The Sweeper: West Ham and Millwall Return England to the Dark Ages (or so we’re told)
Millwall - West Ham pitch invasion
Big Story
The big story, of course, is the serious trouble that broke out at the West Ham-Millwall Carling Cup match last night. The disgraceful scenes have brought out all the old chestnuts in the press about English football at home and abroad: perhaps my favourite comes from the USA Today, who under the headline “A bloody bad show for English soccer” lead with “Even by the low standards of English soccer, last night’s violence at a soccer match in London was epic.” Right, “epic”. I’m sure it felt “epic” to be West Ham player Jack Collison bravely playing just days after the death of his father in a match ruined by what we’re obliged to call “so-called football fans”.
And of course, fearing a worldwide resurgence of such a stereotype of the English game, England’s 2018 World Cup bid committee immediately chirped up to condemn the scenes, as if what they had to say mattered one jot right now (“A tiny minority have deflected from the passion and dedication that millions of genuine fans show every week for our national game.”). The FA chimes in by boasting that “We are seen as one of the leaders, if not the leader, in the way that we have tackled hooliganism and disorder in our grounds over the past 30 years.”
It’s true that one bad night doesn’t mean the English disease back, with disorder numbers at English games continuing to decline year-on-year. There’s a tough balance for normal football fans who want no part of this: while it’s clear the authorities need to take strong action against West Ham and Millwall (and they really ought to look at how the police failed to prevent an obviously inflammatory match deteriorating into utter chaos), as Two Hundred Percent sensibly comments the concern is that football fan’s civil liberties will again be under threat from a draconian over-reaction, especially if the fear is the World Cup bid is on the line.
Still, at least Danny Dyer’s career got another breath of life, eh?
Worldwide
- There was some pretty poor behaviour on the pitch in the Carling Cup last night as well. Sheffield Wednesday’s Francis Jeffers was transfer-listed and fined immediately after a game in which he was sent-off for punching and headbutting an opponent.
- There was further madness in the Carling Cup as Swansea were reduced to six men due to a combination of two red cards for violent play and several injuries. They went down 2-1 to Scunthorpe after extra time, with manager Paolo Sousa barely condemning his team, saying that “We have been provoked and we have reacted not in a good way but my way is to protect my players.”
- In lighter and somewhat more bizarre news, Peter Andre is to serenade Muhammed Ali at the Greatest Luncheon Ever at Stoke City.
- Quiet in class! The 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid teams are all studiously following Fifa’s lead this week, in Zurich for something described as “knowledge transfer”. As long as it’s not the transfer of brown envelopes, that’s cool.
North America
- Television ratings for ESPN2’s Premier League broadcasts hit record highs in the United States. In only the second week of transmission, Wigan-Manchester United draw 374,799 at 10am EST on Saturday, followed by an even stronger total viewing audience of 398,391 for Liverpool-Aston Villa on Monday afternoon. These numbers already dwarf the audiences for MLS broadcasts on primetime on ESPN2 and those achieved last year for the Premier League by niche channels FSC and Setanta.
- Two long-touted US youth internationals Charles Renken and Joseph Gyau will be joining Hoffenheim’s development program in Germany, splitting time with the Vancouver Whitecaps. The troubling news is word that the two were unsettled at US Soccer’s Bradenton academy.
- Speaking of Vancouver, is their stadium revamp in danger? Vancouver Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi hardly put out the fire by saying it was just a “rumor”. Government support for the $365-million upgrade to B.C. Place, including a retractable roof, appears to fast be waning.
- Malian international Bakary Soumare finally spoke out about the aftermath of his clash with Chicago Fire head coach Denis Hamlett that led to his transfer this week to Boulogne. The two were involved in a physical confrontation at half-time of the Fire’s match against Houston a few weeks ago. Pitch Invasion wishes Bakary well in France, and thanks him for once coming out to watch your editor and other Fire supporters lose a recreational match 7-0!
The Sweeper appears daily. For more rambling and links throughout the day every day, follow your editor Tom Dunmore @pitchinvasion on Twitter. Wish me a happy thirtieth birthday today!
About the Author
Tom Dunmore is the founder and editor of Pitch Invasion. Follow him @pitchinvasion on Twitter.
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There is no doubting the fact that these scence were horrible to watch. Like you say though, everyone knew there was a chance of trouble in this game, so why wasn’t more done to prevent it? There are huge games in England and Scotland that go trouble free, so why did this particular one erupt?
Personally, I think the media did play their part. It was built up as a potential problem in terms of crowd trouble. The stage was set and the ‘football fans’ in question did what they did.
A very bad evening for West Ham, Millwall and English football. You just know the World Cup bid is going to be affected by this.
Every single club Jeffers goes to, he ends up doing something stupid.
Oh Tom, I hope you’re not becoming more modest with age… let’s look at the facts here – as noted by the above picture, the shenanigans at Upton Park just happen to share a namesake with a certain site that has steadily risen in popularity around the globe throughout the past few months….
Happy Birthday, brother.
Well Tom, at least American media didn’t write about the stabbed man that he died shortly after being hurt, while hours later he was told to be in stable condition. When disorder broke out in Romania, Polish media wrote that 400 people invaded the pitch. Romanian media said it was 100. When Serbs got into a clash in Prague, Polish media wrote about 150 fans being arrested. Serbian media only got 44. When Swedish hooligans were fighting on board of a plane before take off, Polish media wrote that the plane was already in the air and somehow, luckily the pilots managed to land it. So you know… American media don’t suck that much.
As for the West Ham – Millwall thing, I wouldn’t get carried away. Mainstream media will usually say that:
a) events like these bring back the ugly 1970-80’s and
b) it was for Lord Taylor and Thatcher to establish the best system in the world and
c) thankfully this doesn’t happen often
d) still, the atmosphere in English stadiums is great.
(or at least these are my favorite mantras, usually repeated in Poland and also often found in British media)
Of course none of this is true, but you know – WHO CARES! The masses will take it as a fact.
Although I agree media outlets on both sides of the Atlantic wish to seize upon this incident to resurrect the lurid specter of hooliganism, has anyone dipped their toe into the suggestion that our current economic malaise mirrors much of the stagnant nihilism that spawned trouble in the 1970’s?
thanks for the article
and the formation
maybe they bored only watch from the pitch, so they want to join party
Typical over reaction from the British press. Only 13 arrests, no Police injured, one stabbing – that would have been considered a ‘quiet day’ back in the 70’s. Not condoning what happened, but with the history between these two clubs there was always going to be trouble. Just seems the Metropolitan Police vastly under estimated the level of this threat.
Jim hits another nail on the head with his comment. I know both East London and New Cross (where Millwall are located) quite well and for those that don’t know they lie just across the Thames from each other, West Ham in the north, Millwall in the South. Both areas have their own unique problems, New Cross is the last remaining predominantly white working class area in inner city London and as such has a seige mentality. Check out the excellent movie Nil By Mouth to get a feel of what this place is like. These people once worked London’s docks until they moved out to Tilbury in the 60’s. The area’s always been an unemployment blackspot, the current recession has hardly helped.
Across the river West Ham’s stadium is located in what was once the traditional East End but today is a predominantly Muslim area, the street markets as you come out of Upton Park tube station make the place look more like Karachi than East London. As such a lot of West Ham’s support moved out to the outer suburbs and further still into Essex (UK’s New Jersey for American readers). As you can imagine both sets of supporters have reason to be angry in their lives, the football simply acts as a conduit for this anger.
So whilst we, the fans, wait for the thoughtless kneejerk reaction of another round of Draconian measures from the FA to tackle the ‘English disease’ I hope some of you will see that there is another side beyond the media hype. A side the English government choose to ignore, the plight of the white working class Englishman. If they really want to tackle this problem, they need to tackle the root causes. Trouble is righting England’s failing society is far harder than putting up more CCTV cameras and handing out a few football banning orders.
I agree with Mike.
Every single club that Jeffers goes to, he ends up doing something stupid. Shenanigans follow him like his shadow.
Jim C.
LOL, it is funny how Jeffers seems to have a bit of a dark cloud hanging over him!