Steaming In by Colin Ward

Author:Colin Ward [Ward, Colin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471126055
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

6

England Away

I love my country, as do all the travelling football fans, but I can find no excuse for the excesses of some England supporters. A lot of them feel they are on a nationalistic crusade and when they cross the Channel they must tell everyone ‘We won the war’, and ‘Englishmen are superior’. Most travelling England fans also refuse even to try to speak the language of the country they’re in, which tends to make us all appear ignorant. I don’t know whether it is because we are an island race or because English history books are very often biased about our war contribution, but I have lost count of the number of times I have sat in a bar and heard the comment, ‘We bailed these wankers out in the war’. I used to try to argue the point, but now I just sit back and listen.

It is difficult to trace the craze for following England to away matches, but it seems to be all the rage to get a Union Jack, put your club team’s name on it and drape it around the ground so that people back home will see it on TV. What most of the fans do not even realise is that the true flag of England is the flag of St George.

English fans were involved in violent incidents all over Europe during the 1970s. The first time I became aware of large groups of supporters travelling and causing trouble was when England played in Copenhagen in 1978. A Spurs fan I knew came into a local pub on his return and talked about it all night. He raved on and on, and I believed him because he really was a rather boring guy and couldn’t have made up a story that interesting. He told me that all the fans settled long-standing differences during the England game. I found out later that this was true to an extent.

Normally the largest group at England games abroad were Chelsea fans, and they didn’t want to fight other England supporters. If you supported England then you were welcome to join them, and frequently other fans did. Chelsea also numbered among them a charismatic fellow who went to all the overseas England games. His name was Steven Hickmott, and everyone called him ‘Hickey’. He was a real leader who stood out from the crowd. He had an outrageous hairstyle – a sort of flat-top but shorter – and would wear the same King Kurt T-shirt and patched jeans all the time. He was over six feet tall and talked in a loud, droning voice. I became good friends with him, and I also met another Chelsea fan, Terence Last, both men now doing ten years on football-related charges.

The West Ham fans, I found out, would never mix it with Chelsea unless they had the numbers, but would remain aloof and apart, as also did the Scousers, who used the England trips as an excuse for a bit of thieving.

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