by Robert Mann
Nobody was expecting it when it happened. From the Expamet Town End –the main home end just after the teams had disappeared for their half time break a commotion started in one corner of the stand. From that area a chant started up
"Redbourne till I die, I know I am I'm sure I am I’m Redbourne till I die"
There was an angry roar from the home fans many of whom were backing away not wanting to get involved with this small hooligan element from down south who had clearly travelled up north looking for a fight. A small number though responded determined to get these southerners out of their home end. At the away end the genuine Redbourne fans that had been queuing for half time refreshments or the toilets stirred uneasily having seen their hooligan brethren in action before. Meanwhile back in the home end the Redbourne hooligans none of whom were wearing colours charged at the home fans some waving some wooden staves that had obviously been smuggled in and a few rocks could be seen to be thrown.
Innocent home fans spilled out on to the pitch eager to get away from the trouble as the fighting intensified. Police intelligence had not been aware of any expected trouble and it took a good fifteen minutes for order to be restored. The home stewards although present in some numbers on the pitch holding a line on and around the half way line to prevent the fans on the pitch from advancing on the away end showed sensible restraint in not advancing into the home end to try and separate the warring parties! The frantic calls from the police control room finally achieved their response and the growing sound of sirens could be heard converging on Victoria Park. By now the second half should have started but it was an impossible situation with over four hundred frightened and angry fans on the pitch having fled the fighting which had temporarily died off.
An announcement over the public address system confirmed what many were expecting
"Ladies and gentlemen we regret to inform you that the second half has been delayed due to events out of our control"
A chorus of boos greeted this news. At the same time the news of crowd trouble was breaking on Sky Sports and 5 Live. Miles Grimley after apologizing to his opposite number at Hartlepool had come down to pitch side to speak to the officer in charge to see if there was anything he could do. In the home end the Redbourne hooligans whose calling card nicknamed them
"The Country Firm" were still occupying one corner of the home end having fought off the Hartlepool fans that had tried to evict them. A line of riot police faced them who they were taunting with great relish. Back in the away end the genuine Redbourne fans watched in great sadness the antics of these mindless thugs who were so besmirching their football club. On the pitch side down at the home end ambulance crews were treating a number of injured fans with head injuries that had been hit by flying rocks.
It was obvious that the Redbourne hooligans were not going to leave the home end of their own volition and if the riot police went in, further violence would ensue which would mean abandonment of a game which was already delayed by some twenty five minutes and attracting national attention on a busy sporting Saturday! Miles Grimley seizing the initiative managed to persuade the police officer in charge to allow him to speak on the public address system. He was blunt and to the point after being introduced by Hartelpool's match day announcer.
"You lot in the home end we don't want you following our club. If we find out who you are you will be banned. The police have told me that if you don't leave the end you are in the match will be abandoned. I would just like to publicly apologise to Hartlepool on behalf of our club and all genuine Redbourne fans"
A round of applause from the travelling Redbourne fans greeted his words. It had the desired effect though and the hundred or so hooligans from the Redbourne area some with cuts and torn clothing many with skinhead haircuts walked defiantly down to pitch side and were escorted out of the stadium to a torrent of abuse and boos from the whole crowd. A police officer videoed them. Arrests it seemed would certainly follow after close circuit TV coverage had been looked at.
The second half eventually got under way at five o clock in a very subdued atmosphere from both sets of fans. The crowd trouble had affected the concentration of both teams despite the best efforts of both management teams and mistakes were prevalent from both teams. Very little football of any note was played by either side and the watching spectators had very little heart for the action. The two goals of the badly disrupted game came in the last five minutes. Joel Porter put Hartlepool ahead in the eighty sixth minute with a low drive after a corner wasn't cleared. The win would have sent them top but a dreadful mix up in the Poolies defence in the last minute of normal time saw Konstantopoulos in their goal with no option but to bring down Dwight Edwards. He was already heading for the tunnel amid a chorus of boos when the ref brandished the red card after him. Jock Mcleish kept his nerve in front of the travelling Redbourne fans to convert the penalty who were still celebrating when the final whistle went! On the final whistle Danny Wilson and Terrance Fletcher made a great show of walking out to the centre circle arms round each other shoulders and applauding all four sides of the ground. It did not prevent further trouble though with the Redbourne supporter’s coaches being ambushed shortly after leaving the ground by irate home fans despite a police escort! Fifty odd fans on one had a very breezy journey home with their back window being smashed by a brick, before again the police restored order.
5 Live’s 606 phone in programme was almost totally dominated by events at Victoria Park and it did not make for pleasant listening for any Redbourne Rovers’ fan with talk of an FA enquiry forthcoming!
9
A Tarnished Reputation
The Sunday papers did not make pleasant reading for Miles Grimley or any Redbourne Rovers fans. Lurid pictures of the trouble filled the front and back pages of some of the tabloid papers on what had been a quiet news weekend!
"The cancer in English Football Returns"
was but one of many sensationalist headlines. Many papers were also reporting that the Football Association would be meeting early that coming week in emergency session to discuss the violence at Hartlepool on the Saturday and any possible punitive action to the clubs involved.
Miles had just been interviewed on Sportsweek for his reaction to the trouble and what his club was going to do to combat the problem that had now started to besmirch their first season in the football league. He had been forthright, courteous and apologetic, reiterating again the disgust and loathing that Redbourne Rovers Football Club and all its genuine fans felt towards this group of hooligans that had attached themselves to this family orientated football club. He had also significantly, criticized the poor policing at Victoria Park and the zero police intelligence indicating the possibility of crowd trouble! On being questioned for a resolution to the problem he had confirmed that they would act swiftly to ban any fans shown to have been directly involved with the trouble and that they would be working directly with the local police plus taking on board any recommendations from the Football Association when they met latter that coming week.
Later that week Miles had a meeting with the Football Intelligence Officer for the Gloucestershire Police Force at force headquarters at Quedgeley just off Junction 12 of the M5. As far as Miles was concerned it wasn't a very satisfactory meeting. Out of all the video footage from Hartlepool from when the trouble was taking place all the perpetrators had masked their faces with either scarves or baseball caps pulled low over their heads to disguise their faces. The footage they had of the hundred or so hooligans leaving the home end was not enough to charge them with anything and they knew it (sadly explained a flustered Inspector Ron Morrison). The photos showed the thugs sneering openly at the police their faces distorted in hate, yes they had managed to identify some of them running their photos through the national database of known offenders. Seven or eight had minor form for crimes varying from drunk and disorderly through to ABH. One had a conviction for GBH for beating up an Asian man in Birmingham. Miles was outraged when he was given thi
s information wanting to get them all banned from home games!
Inspector Morrison had sympathetically explained to him that the courts would not issue banning orders without clear proof and that if the club tried to ban individuals without any proof of misdemeanors at home games they were walking on very thin ice legally!
Not surprisingly Miles asked how all this trouble had been planned at Hartlepool without the police getting any wind of what was going on. He was furious -the good name of his club was being badly tarnished and he wanted action to stop it happening again! Inspector Morrison was back on the defensive again. He tried to explain to Miles how difficult it was to get a grasp on new hooligan firms and knowing full well the reaction he would get explained that there would be a bigger police presence for the foreseeable future at home games until this problem was resolved. Miles was furious at the unfairness of it with the club having to underwrite the greater part of the cost of this increased policing!
The Football Association met in emergency session the following day. The result of the meeting was a press release condemning the violence and criticizing both Redbourne and Hartlepool for failing to control their fans. Further outbreaks of violence, the two clubs were warned could see financial penalties and or games played behind closed doors the two clubs were warned! Hartlepool accepted the statement without issuing a response. The Redbourne Rovers board unanimously issued a short but terse public statement
"We are deeply disappointed in the actions of the hooligan element that have associated themselves with our club but we are also very unhappy with the lack of support from the Football Association and the police intelligence which we believe was a partial cause of these unfortunate events! We will leave no stone unturned in order to erase this low life bunch from the fan base of our family club!"
Redbourne's next home game against Stockport County saw a vastly increased police presence at Whaddon Road much to the disgust of Miles and his board. There were even two vans of riot police parked just out of sight of the stadium that numerous fans had told him about before the match as he walked around the ground mixing with the fans. These riot vans remained there for the entirety of the match. Police video teams were also on hand and anyone who looked remotely suspicious had their faces recorded much to the disgust of several fans who complained loudly about an infringement of civil liberties and a few others who covered their faces upon seeing the cameras. The game Redbourne won with ease 2-0 both goals being scored by Terry Pauls making him leading scorer for the season so far! The atmosphere though was quiet given the fact that the win witnessed by over six thousand fans put Redbourne back to second in the division the top place having now been taken by Hartlepool! A significant police presence was also noted in the stadium and at one point as a line of police walked formidably round the perimeter of the pitch a chant started from the home end
"What a waste of money"
Sitting at home later that Saturday Miles decided he had had enough. He was not going to let police inactivity or hooligans ruin the good name of Redbourne Rovers. Having lived in the Redbourne area for a long period of time he was well aware that there were a couple of pubs in the local area with a less than savoury reputation. He figured that a decent private investigator would have a fighting chance of finding someone who knew someone connected with The Country Firm! As a result of his ruminations Monday afternoon he sat down at the desk of a private investigator in Cheltenham whose number he had got out of the Yellow Pages. Two hours latter he had engaged their services to track down and provide concrete evidence of anyone involved in the Country Firm. The arrangement was that Miles would pay extra for identifying the ringleaders and that the private investigator would be paid a bonus on top of a very generous retainer for quick results. Obviously all irrefutable evidence would be passed to Inspector Morrison for police action. Miles desperately hoped for results before there was further trouble.
Twenty four hours latter the same well dressed private investigator that Miles had employed was propping up the bar in The Crooked Flag one of Redbourne’s roughest pubs. He was now transformed from the smart businessman to skinhead with a permanent sneer and tattooed across his knuckles was the word Countrymen. He was downing pints of strong larger as he talked football to the barman in a manner designed to attract attention. Across the bar by the well used pool table sat two well dressed lads talking quietly on their mobile phones clad in Burberry designer gear. In the pocket of one was a set of calling cards from The Country Firm with the words
“You have been done over by a better class of hooligan!”
The next evening the investigator was back. He had spent the day working in a meat processing factory up the road after calling in a favour from an old friend of his who was on the management there. The idea was to blend in with the environment, mix socially and work in the circles where he felt he might meet potential hooligans! On the third evening just when he thought he had exhausted his capacity for Artois the bait was taken. One of the two Burberry lads wandered over to the bar. Within minutes the two of them were deep in conversation about Redbourne Rovers and their coming games.
“Reckon there will be any trouble away at Rochdale on Saturday?”
asked the investigator whose name was Rick and always believed in the direct approach!
The reply came quickly designed to size up this relative stranger to their pub
“Would you be up for some?”
Rick still boxed for a hobby so he knew how to look after himself. He stared this well dressed Burberry lad out for thirty seconds before replying
"I was at Swindon last season for the Cup game. It was a good scrap. Missed Hartlepool though I was in a police cell, I was silly enough to get caught fighting the night before”
The Burberry clad lad whose name Rick was shortly to find out chuckled. The whole conversation had been taped by Rick. The important bits would be added to the dossier he was going to build on The Country Firm for Miles Grimley.
Saturday morning saw Rick sat in the passenger seat of Oliver's Porsche as they roared up the M6 towards Rochdale. In the back of the Porsche rather cramped for room was the other Burberry lad from The Crooked Flag whose name was James. Image was everything for these two lads; he was starting to find out! Rick sensed that today was going to be sink or swim the ultimate test for him to see if he was going to be accepted into The Country Firm!
10
The Delights Of Rochdale
On the way up north it became clear to Rick that despite quite a few Redbourne fans on the road heading north the turnout from The Country Firm was going to be very small indeed. Rochdale being quite a small poorly supported club did not have an organised hooligan element. Rick learnt that there were about a hundred and fifty foot soldiers as Oliver laughingly called them associated with The Country Firm. Today they expected only about twenty to make the journey and most were even going to the game not expecting to see any action at all! Oliver especially as he drove amazed Rick by his bragging of scraps that he had helped organize with other team’s firms as they were quaintly called. Watching the game was just a peripheral part of the Saturday entertainment for many of these thugs fighting for their town was their buzz, their culture! It became patently clear that something special had been arranged for today just to judge Rick and to see wherever he was worthy to join The Country Firm. If Oliver and James decided he wasn’t it was unlikely that he would be making the return journey south!
It was about midday when they approached Spotland. It was a warm day for late September and Oliver had the windows of the Porsche down and his sound system up high a Damned DVD booming out. Rick was wearing his new sun glasses that he had just recently bought and all three eyeballed the few early arrivals that dared to catch their eyes!
As they headed slowly back into town a few early arrivals from Redbourne arrived, their red and black scarves flying proudly out of the car windows. Soon they would be sampling the fine Rochdale hospitality in the three pubs around the ground that
so welcomed the trade of away fans! Oliver explained to Rick as they drove into town that the pubs around the ground had a very good reputation and were only used by "shirts" his half sardonic half affectionate term for fans who wore team colours. Oliver parked near the town hall having been here before he knew his way around quite well. It amused Rick for some strange reason to see Oliver this so called hooligan paying painstaking attention to his anti theft device making sure it was fully enabled before they left the car.
Ten minutes later they were drinking in one of the most dingy pubs that Rick could remember ever being in. There was damp on the walls and the ashtrays looked like they hadn't been emptied for weeks! A surly bar maid served them three pints of export lager and banged their pints down on the bar. Within thirty minutes it was clear to Rick that this was obviously the prearranged meeting place for today for the members of The Country Firm that had travelled north. Three groups of lads wandered in greeted by Oliver and James on arrival. Rick was introduced to these lads. Some were wearing baseball caps and others just had severe skin head cuts. Their common denominator seemed to be that despite the reasonably early hour most seemed pretty drunk to Rick. As they drank the conversation got louder and their behaviour more obnoxious. Rick could see that they were drawing as much attention to themselves as humanly possible.
Rick sensed the violence was not far away and so did the bar girl who went rapidly from surly to scared. At the other end of the bar half a dozen local lads had gathered. First the insults started towards the group from Redbourne who hadn’t been slow to start insulting everything remotely northern they could think of. Then a glass came flying through the air towards Oliver who had been at the front of this verbal exchange! The Country Firm didn’t need any further excuse and erupted into violence at this provocation. Oliver at the lead, a bar table was over turned and with Rick and another guys help it went sailing through the main window of the pub showering flying glass onto innocent passers by. From outside the pub there were screams of fear and pain. Inside a short but vicious fight followed. The Country Firm charged in some using knuckle dusters others using chairs from the pub. It was no contest really Rick got in one pile driver to some bearded guy that had come at him brandishing a flick knife. The guy went down with a grunt as his breath was knocked out and his knife went flying.