Hooligans by Nick Lowles & Andy Nicholls

Author:Nick Lowles & Andy Nicholls [Lowles, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: football, soccer, hooligans, casuals, hooliganism, Gangs, violence
Publisher: Milo Books Ltd
Published: 2011-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

COLCHESTER UNITED

Ground: Layer Road

Firm: Colchester Riot Squad, Barsiders

Rivals: Wycombe, Southend

Police operations: Euston

A military town, Colchester is not unused to drunken squaddies brawling with each other and the locals. There have even been instances of other mobs travelling to Colchester on their way back from Ipswich to have a go at the soldiers, and in 1979 a Stoke City fan was killed there after a brawl in a pub ended up with the landlord blasting him with a shotgun.

The Times reported that Colchester United had been warned about the behaviour of their own fans as far back as 1967. In the Seventies, Colchester hosted several matches against south-east London clubs Crystal Palace and Millwall, which were magnets for trouble. The worst reported incident was during the 1980/81 season, when Millwall thugs ran amok in the town. Eighteen were arrested and extra police were drafted in to cope with running street battles. Millwall also attacked the Wagon and Horses pub on North Hill, The Bay and Say, the Marquis and the George Hotel, before being chased by police to the ground. “At one stage there were more people watching the fighting around the town than there were at the football match,” said a senior police officer.

Things have quietened down with London clubs, though there have been sporadic incidents since. Surprisingly, there has been little hostility over the years with nearby Leyton Orient. “My only recollection of their place was in the early Eighties when a group of Orient followed Colchester back to Liverpool Street and got battered,” recalled one Colchester lad. “About ten years ago Colchester gave it the big one outside a pub on the way back to the station and steamed a few blokes, but then it started getting on top. Three lads were left to get done, including one who was a guest of ours and who got his face carved open.”

At this time the local Evening Gazette also reported clashes with Barnsley, when fighting on the terraces caused the game to be held up for three minutes, and against Reading, when Colchester fans attacked the 50-strong away mob during the game. One disgruntled fan, a Mr Threeman, was quoted in the local paper saying, “This is all getting very annoying, while watching the fighting a lot of us missed the third goal.”

Colchester’s main rivals during this period were fellow Essex club Southend. “The rivalry goes back to the Seventies when I first started going to football,” remembered the Colchester lad. “They always bring loads to us, but they hate us more than we do them. In the mid-to-late Seventies they had the edge, but during the latter part of that decade and the early Eighties, it was us. The first time that comes to mind was 1978, when 70 lads went down on a coach for a Friday night game. The trip became too lively for the driver who promptly fucked off and left them there. Southend were nowhere to be seen that night and a lot of lads had to walk the 20 miles to Chelmsford.

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