Perryman - Hooligan wars: causes and effects of football violence

CONTENTS

Hooligan Wars presents a range of answers to what causes football violence and seeks to account for its effects. The writers dont all agree and it isnt the point of this collection to offer one single explanation or solution, because there almost certainly isnt such a thing. Most of the authors are active football fans, but not all of them, because one of the problems with much of what passes for considered comment on this subject is a refusal to put football hooliganism into a broader context.

In developing this book Ive been lucky enough to test out the ideas on a sometimes unsuspecting public. I am grateful to Ian Woods at BSkyB, Jonathan Wills at Carlton TVs London Tonight, Michel Peremans of VRT TV in Belgium, Pete Stevens at BBC Radio London Live, and Adam Gilchrist at British Forces Broadcasting Service in particular for providing me with TV and radio opportunities to put across a fans point of view when Ingerland comes to town. Michael Gove at The Times and David Leigh at The Guardian; Andy Lyons, Editor of When Saturday Comes, Gary Tipp, Editor of Total Football and Jason Cowley, Literary Editor of the New Statesman have all been more than generous with their word counts when my articles on this subject have had a tendency to spill over the agreed limit. In February 2001 I was appointed Research Fellow at The Chelsea School, Brighton University, where staff and students have been extraordinarily forthcoming in helping to challenge, develop and more often than not change how I approached the subject of this book. Stephen Parrott at Birkbeck College continues to invite me to lecture on his Football, Culture and Society summer extra-mural course, where an unrivalled mix of opinions is always guaranteed to lift me from the muddle my word-processor can get me into.

In 1994 I co-founded the self-styled sporting outfitters of intellectual distinction, Philosophy Football with Hugh Tisdale. Sometimes described as a fanzine for the chest the footballing thoughts of Camus, Guevara, Cruyff and others are emblazoned across a 100 per cent cotton top in Hughs stunning designs. Our partnership and friendship has helped me through many a season, not to mention two European Championships and one World Cup. It never ceases to amaze me how a day spent stuffing our T-shirts into bio-degradable plastic envelopes can help stimulate the thought bugs, but somehow it does. One of our ventures which has nothing to do with T-shirts but a lot to do with a patriotism without the prejudice is Raise the Flag. Now acknowledged as an England fans tradition it was my idea and Hughs planning that turned thousands of red and white cards into a fans St George Cross flag whenever England play. Thanks are due to Peta Dee of the FA Commercial Department, the Nationwide Building Society, the England Team Sponsor and Adam Stebbing of Forrest Press for helping to make it happen. The volunteers who lay the cards out on all those seats include Tony Dekanski, Geraldine Ford, Ken Jackson, Nicola Everatt, Paul Jonson as well as many more.

As an active member of englandfans, the official England Supporters Club, I have learnt a lot from the process of seeking to develop a supporters organisation that could make a significant contribution towards a positive England. Fans with whom I have sometimes agreed, sometimes disagreed but always enjoyed the discussion with include Dave Tomlinson, Karen Hutton, Duncan White, Pete Ryan, Mark Dodd, Alan Lee, Mark Raven, Laura Allen, Craig Brewin, Daniel Buckingham, and others too many to mention. Many of these discussions have taken place via e-mail. A massive thank you to all England fans on the London England Fans e-loop. The FA takes a lot of criticism for its dealings with England fans, some of it deserved, some of it not; James Worrall, Alan Barnard, Mark Sudbury, Adrian Bevington, Ian Murphy, Nick Barron are amongst those FA staff who have taken the trouble to listen thanks.

In 2000 the Home Office set up a Working Group on Football Disorder. Having complained bitterly that no England fan representative had been invited to join the Working Groups discussions I was pleasantly surprised not only to be asked to join in but also to see that at least some of the fans input did make a difference. I am grateful to David Bohanan, Kevin Parker and Lord Bassam from the Home Office for the invite, and in particular to the thoughtful contributions that I heard from Billy Bragg, Kevin Miles, Cathy Long, Andy Walsh, Piara Powar, Adam Brown, Tim Crabbe, Ron Hogg and Clifford Stott. I am also grateful to Glyn Ford MEP and Chris Heaton-Harris MEP for asking me to take part in an EU hearing on the problem of football violence.

Dan Murrell played about with a computer and helped to turn Tony Daviss great photograph of a football Id mysteriously asked him to paint black into an amazing image. At Mainstream Publishing Tina Hudson turned all of this into a tremendous cover while Jess Thompson, Alison Provan and Clive Hewat did a grand job on the editorial production side, and Bill Campbell stumped up the advance. Thanks for showing faith Bill, again. Stefan Howald helped me out of my pig-ignorant hole when one author expected me to be able to read German. Andy Smith helped me track down David Shaylers account of being a Boro fan on the run in the fanzine Middlesbrough Supporters South.

The greatest debt of all is to what I like to think of still as the beautiful game. My club team Spurs has been a source of constant, well I cant say joy, not yet anyway, but at least inspiration. And as for England, well the away trips have never been far short of enjoyable, even if the results havent always been all we dreamt of. Philip Cornwall has on more than one occasion proved to be a great travelling companion. At Euro 2000 I was lucky enough to be put up by hosts including Harry Zevenbergen, The Thuburns, Thierry and Helene Lacasse, Peter Slabbynck and Luc Maton, while through the World Cup 2002 qualifying campaign the hospitality of Paavo, Liisa, Heini and Janne Lppnen in Helsinki, Bujar Bashar in Tirana and Claus Melchior in Munich, made football and travel the kind of ideal mix I would wish it to be for everyone a mix that has been made so much more pleasurable for me thanks to the love of Anne Coddington, home and away. Her endless energetic exploration of far-flung markets and shops can sometimes tire me out on matchdays when all I can think of is who will be in the team and when kick-off is, but that scarcely matters, not really. Following England not to mention my entire world (plus or minus the football) just wouldnt be the same without her.

None of the aforementioned can be blamed for what follows. Thats down to me, and the individual contributors. But perhaps out of this untidy combination of conversations, arguments, study, politicking, activism, cheering and despairing a fan culture we can all be proud of will emerge. And you never know it might just coincide with Sven-Goran leading us to some silverware. England dreaming? Yes please.

One observer compared the atmosphere surrounding the England support for the recent match against France as being akin to watching a football match during a Nuremburg rally.

Home Office Working Group on Football Disorder Discussion Paper, October 2000

Travelling to watch England can on occasion be an unpleasant experience, few would deny that. But to compare sitting in the stands at the Stade de France in September 2000 for France versus England to one of Adolf Hitlers choreographed party pieces seems just a tad over the top. But this is how the Home Office Working Group on Football Disorder chose to open its first published deliberations, though thankfully by the time the groups final report was published in March 2001 this particular description of the atmosphere fans generate at an England game had been removed.