dressed in the best gear and go to matches en masse with the shocking intention of just having a good day out with their mates whilst looking cool as fuck at the same time . Ladies and gentlemen I give you the casual connoisseurs .
What a load of bollocks ,the casual culture like any scene has had to evolve ,it's still there as it has been since the early 80s,having been there in the 80s,90s,and the noughties I've seen it change ,granted you don't see chaps bolting around with garms that make you double click , but young and old still keep the scene alive ,the problem is there are to many bods who think there connoisseur and they really ain't .whufc P
Being a 'casual' nowadays is all about posting photos of your outfit on Instagram, letting off smoke bombs, waving your shoes about in the ground, buying expensive socks and using the #AMF hashtag to describe just about everything. In short, it's fucking shit.
I come from Workington, non-league footy. No one scraps down there, the crowds about 400 a game. I just fucking love the casual gear and a few bevvies on a Saturday. Nowt wrong with that.
I wear the gear, I follow my team up and down the country. Nothing better than going an away day, having a few beers in an away pub, walking to the ground and enjoying the match. Why not look sharp doing it? In all my years I have never, and do not plan on, getting into a scrape or a brawl at the football. You want me to feel guilty about that? I am afraid mate you are the sad one and further you keep from a football ground the better. Pathetic.
Marcus, You may wear the gear and you may follow your team around the country, that's fine, but you don't go around calling yourself a hooligan and calling on rows with other teams, therefore this article is not about you. Pathetic cunt.
You're far too young mate, don't make me laugh!!!!!!!!!!You're talking about yourself FFS!
Trangos n Trimm Trabs? Except you we'ren't even there man,born in the 80s , what a joke how can you comment on owt when you're far too young??????Fair enough to those liking their clobber n what not but to start calling people into terrace fashion and saying how you're well past it is pretty sad when you were'nt even born until the 80s!
No one needs to be a hooligan nowadays . What with the explosion of mixed martial arts . If you like a tear up nowadays all you need to do is join a decent gym. But the ones who consider themselves hooligans are all Shitey bastards who couldn't win in a one on one fight .
Great article, well written. If people don't understand the allure of being part of a "gang" (for lack of a better term) then let them criticize football fighting. I have been a graffiti writer in the states for a long time and it is the same type of idea. You try to run the city and other peoples cities. Your presence is important and you often fight on sight. The other crew is recognizable by the way they dress, as are you. Eventually, you begin to recognize other crews by the faces of certain standouts. The comparisons I have drawn have led to a fascination with casual culture, especially since I was born in England and lived there til I was 8. I have been back a couple times as a teen (I am now 35).
These cunts back in the 80's fucked up the whole hip hop culture by nicking the fashion, i remember being asked if i was a hooligan just because i was wearing a Nike tracksuit, this was 84/5 time, no I'm fucking not, cunts!,Now all you have is chav knobs trying to looking hard in the same rubbish and don't they look shit now.
Brilliant read -by the sounds of it we were about the same era. Early 00's. Absolutely spot on for hom things have gone now. Spot on
I have always owned various types of adidas trainers, purely on the basis I have never found other trainers that looked as good with jeans and a polo shirt. Is this allowed? If I go to watch my team wearing a pair of gazelles I'm not expected to have a scrap right?
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To join a football hooligan banter group with a difference then this is the place for you. Lots of great stories from the past encounters with different club lads. Its NOT a hooligan group to arrange violence and NOT for racism or religious and political views. Racism will not be tolerated on my group anyone found doing so will be banned and kicked off the site. Its a well looked after group and issues are soon sorted out by either myself or one of my Admins. This group is growing at a very quick rate now with members now joining from all over the globe. Football hooliganism is taking off in a big way in countries such as Australia and also now in South American countries. Lots of members now joining from these parts of the world to share what they are doing overseas. It may have calmed down over here for now but it just goes to show that the hooligan culture THE ENGLISH DISEASE will never die and never go away. Everyone hates losing especially if your into football in a big way. People fail to understand that the hooligans involved in football are very passionate people and this boils over into violence with other people from the other clubs lads who want to engage in the same manner. People dont understand the football hooligan and just brush everyone that's involved in taking part as SCUM. There's people who wont ever understand F.V as there minds already made up. This group goes to show some of that passion and does also show in some lads that the passion for there club is greater than anything else. So CLICK LINK TO JOIN THE GROUP WHICH HAS IT ALL. ITS BANTER AT ITS BEST. SOME FUNNY SOME SERIOUS but all in all it has brought alot of different people together and also shows sometimes that the FOOTBALL HOOLIGAN HAS RESPECT FOR OTHERS IN TRAGIC EVENTS THAT HAVE HAPPENED AT OTHER FOOTBALL CLUBS. It goes to show that we are all passionate about the same thing love um or hate um the football hooligan is the same as the shirter (NON HOOLIGANS) cause we all love our football clubs and we all love our football. Http://m.facebook.com/groups/414974121861090
Anyone fancy a meat in the bushes?
Far too many middle-class wannabes on here, many of whom describe the horrors of violence but have never taken a punch! Football's very tribal and dedicated- Just because the most dedicated you've ever been is making sure you buy all your trousers from Marks & Spencer doesn't mean you're able to just ignorantly dismiss a culture. To agree with Jack,the violence in football has died down. Although, to disagree with many commentators, Hooliganism didn't 'ruin' football, it's always been a part of it, going back to the turn of the century! Modern adveristing, sponsorships and mega money deals ruined the beautiful game.
Not even 30 yet? Mate, you are the dick you just described. You are the carbon copy, you are the reason why these kids think a coat and clap makes you hard. Writing this fake nostalga is a kin to posting selfies in a Stoney. You plonker. I imagne you've been stabbed up the arse by Scousers a few times.
@Astute Observer: Back in the days when it was just fists and boots, and i am talking the '70's, we didn't give a toss about what we were wearing. For you to say that we thought "Getting a result" was an afternoon in pub and getting escorted to the ground, well back then, and it was before Maggies time, the filth weren't on to it as much as they are now so we could get a proper "result."
So what now for the football casual? Is he to become like his Mod cousin, a striking reminder of Britain’s past cultural flair but of no current, social importance? Merely a uniform coupled with a redundant mindset, an instruction manual for an out-of-production lifestyle. Will you find him not on in the plastic bowl arenas of modern middle class soccer, but at nationwide conventions, with ageing lads and wide-eyed newbies having a beer and comparing adidas or CP Urban Protection gear? This.. from an eye for an eye to an e for an e...we jogged on and invented club culture. Look forward to seeing what the next lot come up with. Forgive me if I seem dejected, but I’ve never been one for treading water culturally. When the game’s up, as it now is, move on, leave the past where it is and find a way to express yourself in your own time. After all, wasn’t it that attitude which gave the casuals life in the first place?
Laughed out loud reading this. Just embarrassing. Fake hardmen and their little mates. I spent 15 years getting in a ring with lads who had trained all their lives to be able to hurt me. That's a rush mate. Winning titles and bettering some of the country's best. That's a rush. Cringing for this nonsense. Absolutely zero respect for this. Men are mostly cowards anyway but this level of covering up shortcomings with pseudo tradition shite is just on another level of pathetic. I'll end it in your time honoured babble....jog on you slag.
Young Jimmy 6 doors up on this comments lark is looking for someone to have sausage sword fights in the bushes,just make sure you wear your mille goggles when you're in combat Jimmy son you don't want some top ranking butcher squirting owt in your eyes lad. On a more serious note i always thought Bb was quite sad.
Sunny casual days.
A very good read . Football becomes a drug to all the young followers then one day it ends .
Ecstasy.End of. The end, And good riddance..
SABOTAGE
