LONDON – British authorities vowed Wednesday to clamp down hard on hooligans following “large-scale” violence at a London derby in some of the country’s worst football-related thuggery in years.
A 44-year-old man was stabbed in the chest and two others were treated for non life-threatening injuries as fighting flared before, during and after Tuesday’s English League Cup match between bitter rivals West Ham and Millwall.
In scenes recalling the dark days of English football hooliganism, West Ham fans repeatedly invaded the pitch inside the Hammers’ Upton Park stadium, interrupting the match as police and stewards battled to remove them.
More than 200 riot police and 20 police on horseback struggled to contain the violence outside the stadium as running battles rampaged in the streets around the east London ground.
Bricks and bottles were among the missiles hurled and small fires were lit during hours of violent scenes. Television pictures showed fans bleeding from head wounds.
“Anyone who thinks that thuggery has any place in modern-day football is living in the dark ages,” said Home Secretary Alan Johnson who branded the violence “disgraceful”.
London’s Metropolitan Police, which made 13 arrests, said the violence was “large-scale” and appeared to have been pre-meditated. “It looks like there has been some planned trouble from fans,” a spokesman said.
“We will be reviewing all the events, looking at CCTV both inside and outside the ground to identify offences and offenders.”
The incidents were a throwback to the bad old days of English football in the 1970s and 1980s, when matches were frequently scarred by fighting between rival fans.
“It was mad …It was real hatred you could feel,” one the 33-year-old man who attended the match told AFP, asking not be identified.
While Britain was once notorious for football violence, outbreaks are now rare. Close security camera coverage at grounds plus heavy punishments for those caught now means violence within stadiums has been all but eradicated.
Rather than flaring up inside the ground, hooliganism is now largely organised by rival gangs well in advance and away from the match.
Football Association spokesman Adrian Bevington told BBC radio: “We have to make sure that the individuals concerned face such tough actions that they can’t go to football again.
“We all want a big atmosphere at matches — that’s part of football, part of the passion.
“However, we also want to make sure it’s a safe environment to watch games and we’ve just spent the best part of 20 years working towards that.”
England’s 2018 World Cup bid team and British Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe also condemned the hooligans.
West Ham won 3-1 after extra time in the first match between the clubs for four years. The Hammers are in the top-tier Premier League while Millwall are in League One, the third tier.
The bitter enmity between Millwall and West Ham goes back decades, though they have only met 24 times since 1930 in the main competitions, with the Hammers usually in a higher division than the Lions.
Both sides drew their fan base from the London’s docklands and the rivalry continued despite the Lions’ move from the Millwall area across the River Thames to south London in 1910.
Both clubs threatened life bans for anyone involved in the violence.
The east London neighbourhood where Tuesday’s trouble broke out is less than three kilometres from the site of the main stadium being constructed for the 2012 Olympics.
– AFP