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A history of hooliganism

By Tym Glaser (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-12 11:00

Way back in 1987, as a callow youth (I am just simply callow now), I made the trip from Carnarvon, northern Wales, to Anfield for a mighty showdown between Liverpool and Manchester United.

On a tour bus packed with new-found Welsh pals, we were all reminded not to show the colors of the team we were supporting.

No problem for me, being a Newcastle fan, but some problem for the boyos.

Anyway, in neutral colors, we all entered the famous arena and took the first entrance down to the playing area. Within minutes of squeezing into the terraces, some fans started throwing darts at each other which created a human tide that swept me off my feet and out of the section as people who did not want to score 180 on an opposing fan's forehead got out of there quick smart.

I am not sure what scared me more; sharp projectiles whizzing by my head or the utter helplessness of being picked up as part of a surging mob anyway, that was my first taste of soccer hooliganism.

My second came on the other side of the world nearly a decade later when a valiant Jamaica team lost to Mexico at the Azteca Stadium in a World Cup qualifying match in 1996.

A hardy band of about 30 green-black-and-gold clad fans, who made the trip across the Caribbean Sea, were thoroughly impressed by the Reggae Boyz' pluck in a 2-1 defeat as they got back on the tour bus.

However, as the vehicle pulled out of the stadium, there was one loud thumping sound followed by another and we realized the bus was being pelted by rocks, bottles and whatever else some Mexican fans could find.

We were all well and truly shaken by the time we got back to the hotel.

Mexico had won, they had all but qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France (as did Jamaica eventually), so why attack a tiny group of foreign fans? It made no sense.

But therein lies the conundrum of hooliganism, it never does.

England seems to be at the epicenter of soccer violence and it goes all the way back to 1314 when King Edward II threatened to ban a rough-and-tumble early version of the game as he felt what was happening in an around these events could lead to "social unrest".

About half of a millennium down the track and we had one of our first outbreaks of crowd violence against players when Preston North End beat Aston Villa in a "friendly" in 1885 and the players of both sides were pelted with stones, beaten with sticks, punched and spat upon.

In the mid 20th century, the focus, in most soccer-playing places, turned fans against fans, and that festered until 1985 and the Heysel Stadium disaster which saw 39 Juventus supporters die in a stampede after being charged by Liverpool rivals during a European Championship match.

Fortunately, apart from ritual taunting, Chinese soccer does not have fans fighting. The incidents here seem to be directed at the referees or opposing team buses with the odd player versus player feud thrown in.

That's by no means good, but the Chinese Football Association should be able to get a handle on it by strengthening security at grounds and improving the quality of refereeing.

Let's hope the day will never come when Chinese will fight Chinese on the terraces.

Tym Glaser is a sport copy editor who is all for a good "biff" in Aussie Rules! He can be contacted at tymglaser@hotmail.com.