What were they thinking of?
I have had dozens of e-mails condeming the nature of this TV programme.
The programme seemed to only show the 'blood and thunder' of football violence (hooliganism) during the past three decades, in particular the 70s and 80s.
What about the negative implications of this disorder; those that were injured, lives affected and the trauma evoked?
If you took away the dialogue and added rock music, the programmes appeared like a promo video for potential or current hooligans with the message, 'if you think you're hard now, you should see what we did back then'.
Unfortunate that such a video should be shown just after the problems at Cardiff, 2 days before riots at Millwall and a few weeks away from the World Cup 2002 in Japan and Korea.
I understand that in a few weeks time Panorama are doing a feature on the same subject. Well I think and I hope that they will think before they ACT.
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Millwall vow to ban riot hooligans
03 May, 2002 11:30 BST
By Bill Barclay
LONDON (Reuters) - Millwall will ban for life any supporters found to have been involved in the serious violence following their play-off defeat by Birmingham City, club president Reg Burr says.
Police said 45 officers and three police horses were injured on Thursday evening in clashes with "several hundred" hooligans outside Millwall's New Den Stadium after the home team lost the second leg of their division one promotion play-off semifinal 1-0.
"I can assure you we will do anything we can to identify any troublemakers and the appropriate action will be taken," Burr told BBC radio on Friday. "We will ban them for life."
The south-east London club has worked hard to rid themselves of a reputation for hooliganism established mainly during the 1980s and Thursday's trouble was the worst in English football for many years.
At least 45 police officers and three police horses were injured as riot police came under a hail of missiles including bottles, lumps of concrete and fireworks. Several cars were set on fire in the streets around the stadium.
PAVING SLABS
Chief Superintendent Mike Humphrey, police commander for Millwall, said in a statement: "This is my seventh season as Commander for Millwall and this is the worst yet.
"Sixty people have been arrested over the course of this season for disorder.
"As we have done so before we will be using video footage from this evening to pursue those responsible. Tonight officers had paving slabs, bricks, fireworks and other missiles thrown at them -- all in the name of football. We have been filming and we will find those responsible."
Police said 24 of their 36 mounted police were hurt. Two of the three police horses were seriously injured.
Six officers were taken to hospital but police said their conditions were not believed to be life-threatening.
Seven arrests were made at the match but only three related to the disorder after the game.
The 1,800 Birmingham fans at the match were not involved in the trouble. They were kept inside the stadium after the game before being escorted to waiting coaches.
"I didn't see anything of what went on. I cannot comment on what happened outside the ground," said Burr, a former club chairman.
"Millwall continue to work to improve the quality of the support they have and anybody that misbehaves at Millwall is banned for life.
"Inside the ground the behaviour was impeccable. (Millwall chairman) Theo Paphitis has done a fantastic job at Millwall.
"We've been through difficult times before and I'm certain we'll come out of them again.
UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR
Birmingham majority shareholder David Sullivan told Sky Sports News: "I was horrified and shocked (by the trouble),"
"I was abused and other (Birmingham) directors were abused and attacked.
"Millwall have a severe problem and they do not realise...they have to do more to show their fans how to lose gracefully.
"The majority of Millwall fans are genuine and good-hearted, but there are 500 to a thousand who have a reputation for hostility. It's unacceptable.
"We did not even sell all our tickets for the game because a lot of our supporters did not want to travel there."
Sullivan also said the police made a mistake in not shutting pubs close to the ground before the match.
Millwall must now wait to see whether the English Football Association (FA) decides to punish them following the trouble.
The FA has wide-ranging powers and could fine the club or force them to play future matches behind closed doors.
Violence inside English football stadiums has been on the wane in recent years, although it is still prevalent outside grounds, especially at matches involving clubs outside the premier league.
On Wednesday, there were clashes between police and fans in Cardiff after the home side lost their second division playoff semifinal to Stoke.
In January, there were ugly scenes after an FA Cup match between Cardiff and premier league club Leeds United.
Courtesy of Reuters UK
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