MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

The Milestones In British Football History: Players, People, Place .

Diploma thesis

Brno 2006

Supervisor: Written by: Andrew Oakland, M.A. Tomáš Niederhafner

Declaration I hereby declare that I wrote this thesis myself and that all the outside sources of material have been cited.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Andrew Oakland, for his support, patience and help. The thesis would have been unlikely to arise without his guidance and encouragement.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

0. Introduction to all sections...... 4

1. Players...... 5 1.1 Introduction...... 5 1.2 First payment...... 6 1.3 Freedom of transfers...... 10 1.4 Loosing the English player...... 12 1.5 Football and the media...... 17 1.6 Conclusion...... 19 1.7 Cited sources used in section ‘Place’...... 23

2. People...... 26 2.1 Introduction...... 26 2.2 British football and racism...... 27 2.3 Hooliganism and the trio of tragedies...... 40 2.4 The terrace culture...... 47 2.5 Police and the crowd...... 49 2.6 Conclusion ...... 51 2.7 Cited sources used in section ‘People’...... 53

3. Place...... 56 3.1 Introduction...... 56 3.2 The Hillsborough Tragedy...... 56 3.3 The Taylor’s Final Report and its outcome...... 61 3.4 Conclusion...... 65 3.5 Cited sources used in section ‘Place’...... 66

4. Conclusion to all sections...... … 68

5. List of sources...... 70

6. Resumé...... 77

0. Introduction to all sections

The text of this diploma thesis is divided into three sections, every section deals with one of the participants in the football game. First section focuses on the player and the introduction of professionalism. Further on the first section explores the top football and the close connection to sponsors and money in general. The involvement of money and its reflection on modern football will be studied.

The second section is about the spectator. The section 2 tries to depict the hooligan phenomenon. Various opinions on the cause for the disorderly behaviour will be mentioned. Short biographies of first black players who helped to challenge racism to good effect are also included in the text. The campaigns against racism are listed in second chapter of section 2. Spectators’ racist manner of former decades is examined together with far right wing parties transmitting their propaganda by football fans.

The section 3 describes the place playing passive but an important role in football event: the stadia. Mainly the safety is dealt with. Several football tragedies are stated to show examples of neglected safety levels in 1980s in Britain. The important change of the stadia to all seated in the top league is indicated as one of the milestones in reaching the appropriate level of safety at football grounds. The diploma theses will try to give an answer whether the standing terraces should disappear for good from the top football.

The goal of the diploma thesis is to present all the important events in the history of the game on The British Isles and show their reflection. The diploma tries to be acquainted of the contemporary British football also, mainly via the Internet.

I have chosen the football theme for my dissertation on the British football because I have been playing this game since my childhood and I saw the possibility to study the positive and the negative elements within the history of this game on the British Isles. The work is based on compilation of electronic sources and books.

4 1. Players

1.1 Introduction

This part of the diploma text is focused on the actors of the game itself. Important dates of the football history will not be listed complete. This part rather focuses on the relationship between a player and his club. The view is the one of employee and employer. This section should present you with the beginning of professionalism until now. It is the matter of three last centuries. The constant development of professional football has changed the possibilities for both sides. Present football players are no more restricted in the way they used to be considering their contracts. The struggle for freedom of transfers is also dealt with in the text.

The close link of top football to the media and advertising industry will be demonstrated. The revenues paid by the television channels are mentioned to be the crucial payments together with money paid for the sponsorship of the entire league, the clubs, or individual players. Consequently we will be looking at the image of modern football which has been changed during the last decades because of the great sums of money involved in the top leagues.

We will discuss a picture of modern football player as an individual element on the football market co-operating with his agent. The common spectators and their relationship with the home clubs they have been supporting for years will not be forgotten ; we will demonstrate that the prices may exclude some social classes from full passive enjoyment of the sport.

The conclusion tries to sum up all the important facts and declares the modern football to be a big entertainment industry with a inexorable fight for a paying consumer and its anticipated impact on the British football.

5 1.2 First payment

20 October 1863 FA came into being and soon after the FA Challenge Cup was found. Clubs belonging to FA and Scottish clubs were invited to join in. Most of the clubs which took part in the Cup recruited from industrial areas up North and Midland.

Around the year 1877 crossbars, throw-ins, free-kicks, linesmen and referee could be seen in a match lasting 90 minutes. Football was transmitted by lower classes to Scotland from other regions and became popular north of the border thanks to Glasgow club Queen’s Park. In 1972 England played the first international match right against Scotland. The Scots produced a high quality football different from English point of view and in a sense revolutionary.

Their contribution was the passing style. The match between Queen’s Park and Wanderers played in England attracted a lot of people, who were eager to acquaint with the short passing style. The tactic of English team was predominantly consisted of kicks and rushing through the middle of the field with a great help of dribbling. The Scottish footballers were very effective and prepared to eliminate the system favoured by most English players and clubs. The Scottish players were, understandably enough, highly wanted. Every good playing Scott was a great contribution for the team playing in England.

The scouts were therefore travelling all over the country offering a skilful footballers a position in a team south the borders. The first football teams ‘seeking’ players this way, were mostly from rich region of Lancashire. Since the players were nearly all working men there had to be offered a compensation for losing the particular job in case of moving. They were enticed into going down south to play football and get another job with a little extra money. This amount of money was the very start of first payments, which, in fact, was just a compensation in the beginning. It should be pointed out that these players were still not professionals, because the league and the FA itself was an amateur organisation and the paying notion was absolutely the counterpart of the amateurs’ view of the sportsmanship as they highly valued the participation just for the fun of football and the exercise. However, the most wealthy teams in Lancashire started to pay this extra and illicit money to attract highly skilled players ( Encyclopædia

6 Britannica , 2006).

Imported Scots, coming down south to play, were known as Scotch Professors. In 1870s in one of the finals of the FA Challenge Cup Darwen played against Old Etonians. Darwen had two Scots playing for them: Fergus Suter and James Love. They were among the first professionals playing south of their border. Illegal payments had been a public secret until the losers began to complaint. Accrington was the first club disqualified and fined. They had to pay a fee after beating Blackburn Park Road in season 1883/84. The thread of disqualification because of illegal payments brought some clubs to rather not win the match. Bolton Wanderers preferred to draw than to risk the possible protests from the opponents side.

The protests were fixture of the clubs’ strategy these years. The Clubs were making formal complaints about the goals , the lengths of the pitches and so on. The main reason for the complaining remained illegal payments, though. Darwen, Blackburn Rovers and other leading clubs paid some of their players in the early 1880s already. Money started to be the main topic to negotiate about. Blackburn Rovers urged FA to paying-off the fares to final. There was a good purpose for it. The club was the first that had to travel longer way for the final match. The enthusiasm to win had grown among the members of the competition - the FA Cup. The direct outcome was the growing number of skilful players getting extra money for their participation.

Less wealthy clubs ,those times being from North, struggled for a system providing a partial money coverage for their players’ time out of work and for possible injury. 221 Clubs were represented in London’s assembly of The FA on 19 January 1885. The great debate on professionalism tried to find the solution. They did not come up with any conclusion and remained refusing to legalise the payments. Mr. Crump from Stafford Road F.C. saw the recognition of professionals as ruining the sport. He also pointed out an evident involvement of ‘professionals’ in betting on matches. Charles W. Alcock (Wanderers F.C.) espoused the legalisation of professionalism under strict conditions, because professionalism had greatly increased and without particular control it would be an evil. Mr .Jope representing Birmingham accused FA from not to have taken steps to crush the professionalism right from the start.

7 "The supporters of professional football argued lucidly and powerfully and left the door open invitingly for negotiation. Their opponents, honest men of principle though they were, could only fall back on honesty and principle and the pessimistic cries that football was being ruined. But for the most part, the true-blue amateurs of the South (and the Provinces), listened with growing sympathy to the words of the Lancashire men. However, they voted against the proposal." ( The Definite History of Leeds United, 2004)

Fifteen clubs reacted to the FA inability promptly and formed their own association in 1885. The British National Football Association (BNFA) was found to support the fight for legal payments. The charter members were among others Burnley, Blackburn, Bolton Wanderers. BNFA grew in numbers rapidly and during next couple of months it enlarged to 70 members.

On 20 July 1885 the professionalism became finally legalised. Partly because the important debate was poorly represented by amateur clubs. According to a certain theory it was the plan of Charles W. Alcock, not to give much chance to the amateur’s members of FA to influence the final voting. The legalisation of the professionalism changed the northern clubs. Being close to the borders with Scotland and having large support they became dominating the country. The working-class men had, thanks to the legalisation of the payments in football, much better chances to participate in the game (Encyclopædia Britannica , 2006). Later in the 1880s the domination was fully proved as the working men from North clubs started winning the competitions. Plumbers from the Blackburn Olympic won the Cup beating the Old Etonians (stands for Old Boys of Eton School) ,team of gentlemen, in 1883. The north teams’ take over was heralded.

The British National Football Association, which had been formed before the crucial assembly in July, suddenly lost the idea to fight for and faded away. However the FA placed professionalism under strict conditions. Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End were both disqualified in season 1885/86 for breaking the rules.

North of the borders the legalisation of professionalism meant a great problem and the Scottish football authorities were horrified by the act indeed. It made the situation even worse with players hailing from Scotland down south. They asked the Irish and the

8 Welsh to meet in order to solve the problem and to object united. The Irish representation did not show up so the Scottish Football Association had to react on its own. The authorities of the SFA restricted all professionals to play in Scotland. The Scots kept refusing to legalise the payment for players for another eight years. The continuation of Scots coming down South to play for money was therefore prolonged.

Shortly after the act of legalisation new problems appeared. Certain players wanted more money. The squad of West Bomwich Albion went on strike to force the club pay more. The leader of the strike was sacked the others punished. Surprisingly, later on the West Bromwich Albion management started to give a little extra money to some of the players.

The situation in 1880s in the FA Cup started to be really difficult and chaotic because of too many teams included. The mixture of amateur clubs and professional clubs were not functioning well with matches postponed many times. New league on top of the old one was formed with a limitation of just 12 clubs where only one team per town was allowed. William McGregor, Scottish director of Aston Villa, wrote a letter to the leading clubs and then organised a meeting where the new league was founded in 1888 in March 22nd.

”It appeared to me that a fixed programme of house-and-away matches between the leading clubs in the country, such fixtures to be kept inviolate, would produce football a far more interesting nature than we saw.” (SOAR and TYLER, 1977, pp. 16)

The original clubs in the Football League were Preston North End ,Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Accrington Stanley, Aston Villa, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Comparing to the FA Cup, where mostly the clubs from South were playing, in the new Football League on the contrary predominantly clubs from the Midlands and Lancashire had been included.

Mr. MacGregor had been right in his letter to the clubs shortly before the new league came into being. Football really did interest people. Around the year of Football League foundation the FA Cup finals would attend 12 – 20,000 people. For example 15,500

9 spectators saw the final in 1887. People brought more money into the sport. Even though new rule got through and the club could charge a gate money to their private grounds, the amount of people in the stadia remained constantly rising by thousands year after year. There was a strong tendency of all clubs to provide a private or enclosed ground.

The players and trainers tried to operate more united and the organised labour of trainers and players was found shortly after the League had begun to exist. There were another threats of the strike. Still, however legal it was to be paid for playing football, there were very strict rules for the players. The FA stood out against the union of footballers and trainers.

1.3 Freedom of transfers

Players were registered in the club. Transfers were made up via the registration being sent from one club to the other. A sum of money was obligatory to pay for the movement of players. The fact is that until 1963 players were not free to leave the club even though the contract expired. A player would not be allowed to seek the job elsewhere till his wages were paid at least the same level as it had been before during the contract. It was the policy of the FA. The reason was to prevent all best football players from ending up in the richest clubs. But if the club denied your request for transfer you could do nothing but wait.

George Eastham took his case to the court. He was transferred to Newcastle United in 1956, three years later he decided to leave for Arsenal London so he made his first request and several others in following months. The club refused all of them. Finally Arsenal London and Newcastle United agreed on a transfer but the player wanted the court to judge his situation. The High Court agreed with him. It was seen as ‘unreasonable restriction of trade’. The old club should either re-hire or simply let go. Although the possibility to hire the player again meant great limits still, at the end of

10 George Eastham case in particular Newcastle United did not re-hire him and he eventually singed for London’s Arsenal.

In season 1977/78 the players had won another battle in the struggle for transfer freedom. The players were allowed to leave free at the end of their contracts. The selling club had to pay a transfer fee if the new club offered the same or better conditions. A special tribunal decided the fee when the two clubs could not agree upon it.

Another step to the ‘complete’ freedom of players’ decision-making about their transfers was fought by Jean-Marc Bosman. This Belgium football player was barred from moving by his club FC Liege demanding a very high transfer fee. FC Liege did not want to lose Bosman’s services. Jean-Marc Bosman went to litigation with European authorities and Belgium authorities. The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of the Belgium player. The Court proclaimed it to be against the law of free labour moving within EU borders to demand a transfer fee.

"The European Union demanded that regulations concerning players' transfers and limitations on foreign players be amended almost immediately.” ( FIFA , 1996)

From that moment on players were allowed to negotiate their own contracts after the previous one expired. At the end the fee to be paid after the contract have expired was abolished in Europe Union.

In 2001 another case was judged by Belgium courts. Tibor Balog, Hungarian player, tried to leave RSC Charleroi for AS Nancy in France. The club he was playing for refused to let him go by demanding high transfer fee. Since this case was different, Balog being a non-EU player, Bosman case from 1995 could not serve as a leading case. But finally it did. The Hungarian won the case in Belgium and football organisation FIFA/UEFA had settled out the case before it was ruled by the European Court of Justice. FIFA/UEFA created new rules for transfers.

It is still possible to complain about the conditions not following the EU labour jurisdiction. But the efforts of FIFA/UEFA are there to protect football. The authorities

11 tries to find the best solutions between the employer and employee and also for the spectator. A special period of time is reserved for transfers during the year ; there functions special circumstances in case of international transfers of under 18 years old player ; the transfer fee is no more negotiated between the clubs but calculated according to a FIFA/UEFA criteria ; one player is allowed one transfer yearly ; all special new arbitration system was established (LOWREY et al. , 2002).

1.4 Losing the English player

According to the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance, report that is published every year since 1993, English clubs generated income of almost Ł1,7 billion in 2002/2003. After the 1980s the clubs in the top leagues had to spend money on the ground and its facilities because the important changes considering the stadia safety needed to be done after the Hillsborough Tragedy which resulted in 86 deaths. Great amount of money was invested into transformation of the English stadia to all seated ones providing improved safety of the fans. Thanks to this rebuilding completed, the clubs were more less in advance of the other clubs in Europe, ready to spend money on players.

However, the flood of money in English football generally had lowered, directly due to the collapse of the television channel ITV Digital in the season 2003/2004 and the club revenues not being paid. Some clubs around the season 2003/2004 had no other choice but to dramatically reduce costs which of course resulted in reducing squad sizes (Deloitte , 2006). Those clubs simply could not afford to pay services of highly valued football players. Be it the purpose or not, Wimbledon and Sheffield Wednesday were both relegated in the year 2000. Both teams had the lowest salary bills.

The tendency that have been presented in previous paragraph does not apply to all the clubs. We have some notable exceptions, clubs that do not have to stop this

12 discretionary spending. Big-spending champions Chelsea, bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and Fulham were the only clubs to report operating losses in England's top flight in the season 2004/2005 ( England , 2006). Another wealthy clubs in the Premier League are Manchester United, Arsenal London, and Liverpool with its 2005 Champions League win heightened their profits to 25 million pounds. Despite reporting the highest profits in the season 2004/2005, Manchester United generated much less than was their record in 2003/2004. They reported a fall down from 53 million pounds to 33 million in the year 2005 after the season.

Last ten FA Cups have been shared by Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. This may be convincing enough that the richer club the better players and the more titles the club wins. Money plays an important role in modern football. Football on the British Isles is now led by the richest clubs proving the modern entertainment industry to work reducing the chances of much poorer clubs to make ‘the fairy tale’ come true and succeed. The chances to beat a club ,which could allow to buy for example Damien Duff being a new club record purchase at Ł17 million in 2003 (FC Chelsea London), are getting limited but of course not impossible. However the Chelsea after billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club and started to pay unimaginably high sums for desired players from all over the world, the London Chelsea FC have won two last titles in the Premier League and have managed a certain success also in the Champions League. The Premier League seasons ,after the new private owner has bought the club, are remarked by running up from the 4th place in 2002/03 across 2nd place in the season 2003/04 to the final first position for last two seasons 2004/05 and 2005/06. Manchester United have ended up no lower than 3rd place for last four seasons in the Premier League. Arsenal London won the Premier League in 2003/2004 and occupied second place once before and once after the year they won the title.

The average cost of paying the yearly salary of a Premier hip player is around Ł900,000. The wages had been continually rising before the season 2002/2003. In 2002 the wages plus transfer costs fell by 5 percent. Dan Jones commented for Deloitte Annual Review 2004……This is a relatively small percentage, but, in reality, a monumental change ( Deloitte , 2006). But we have witnessed another feature within players wages in modern football. It is

13 the rising gap in terms of contract dealing with ‘star’ players and the other members of the team. The amount of money particular football clubs are willing to pay for a key player have been rising compared with the wages and transfer fees of the others. The biggest football clubs in Europe individually are still able to offer little more and are doing so. According to The Association of Football Statisticians (2004) David Beckham was bought for a fee Ł17.25 million from Manchester United to a ‘collector’ of stars Real Madrid ; in July 2004 FC Chelsea spent 24 million pounds on Didier Drogba coming to the Islands from French club Marseille ; one month later talented young English player Wayne Rooney changed Everton for Manchester United for 20 million pounds.

The high salaries in UK attracts players from abroad, the same as it was in the era of the late 19th century. The area of where the players are recruited from has been extended. The talented players are searched all over the world by scouts of the teams from the Premier League.

In the year 1990 there were 116 players from outside the British Isles which meant a fifth place among the European leagues after Spain leading and Italy, Germany, and Holland following. The number of foreign football players has been in progression for the last two decades. It can be demonstrated by the difference between the year 1992/93 season with 22% of foreigners registered and the year 1998/99 with its 44% (LOWREY e t al. , 2002).

Even though there exist clubs with total non-British squad, there are some other who prefer not to buy so many international players. Other aspect playing also a role is the national tendency to support home players. Arsenal London has been criticised for pitting no British player against other teams in season 2004/2005. Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal London coach, replied that he misses the quality of English player. According to a survey made by Lenceister University (LOWREY e t al. , 2002) 33% of respondents saw the number of foreign players as too many in 1997. Four years later it was already 60% of the fans sharing the same opinion included in the survey. Still It remains worth for the English clubs to seek players abroad. Much smaller amount of money is spent on transfer fees and wages. Bobby Robson, the former coach of national team, admits that the players from abroad

14 helped the Premier League to improve and to achieve general success. However, he claims that a lot of ordinary international players play for the top teams. In his opinion England should start producing better technical players to cut down the numbers of foreign players registered in FA.

Comparing to Arsenal London or another London club Chelsea there operate managers of the clubs like Alan Pardew who highly appreciates English players. The minimum number in Pardew’s West Ham United is at least three players every match. Although it does not seem to be a big number it means quite a good percentage in the context of contemporary Premier League.

Alan Pardew criticised the Arsenal manager. Meanwhile the British media were talking about the only English club ‘holding the flag’ for the Isles, the Arsenal Manager did not place a single English player. They were playing in Europe against Juventus in quarter finals of the Champions League. The manager of the West Ham United feels it as necessity that the English Premier League should have more English players involved. Although he admits foreign footballers to be of a great value for the quality of the League, he warns of possible future disappearance of English players from the Premier League. Apart from many foreign players, there are also several successful foreign managers. Liverpool have Rafael Benitez and well-known Jose Mourinho is in Chelsea. Both have lead their team onwards to success. They also brought many foreign players to the game in the Isles, notably some of them from their home countries Spain and Portugal.

The answer to Alan Pardew questioning the non-British squad of Arsenal was replied. It was not Arsenal’s fault that they played their best team. They did have English players such as Soul Campbell or Ashley Cole at the time of the match, unfortunately both were that time recovering from an injury. The others were proclaimed to be lacking the experiences at such a high level – the quarter final of the Champions League. Arsene Wenger, French coach of Arsenal London, hold the primacy being a coach of the first English Premier League team to name non-English 16-man squad for a match ; Chelsea FC was the first to form a team with whole foreign squad. As Garland and Rowe (2001, pp. 14) state in their book……Chelsea’s team in the club’s fixture at Southampton in December 1999 had not a single British player.

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There were 64% of players from abroad in Arsenal in season 2000/01. This number has levelled up to 85 % in the 2005/2006 season. Liverpool has now more foreign players than ever and has overtaken Chelsea. It is 72 % of foreign players in the Liverpool FC.

It is suggested that the young English talented players are too expensive to be bought. It is especially true once having their career started, but there is another possibility for the clubs: to raise their own potential talents for the senior squad in so-called Academy. The possibility to finally play for the senior team of the club is questionable, though. It may vary according to the club. The Premiership winner Chelsea seem to not give much chance for their young players comparing to Middlesbrough Football Club which has finished as the 14th in the table of the top league in season 2005/2006. Robert Huth , Chelsea youth product, is mostly unused substitute. The only one whose services have been make the best of fully is John Terry. John Terry has been with the club since the age of 14. The last one of the three examples in London club Chelsea that has gone through the Academy now playing in the top league is Carlton Cole, but he was sold to West Ham United in July 2006.

We could compare it to Middlesbrough ,football club that has ended up in the second half of the league table. It is worth to firstly point out that three quarters of the senior squad is made out of English players. The important figure is the number of young English players who already made their debut in The Premier League and have not been lately transferred. Middlesbrough FC senior team has got 8 players who has progressed from the Academy. The Academy team turned out to be the source of talented boys as the young team has won the FA Youth Cup in 2004. Besides, there are other players who have been with the team since their childhood. Stewart Downing was born in Middlesbrough, went into the Academy and now at his age of 22 is one of the brightest graduates. He has made his debut against Ipswich Town in April 2002. Andrew Davies, product of Stocklon Schools, started in the club at his age of 13. Andrew Davies played his first match in the top league in season 2003/2004. Ross Turnbull has been in Middlesbrough FC since his school years, he made a big impression as a goalkeeper in the FA Youth Cup 2004. Malcolm Christie was spotted playing in the Conference and brought to the club. Gary Liddle is another young player awaiting his debut ( The Official Site of Middlesbrough Football Club, 2006).

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The financial assets of clubs could play a negative role in reducing the possibility for young home talents to settle in the first team. The London club Chelsea, spending over Ł120m on transfers in 2003/2004 season, can basically allow to hire any skilful player in the world. The obvious outcome is not much chance for their junior team.

On the contrary Alex Ferguson , coach in Manchester United, decided to make a turning point and build up a brand new team out of Manchester under-18s who played the league now called the Academy. The motion taken in early 1990s was denounced, but the generation of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, David Beckham deserved the place in the first team. After a period of time all of them appeared in national squad.

1.5 Football and the media

The modern world of communication technologies has influenced the game. In the season 2002/2003 Manchester United television revenue was as high as Ł175m. But this applies to the limited top section of the Premiership clubs. The television games firstly threatened the FA representatives. The football authorities thought that a majority of common spectators would stop attending the matches. The final effect meant no fatal harm for the attendance at the clubs’ matches but the truth is that it brought even more strength to already strong clubs. It has lured many people away from the local clubs in low divisions on the Isles. The television gave people the world of illusion. The image of football you are presented with in TV matches make you feel football is full of characters like Ronaldino, Beckham, or Zidane, but these football characters are mostly exceptions.

Although the involvement of money in the top leagues or international leagues could be criticised, money became an important factor which is expected to result in success bringing attention of more people. The attention means more people coming which equals to more money again. More finance allows the club to sign new contracts with

17 better quality players. Another cash flows from revenues and advertisements. It is a circle. Even though in 2003/2004 the statisticians tallied little decrease of the clubs’ costs in Premier League, still great sums are being paid for transfers and wages every year. The decrease could have been caused by ITV Digital collapse which stopped the revenues’ payment.

This digital television started in the UK in 1998. Because of the piracy and weak signal at some areas of the land , ITV digital ,having suffered by aggressive marketing of another corporation BSkyB, had to re-establish the faith on the market. The ITV Digital tried to become again profitable with launching among others the ITV Sport Channel broadcasting the Premier League’s matches. The step taken has proved to be a wrong decision. The money demanded by the Premier League Clubs were too high and after the league did not accept the pay cut , ITV digital collapsed. The idea of the direct partnership of a big club and media is not forgotten at all, though. Some of the clubs have their own channels dedicated to the clubs.

Recent years have seen discussion of the establishment of a European Super League and multinational media conglomerates have sought partnerships with globally-recognised clubs such as Arsenal and Manchester United (GARLAND and ROWE ., 2001, pp. 21).

The popularity of the sport has risen and we can hear about clubs moving from old stadium to the new one with bigger capacity. The recent decade have meant great changes in information technologies which resulted in press becoming more tabloid than ever before. The violent hooliganism in football is no more as interesting issue as it was, hence the newspapers have been trying to find new things to write about. The private lives of famous footballers seems to be a good target. This type of journalism does not require having reporters all around the world and consequently cost much less. The early motives of the growing number of tabloid newspapers is the competition of other media. If we take a close look at the process of the information, we would find out that the internet and TV news coverage has stolen the news element from the newspapers ( British Study Web Pages, 2003).

Every single match in the league is watched by several thousands right on the stadium. Others are paying in their houses for their media access. The possibility to be seen by

18 so many people means a great allurement for companies. Multinational marketing campaigns used famous footballers to promote their merchandise in combination with a political message of toleration for all peoples. As the sport is very popular , every single space suitable for an advertisement or commercial is offered to be sold. Big international companies like Nike or Adidas have been paying for a long arrangement with FIFA and the World Cup. There is usually a certain group of sponsors producing various products. The group of companies pays to be exclusively connected with a football event such as the World Cup. The products does not to have necessarily any connection to the sport.

In 1993 Bass Brewers spent 3 million pounds to connect the Premier League with its products. The league name was changed to support the sponsors trademark into: Carling Premiership. The company reported increased product sales and renewed the sponsorship once again for longer time for the 1997/98 season. The crucial commercial role was and is still played by TV channels and commercials in it. Sky Sport , the company which have been broadcasting the sport in Britain since 1990s, is usually subscribed by young males with a good income. The connection of commercialised football in TV , on one side, and young male consumer on the other side seems to work well for both. Manchester United Football Club decided to step further and together with BSkyB and Granada Media Group set up its own TV channel in Autumn 1998. The paid TV channel tied to the club is supposed to attract new customers.

1.6 Conclusion

Football attracted people right from the start in the late 19th century. The important factor is that the spreading process has included all social classes. A great contribution of Scottish nation could be the reason why, being it originally an English game, it got firmly established north of the borders in contrast to other English sports. The spreading of the game did not stop at the borders of the Isles but ,as the Britain had its colonies in all the continents, the sport started to be played all over the world.

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Finally in 1885 football reached its turning point. Mr. Crump from Stafford Road F.C. refused all compromises at the great assembly over the legalisation of professionalism. Nevertheless, it was legalised and all Crump’s endeavour was wasted. But the very beginning of the legalisation process was, in fact, a rising interest of people. People suddenly accepted the passive role of viewers and after a while learnt to pay for such an entertainment. The entertainment industry was born as the gate money were allowed to be collected. The year 1885 means historic milestone for the lower classes. Before 1885 the working-men had been receiving a compensation which is from that year on multiplied by the club and covers fully the work time. This sum of money ,which could be seen as ruining the sportsmanship on one side, enables working men to join the clubs and the game on the other.

Within another decades the attendance continued to increase. For the British nation football has always meant more than just the game itself, they adore themselves as the inventors of the most popular game in the world. Billions of people watch every world tournament on the TV and a great sum of people beyond our imagination is playing it for its energy lies in its simplicity. The people in UK sense positively the deep history of this sport in their country and are proud of it. It was on the British Isles where the rules settled in and the world’s oldest football club was founded. The history is linked with the present by strong tradition. Notts County F.C. is the oldest league club in the world being a founder member of the league in 1888 (Wikipedia , 2006). The British support their team at the club or national bases in far greater numbers than any other nation.

The feeling of fellowship after World War II ended in great supporting of everything British. The post war decades were marked by the Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, the Hungarians visit to Wembley stadium in 1953 and possibly the Richards’ Derby win. People started to seek the leisure activities to watch or to play after the hard times of the war. It would bring around 100,000 to Wembley to watch the FA Cup Final every year after the WWII. Such a high number of spectators had never been reached before the WWII. The money involvement became more vivid. Football finally became fully recognised as the division of entertainment industry after the exclusive co-opt of broadcastings and televised matches. The TV and radio stations started to coexist with

20 football in profitable symbiosis bringing sponsors and more money.

Generally the players’ salaries has slightly lowered in Britain’s Premier League during last years. But on the other hand there have appeared another trend considering the wages of highly valued football players in Western European leagues ( Deloitte , 2006). We are witnessing the differentiating among the members of one squad. As in every industry some members of the team are taken as more important so called key players. Those are offered longer and more lucrative contracts. The salary gap between these two groups is widening.

Newspapers tried to have become more acceptable for a common reader bringing them easy articles to go through, getting their layout smaller and more attractive, presenting more details than TV. On the contrary the TV represents action and immediate results, something that the newspapers could never achieve. This may be the reason why certain newspapers have gone another way offering a curious reader stories about private lives of famous football players among other celebrities. Greater quota of sport information have pierced into the newspapers generally.

The rising involvement of money in the sport means great pressure for the players. All the top players work these times like individuals on the football market, we would not be exaggerating saying they are selling themselves, each of the players works to improve the reputation of his own ‘brand’. Because of that they may see the other players as the opponents on this market even if being from the one team. This competitive atmosphere could force the individual to improve his skills. But we could also observe the loss of the team spirit as the impact of the emphasis on the individual element. This may be seen as a denial of the ‘old’ values of the sport and sportsmanship. The Canon company was sponsoring the Football League from 1983 to 1986. The Football League, now better known as Coca-Cola Football League, forms a second level of football leagues in Britain. Surprisingly, the Japanese corporation Canon withdraw the sponsorship of the league. The authorities of the firm proclaimed the league to be changing the image of football.

In 1990 the FA Premier League started to generate the majority of the profit from the sponsorship and TV. Soon after even the players has seen growing the interests of

21 sponsors. It started to be common for the players to have their agent to deal with the business part firmly connected with the sport by now. Players individually could argue with the clubs over their contracts. Some of the players have even registered their names as trademarks. Before Cantona left Manchester United he registered three variations on his name: ‘Cantona’, ‘Cantona 7’, and ‘Ooh, ah Cantona’ (HOWARD and SAYCE, 1998).

However it is not generally truth that owning the club must be very profitable business. Economic experts advised better evidence of costs to persuade potential investors. Still if you have enough money you are able to allow to hire the best players gaining interest and money at the same time. Clubs like Chelsea from London may be accused of creating unfair situation for competing in sport terminology. To see prevailing wins of these clubs, however it is not a rule, could convinced you that football is no longer ‘fresh’. Despite the fact that Chelsea or other teams leading the league, the likelihood of less profitable clubs ending up higher still exists. In season 2003/2004 Charlton finished 7 in Premiership and Millwall played the FA Cup Final.

The football could be undoubtedly criticised for the involvement of money which brings the risk of corruption and twisted values. That is why the football needs a reborn of forgotten sportsmanship and real fair play. We should be also aware of slowly disappearing style of a quick football with not play-acting the fouls and respect for others. This style is rooted in the British Isles not to be seen in other leagues in Europe. This style has its roots in the British national character. Another trouble might be possible loss of the necessary link between the junior footballers and the top league teams. If the British do not ensure that their young players from the Academies of the clubs will get enough space to debut in the Premier League, it might possibly result in minority of home born players or worse in a loss of the English player. It could be very hard for the little experienced footballers to fetch through. Alex Ferguson presents us with an interesting solution to this highly discussed problem. The idea of Mr.Ferguson is based on establishing two senior teams within one club: one team for the domestic leagues, and the other for the European competitions. By all means enacting the fixed number of the British players on the pitch is an ultimate step.

The football club should be still aware of its own history and people that support the

22 club. The view should never be changed into seeing spectators just as the consumers only. Fans are following the cultural tradition and are seeking for some individualistic feature of football club they have supported all their lives. It is advisable for the clubs to keep their traditions going on and keep ensuring the people that the relationship is more than just a consumer and a seller. The spectators seem as if forced by the club to buy from the club and pay more for the clubs’ events to prove to be a real supporter, to prove to belong. It is alarming to hear that the tickets’ are so expensive as never before. I will list the prices of the Premier League clubs in the section III, but just for comparison we could point out that for instance Nottingham Forest of League 1, which is practically the third division, charge Ł24 per match. This is a price which is even higher than the prices of the most famous teams in Germany or Spain playing the top divisions . The club and the spectator relationship should be balanced to ensure all social classes to have wide possibility to watch their clubs.

The richest clubs now have global chance to hire players. All players have got a desire to play in the Premier League, partly due to its quality but also because of the high wages awaiting. The new trend that have been reported sees players with no loyalty for the club. The players are just looking for the best contracts and do not care if they are going to be a part of the first team or not till their wages are paid. There are exceptions to this theory, though. Still we have to repeat that the appearance of the best foreign players in Britain have brought TV audience from all over the world.

1.7 Cited sources used for section ‘Players’:

British Studies Web Pages : Sport [online]. 2003 [qt. 2006-07-21]. Available from WWW:

Deloitte : Annual Review of Football Finance [online]. 2006 , 11 August 2004 [cit. 2006-02-05]. Available from WWW:

23 53D56077,00.htm >.

Encyclopædia Britannica : Professionalism (Football) [online]. 2006 [qt. 2006-07-02]. Available from WWW: .

England : Wages Fall but Premier League still spend Big [online]. 2006, 1 June 2006 [qt. 2006-07-18] Available from WWW:

FIFA : An Ill Wind Blows Some Good [online]. 1996 [qt. 2006-02-03] Available from WWW:

GARLAND, J.; ROWE, M. (2001) Racism and Anti-Racism in Football. Wiltshire: Antony Rowe Ltd., 2001. 304 p. ISBN 0333730798.

HOWARD, S.;SAYCE, R. (1998) Fact Sheet 11 : Branding, sponsorship and commerce in football [online]. 1998 , August 2002 [cit. 2006-06-18]. Available from WWW: .

LOWREY, J.; NEATROUS, S.; WILLIAMS, J. (2002) Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research : Fact Sheet 16: The Bosman Ruling, Football Transfers and Foreign Footballers [online]. Leicester : 2002 , 2 May 2003 [cit. 2006-02-11]. Available from WWW: .

SOAR, P.; TYLER, M. (1977) Encyclopedia of British Football . Edited by Phil Soar,Martin Tyler. Great Britain : Severn Valley Press Limited, 1977. 500 p. 2. ISBN 0856853097.

The Association of Football Statisticians : Biggest Transfers In World Football History [online]. 2006, 13 December 2004 [qt. 2006-07/19] Available from WWW:

24

The Definite History of Leeds United : Football in Britain [online]. 2004 [qt. 2006-07- 17]. Available from WWW:

The Official Site of Middlesbrough Football Club : Boro Squad [online]. 2006 [qt. 2006-07-18] Available from WWW:

Wikipedia : The Time Line of English Football [online]. 19 July 2006 [qt. 2006-07-20]. Available from WWW:

25 2. People

2.1 Introduction

The position of spectator stands for another active participant concerning the football matches. The following text is about fans. The anonymity of an enormous crowd gives a person or a group great opportunity to express their opinions in whatever way it may be. Here we deal with an extreme behaviour at football stadium and terrace culture of the 1970s and 1980s. The football fans’ misbehaviour was very common these years resulting among others in the Heysel tragedy in 1985 Belgium. It was a period of frequent troubles, which I will specify further on, that forced the government to implement changes to the British law system regarding football fans.

The British Isles with its long football history present us with a lot of issues to focus on. One of them is certainly racism. It has taken a long time to convince the top football clubs into just sense the problem. Black player was disdained by certain football authorities. Although this affirmation may sound controversial I will support the fact by the evidence later in the text of this section . This malconduct towards the black players appeared among spectators also and was cannily abused by radical political parties such as The National Front. The National Front followers were witnessed to be in the crowd causing a tragedy at Heysel football ground, Belgium. In the following chapter I will describe the matter in detail.

This section focuses on the phenomena of hooliganism. In this dissertation work we will stick to the term hooligan, however the exact definition of the term is not clear. Dunning et al . (2002, pp. 1–2) mention in his book that ‘hooliganism’ is really a construct of the media and politicians and is not a definitive legal or sociological concept. The manners of the hooligans are studied thanks to the journalist who infiltrated the Manchester hooligan group so-called ‘firm’. The study of the Sheffield FC ‘ultrafans’ behaviour by Gary Armstrong could also help us to better understand the British football disorderly behaved fans. His research have started in the late 1960s and continues to this day. The text will further target the established hooligan organisations comparing them to military ones. The ‘lads’ fights for honour of their ‘firm’ and their football club.

26

In the conclusion part it is also suggested that a participation of the top football players in eliminating misbehaviour should be enlarged.

We will not neglect the role of the police in modern football and the effect they have on the result of the event. We will see the police forces play an important role in managing the crowd, we will demonstrate the changes of the attitudes towards the fans. Although the police tries to eliminate the misbehaviour by all means ; the trend police units have been following last decades is judged as oppression by some football authors. Description of their ideas is a part of this section too.

2.2 British football and racism

It used to be very hard to settle in the British leagues for black players. The problem lies in the history closely tied with the nation and the racist part of colonial times, it is connected with the years of British history that was dominated by notions of ‘race’ and Empire. The recognising football as an organised leisure activity for players and spectators is strongly linked with high point of imperialism. Because of the British people viewing football as their game, it had been difficult for black players to be accepted in this sport in last decades of 19th century. Similar situation continued until the First World War. First black players had already pioneered, though.

Garland and Rowe (2001,pp. 22) speak about the important connection between the game and the educational institutions…..The game played a role in the institution that were providing the moral, religious and cultural values – in many respects the association of such benefits with football came as a direct result of the public school and university roots of the game – also bounded to national identity. The outcome resulted in little will to except other football nations. I assume that could have been one of the reasons why English national squad did not take part in World Cups until 1950.

27 When the clubs started to compete outside the Isles in the 1950s the racists remarks appeared as the echo of glorious past. As the result certain football authorities and people around football including fans regarded black footballers inferior. Their ability to play football was underestimated. Former chairman of Everton claimed that he believed black players were incapable of performing at the top of their game once the English winter sets in. They were further denounced for: lack of discipline ; to be unable to play in the mud ; not having a stamina ; lack of consistency. The Africans were claimed not to be able to play in boots. It was thought by senior football officials and others that they could not play anywhere else in the field but front. Black players were accused of giving up heavy tackling too easily.

Commonly seen black footballers’ strong physical potential or just the colour has seemed to provoke racists to compare black players to barbarous beings with intellectual limits. The racism on the football terraces is more vivid than the casual racism that in some clubs have become an everyday routine. The racism that appears on the stands may be divided to an individual oral attack or racist chanting. One of the most common is the sound produced by the crowd to simulate monkey-call. Particular chants heard are sung to various well-known tunes. In 2004 the Spanish Football Federation was fined $87,340 by FIFA. The Spanish fans were reported to be making monkey sounds. England playing Spain fielded black players.

The football fans did not hesitate to go further beyond the ‘acceptable banter’ in 1980s. According to an Arsenal fan, hurling racial abusements was a fairly common occasion: ‘Even though Arsenal had black players, the Arsenal crowd would boo the opposing black players when they got the ball’ (GARLAND and ROWE, 2001,pp. 44). This fact could be for some fans a reason to defend themselves and to claim that it is not about racism, because the group of fans is abusing only the opponents’ players which should be considered as common behaviour not motivated by racism.

Dougie Brimson describes another incident of these years (2006, pp. 142):

”Chelsea, already known for having a huge hooligan following and extremely racist element among its support, had all but taken over the ground and had spent the first half racially abusing the great Vince Hilaire…A short time into the second half, the Chelsea

28 bench decided to make a change and up to the line stepped Paul Canonville…… Almost immediately, the Chelsea support began hurling abuse at him, and it wasn´t simple monkey chants, but Nazi salutes and songs such as ‘We don’t need the nigger, we don’t need the nigger,la,la,la,la’.”

The supporters of certain clubs showered black player with bananas and peanuts. It could not be understood as a strategy to disturb an opponent player, since even the black players representing their own clubs were spotted to be thrown bananas at. John Barnes debuted in Liverpool’s away match in 1987-88 went through the same situation ( Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research , November 2001). Blacks were sometimes examined face to face to the abusing crowd whether they can face it or not, two of the best players of the 1990s did not put up. Both Ian Wright and Rio Ferdinand were found by the scouts playing for non-league teams. Rio Ferdinand had sheer hatred for the claim about white boys having a chip on their shoulder. On the contrary the Wimbledon midfielder ,Robbie Earle, has proclaimed the monkey noises to be the same as the abusement of the white players such as calling Paul Gascoigne ‘fat bastard’ or making donkey noises when Tony Adams is on the pitch. Robbie Earle does not demand to have any investigation into any example of the monkey call.

Some individual oral attacks ended up in player’s storm of the person abusing. Eric Cantona, former French National Squad captain, was banned from playing for six month while he was in Manchester United in 1995 after insulting a fan Matthew Simmons. Cantona claimed the fan threw a missile at him and was shouting racial abuses. Before the case was passed sentence on ,Crystal Palace had withdrawn the fan’s season ticket because of his breaking the ground rules. The Cantona incidents and the situation after may not stand for a perfect example of a racial abusing from the fans. Because Matthew Simmons was accused to be shouting: ‘French’ to a French ex- captain. Understandably, for some it may not reach the same level as the abusements being shouted at the black footballers, however the racism does not have to be always about black and white. Still it should be highlighted that Eric Cantona was not an anti- racist icon. This incident was treated with a certain respect to a new campaign against racism. The full abusement shouted at E. Cantona by the fan was: ‘You dirty French bastard! Fuck off back to France’. A similar incident to Cantona’s happened already in 1920s. A unknown man from the spectators’ crowd had shouted an abusive sentence

29 calling William Dean a black bastard. Dean, known as ‘Dixie’, gently refused helping hand of the approaching policemen and managed it by himself punching hard the offender.

To be precise we have to differentiate among the clubs in the top leagues. West Bromwich Albion found the path to sign black players already in the 1970s. The Deputy Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers Association Brendon Batson has been helping players with their on and off field problems. He played for Arsenal London as the first black player of this London team. In 1978 he moved to West Bromwich Albion called upon by Ron Atkinson the manager. It was a great racism challenge since the team simultaneously fielded three black players in the offence. The trio consisted of Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham ,and Brendon Batson. Cyrille Regis received a bullet by the post after he had been selected for an English National Team. Unfortunately, Ron Atkinson, being the pioneer manager fielding the black players on the pitch, was heard ,when acting as a summariser on television , to call Marcel Desailley from Chelsea FC ‘a fucking lazy, thick nigger’ in Chelsea’s match against Monaco in 2004. Ron Atkinson regretted his mistakes and apologised to the Chelsea star and resigned from his position in the media.

Andrew Watson was a son of wealthy Scotsman. He came back to Britain from British Guyana to study at Glasgow University. It made him to be the first black footballer to be playing in the Isles, when he signed for Maxwell FC in 1874. He changed the club for the most prestigious in Scotland , Queen’s Park, in 1879. He was the captain of the Scottish football team beating England 6-1 at Kennington Oval in 1881 ; this match made him to be not only the first black player to play international match but also first non-white to captain his country.

The second black star that had appeared in Britain ,before the real breakthrough of black footballers, was Arthur Wharton. Unlike years later when the journalists were defending Walter Tull against Bristol hooligans, Arthur Wharton did not like newspapers and had a reason for it. The journalism was filled with prejudices against him. They wrote about him: ‘Wharton, who is none other than the Darkie who used to guard the North End citadel’ (VASILI, 1998,pp. 87). He started playing for Rotherham United as fully

30 professional in 1889. Arthur Wharton was a great goalkeeper with a unique style. Nevertheless, he died as a heavy drinker and was buried under an unmarked grave.

The outstanding character of Walter Tull denied all the doubts about football skills of black players. Moreover, he also fulfilled the nation duty as he served and died in the British Army. He came across his first taste of racist abuse playing for Tottenham Hotspur against Bristol. The press defended the player against the Bristol City fans:

”Let me tell those Bristol hooligans that Tull is so clean in mind and method as to be a model for all white men who play football whether they be amateur or professional.” (BRIMSON, 2006, pp. 137)

It probably had a bad effect on his career with the ‘Spurs’. He had not played for London’s Tottenham many games and was sold to Northampton Town in 1911. He bravely fought for the British nation in the First World War and was awarded the British War and Victory Medal. Interestingly, there functioned a special battalion of the Middlesex Regiment made up of professional players. Although the military law excluded blacks to be officers, he finally became an officer thanks to his superiors. He began his officer’s career in the so called Second Football Battalion on the Italian front. The Walter Tull Memorial and Garden of Rest ,build in Northampton Town, was opened in 1999.

The era after WWII had seen many more black people signing for the clubs. One of the most significant post war characters was born in London – Jack Leslie. He scored more than 400 goals for Plymouth in 14 years of his services. Leslie was informed by his manager that he be selected for the national squad, however the official note did never come. Johanneson became the first black to be on the pitch when the FA Cup final was playing in 1965. Clyde Best was a prolific goalscorer, he was a footballer who had paved the way for the others thanks to the TV matches that brought him great popularity over Britain. He, in fact, could mark the end of an old era. Ron Greenwood ,future England manager, forecasted rising number of blacks in the league in ten years, when he saw Clyde Best playing football for West Ham United accompanied by another black Ade Cooker in 1971. Justin Fashanu was a player of great quality in 1980s, he played

31 for Norwich City. He was transferred for 1 million pounds. This sum paid by Nottingham Forest made him the first black to be transferred for such a sum of money.

The breakthrough has displayed in national team finally too. Viv Anderson became the first black footballer who played for England. Luther Bisset, former Watford striker born in Jamaica, debuted for England in 1983. He was the first black goal scorer for England with his hat trick against Luxembourg in 1982. He then came back to Watford and became a part of the coaching set-up. Shaka Hislop , top-class West Ham goalkeeper, has persuaded all the cynics that black player could play any position in the field.

The footballers were followed by the black pioneers in management of the clubs. Tony Collins became the first black manager hired by a professional team in Britain. He worked for Rochdale in early 1960s. Ruud Gullit , a football legend, worked successfully as the first black premiership manager for London club Chelsea. Ruud Gullit with his international contacts brought stars from Italian Serie A. However the new contract was not singed in the year 1998 and he was replaced. Gullit became known thanks to his ability in seeking talented young players. The First Black referee came from Jamaica. Uriah Rennie , known for his calm and vocal presence, has been promoted to the Premiership for his qualified performances.

The 1970s and 1980s according to evidence were years when the extreme right-wing political parties gained the greatest support in their history. Slogans, scarves, badges with National Front symbols being sold outside the grounds known to be notorious for the racism of their club supporters. London venues such as Chelsea FC or West Ham United were famed for racist behaviour of their fans ; Leeds United and Newcastle United were from outside the capital where people also had regularly spotted the sympathisers of the extreme right wing distributing racist literature in 1980s. The National Front youth newspaper Bulldog started to carry a new column ,devoted to football, which openly incited hatred against blacks. The column named ‘On The Football Front’ were calling the followers to join the fight for race and nation ( Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research , November 2001). Nazi slogans and other symbols were common for the fans who travelled with national team abroad in 1980s.

32 West Ham’s Upton Park, Leeds United, Newcastle United and Chelsea saw a growing amount of extreme right-wing sympathisers. The supporters recruited from the fans sided with The National Front. The NF reached the highest number of its members in 1970s, the party had as many as 20,000 members by 1974, it did particularly well in local elections and polled 44% in Deptford, London ( Wikipedia , 2006). The party was representing the ideas associated with colonialist and conservative Britain opposing any liberalism. The NF, founded in 1967, was known for its demonstrations in London where it usually faced anti-fascist protestors in 1970s. Their watchword that time was ‘England for English’. On their meetings they were singing racist songs. They misused the slogan of the supportive campaign for Africa ‘Make Poverty History’ launched in the British Isles and changed it to ‘Make Africa history’.

Radical political parties such as The National Front or The British National Party largely operated at the football matches between the years 1970 – 1990. Football fans were used to highlight radical ideas including racism. People on the stands were rather transmitting the radical views these years. It would be a mistake to indicate fans as the source of it. The National Front and other parties profited from the national attention at football matches. The radicals gained cheap publicity. In late 1970s in London sympathisers were spotted leafleting in and outside the football stadia. Chelsea hooligans became a core of the movement in London also transferring the ideas abroad following the away matches in European Championship.

Many people re-assessed their minds and stopped supporting racist movements after the tragedies in the second half of 1980s, some may also have been influenced by campaigns against racism in football in 1990s, however occasional actions reported show the right wing extremist have not disappeared in 1980s. Brendon Batson told the press that he was humbled as the NF sympathisers were spitting at him during a rally of National Front supporters in Bradford. In 1995 a small number of extremist was on blame for rioting in Dublin on the day of match between England and the Republic of Ireland. The rioting English fans forced the match abandonment (BRIMSON, 2006, pp. 147). The chant ‘No surrender to IRA’ was heard many times.

Frequent clubs’ answer to the anti-racist campaigns was negative, the clubs usually

33 denied the existence of racism at their stadia. There were launched a lot of various anti- racist campaigns in various regions: some of them being national, some regional, and others connected just with the club or fans of the club.

In Season 1993/94 The Campaigns Unit at the Commission for Racial Equality developed new campaign ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football’. The campaign encouraged the clubs to openly declare their opposition to racism through their matchday program. They urged them also to place ‘Let’s Kick Racism’ posters and advertising around the pitch. The Commission for Racial Equality made a nine-point action plan. The 5th point, for example, advised disciplinary action against players who shout racist abuse at players during matches. All the points are cited further in this chapter.

During the season 1994/95 the campaign was changed slightly and renamed to ‘Let’s Kick Racism – Respect All Fans’. The Advisory Group Against Racism and Intimidation (AGARI) took this campaign over. The renewed campaign targeted various areas such as working with young people. If nothing had been achieved by this campaign, at least the clubs sensed their responsibility for tackling racism.

Logically, the clubs have decided to take part in the campaign as it was much cheaper for them than to invest the club money on developing their own strategy and also they were not willing to undergo a certain criticism after not joining in. Even though Ian Wright expressed a different opinion about the new campaign against the racism.

”One season I was criticised for not giving my full support to a campaign, but then a fortnight later Arsenal were playing Barnsley in the Coca-Cola Cup and Glen Helder and I were booed from the start to finish, not just by handful of Barnsley supporters, but virtually a whole stand… I am sick of these trendy campaigns that seem to come around once every season, are in the spotlight for five minutes and still nothing changes.” (WRIGHT, 1996, pp. 11)

The regional schemes played also an important role in the movement against racism. Fans of Sheffield United, grouped in organisation with an abbreviated name FURD,

34 focused on commemoration the life of black player Arthur Wharton. The group FURD managed to fund a memorial in recognition of his praiseworthy life. The measurable success of FURD endeavour was.....the highest attendance of black supporters at Bramall Lane in season 1997/98 ( Football Task Force , 1998). All the actions were done with the supporting help of a fanzine Flashing Blade. Hounslow came up with a ‘Equality Through Sport’ project. Similarly there appeared ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ campaign in the North of England, this campaign gained national attraction after the anti-racist video for the schoolchildren.

The video was accompanied by a special educational material for related classroom activity. The video cassettes where players discuss racism and football were distributed in 1996. The Advisory Group Against Racism and Intimidation reproached the North England campaigners for too strong focus on the far-right activist connection with football. However it was a success which have brought Ł20,000 funding from the European Union for another video. The second video was produced in 1997. It has included more than 50 footballers from 15 countries discussing the issue of racism in football. ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ and also the Hounslow’s ‘Equality Through Sport’ camping aimed at children in schools.

Some of the clubs got involved in this anti-racist initiative too. Northampton Town donated tickets for community groups. The statement against racism and great amounts of anti-racist leaflets was part of the club’s policy as well. The club has also provided coaching courses for minority groups. They also have accepted and co-operated on the idea of commemorating their former player Walter Tull.

Another club developed anti-racist campaign was at West Bromwich Albion: ‘We All Stand Together’. One of the most innovative and good working example to follow may be seen in the club of Leyton Orient. It is not a top league club ; however the club’s program can offer for instance coaching courses and training sessions for even elderly or people with disabilities. In 1990s the club encouraged the anti-racist play to be written and performed. The play was called Kicking Out and was staged by The Arc Theatre Ensemble. It was performed 581 times and was seen by over 110,000 schoolchildren around 14 years old.

35 Celtic Glasgow has challenged not only racism but also the sectarianism within their fans. ‘Bhoys Against Bigotry’ was launched in 1996. Charlton successfully combined all the elements of football forming the ‘Charlton Athletics Race Equality Partnership’ (CARE). This organisation included among others representatives from the club, supporters’ organisations, local authorities, community organisations, and police. In 1992 there began to exist a new scheme in Charlton with the help of CARE: ‘Red, White and Black at the Valley’. The visits of players to schools were one of the most interesting initiative urged by the CARE organisation in Charlton. Charlton together with Millwall and Crystal Palace entered the South London Partnership Against Racism in 1997.

We should not forget about fans standing up against the oppression of the black players. The fans established left-wing or anti racist groups. The first members were fans with no deeper political interests, they just as if have seen the possibility to do something and then finally decide to become involved in fans’ anti-racist movement. Leeds United’s fan were sick of the fascist literature sold outside the stadium and formed ‘Leeds Fans United Against Racism and Fascism’. This organised group of fans is said to have a unquestionable impact on the change of the atmosphere at Elland Road stadium. Arsenal striker Ian Wright (1996,pp. 50) was moved to say: ‘I think it’s a giant step because Leeds were really bad….it’s changed a lot.’. The group of fans united against racism was founded in 1987 and was the first to be handing out anti-racist leaflets in the Leeds United’s Elland Road.

This campaigners from Leeds United were followed by fans from Leicester City and their ‘Foxes Against Racism’. In Newcastle another group started to operate under a name ‘Newcastle United Against Racism’. In spite of the fact that the idea of anti-racist football fans is very sophisticated, the way to achieve this goal seems to differentiate from the clubs’ schemes or regional to national schemes. The fans mostly decided to confront the racist groups physically. At some clubs even cartoons depicting violence against nazis have been printed and distributed.

As the fight against racism had been growing, one of the most profitable companies connected with sport ,Nike, also got involved in one of the biggest campaigns ‘Speak

36 Up, Speak Out’. The corporation produced 5 million black and white wristbands for fans to wear showing support. Nike has produced special T-shirts for the Manchester United versus Arsenal game, since both great black players of the teams Rio Ferdinand and Thierry Henry played part in the FA initiative ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’. Even though the involvement of the firm seemed to be a good step for financial reasons at the beginning, it did not at the end. Nike company was criticised producing the wristbands in factories of the third world where children are employed to ease the pain of highly paid players in Britain. Garry Neville, Manchester football player, made a public speech the day after he had refused to put on a Nike T-shirt before the match against Arsenal ; Wayne Rooney started handing the T-shirt to the players of Manchester in the dressing room without the FA approval. Garry Neville explained his refusal of the T-shirt to BBC Sport ( 10 February 2005):

”The FA and the England team have always campaigned against racism very well. We have just got to be aware that it is not cheapened slightly by companies like Nike getting a lot of PR out of it for nothing.”

The vivid racial manifestation has been reduced thanks to many reasons : namely people changed their minds after the years of tragedies ; the police forces became managing the crowd much better with a straight control thanks to the all-seater stadia and the camera systems ; the black players themselves convinced traditional British spectator about their qualities ; anti-racist movement has also played its role in this very complex process. This change was also achieved with the help of the government and various organisation including the FA.

In 1993 the Commission for Racial Equality came with a new campaign ‘Lets Kick Racism Out of Football’, as mentioned earlier in this section. For the first time all the professional football clubs were included into the campaign. The aim was to persuade them to follow ten point action plan.

The points in the action plan of the campaign ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football’ published on the web pages of Social Issues Research Centre (1996) are as follows:

37 1. Issue a statement saying that the club will not tolerate racism, and will take action against supporters who engage in racist abuse, racist chanting or intimidation.

2. Make public announcements condemning any racist chanting at matches, and warning supporters that the club will not hesitate to take action.

3. Make it a condition for season ticket holders that they do not take part in racist abuse, racist chanting or any other offensive behaviour.

4. Prevent the sale or distribution of racist literature in and around the ground on match-days.

5. Take disciplinary action against players who make racially abusive remarks at players, officials or supporters before, during or after matches.

6. Contact other clubs to make sure they understand the club's policy on racism.

7. Make sure stewards and the police understand the problem and the club's policy, and have a common strategy for removing or dealing with supporters who are abusive and breaking the law on football offences.

8. Remove all racist graffiti from the ground as a matter of urgency.

8. Adopt an equal opportunities policy to cover employment and service provision.

10. Work with other groups and agencies – such as the police, the local authority, the PFA, the supporters, schools, etc. – to develop initiatives to raise awareness of the campaign and eliminate racist abuse and discrimination.

In 1997 the ‘Let’s kick the racism out of Football’ renamed and widened. The new ‘Kick it Out’ campaign fought also against intimidation. The key factor in reducing the racism is the continuing integration of the minorities. David Mellor’s Task Force promoted to be compulsory for steward , operating at football match, to be trained in

38 cultural diversity training programmes. The percentage of the black players in England is more than ever before. In the season 1999/2000 300 players out of total 2000 professional players were black which equals to 15% (BRIMSON, 2006,pp. 153). The Cross of St.George, symbol that was used by the national extremists, was regained for the public and is accepted by the Britons as a symbol for the England’s squad.

In spite of the fact that Britain has been more less successful in a decrease of racist abuse, whatever the cause may be, some other European countries has come to realise the problem, since mostly among fans in Eastern Europe the problem has been spotted recently. Emile Heskey was the main target of the Slovakian fans’ racial abusement in 2004 qualifier in Bratislava. Slovakia played England.

Gerard Houllier, Liverpool boss, presents us with an extraordinary solution to this problematic situation when the match is ruined by people hurling racists abusement.

”I would be prepared to take my players off…Racism is a real problem in football. I remember one game I watched in particular, when the England under-21 players were playing Barcelona……Emile Heskey was playing centre forward and he got a lot of abuse and he had to draw on nerves of steel to keep his head down and not answer back..”(WATSON,2003)

He reacted to the barrage of abuse that has been shouted at Emile Heskey during the England’s match against Macedonia in 2004. Understandably, UEFA headquarters advised not to leave the pitch in this situation for various technical reasons.

As we can see, the work on the field of racism is far from being finished. It is surprising fact that the number of people from British Asians communities present at football matches is very low. Football experts think the same sort of underestimation that the blacks had faced from British at the beginning of their football history on the British Isles could be applied to the Asians in 21st century. As Garland and Rowe think (2001,pp. 52)…..British Asians participation at professional level has suffered through commonly-held assumptions of physical weakness and lack of stature, views held by many within the game that have seemingly prevented a breakthrough of Asian footballers into the top level of the sport. We should point out that it is true about the

39 number of spectators as well as players. One of the possible explanations is that the members of the community probably do not have any examples to follow. Especially Asian communities might be very closed, ruled by the strong traditions brought from home countries ,and the religion playing an important role. These facts could to some extend limit the possibility to join the British football society, together with other things. According to Sport England Survey (McLEAN, 2000) , the Asians participated in the sport generally much less than the other black people in the years 1999/2000 ,except the black people from Caribbean because their number is similar to the Asian communities around 33 %.

2.3 Hooliganism and the trio of tragedies

The British politicians promised investigations in the cases where growing misdemeanour behaviour appeared at football grounds. The government failed to make an effective intervention in time. In 1984 English National Team played against France, drunken English hooligans attacked local fans. Around the year 1985 the football violence flooded England.

The tables of the National Cervise Inteligence Squad clearly illustrates the rising of the arrests at the football matches. 6,147 People got arrested in 1987/88 season in all divisions of British football compared to 3,391 arrests in 2000/01 season. The situation was unbearable and resulted in a tragedy abroad.

39 People died in the spectator violence in Brussels at Heysel stadium on May 29 1985. The National Front supporters from Liverpool fans were witnessed to take an active part. It was the European Club Final between Liverpool FC and Italian Juventus Turin. English hooligans were reported to be inciting the spectator violence. Sympathisers of the NF with tattooed swastikas from London in Liverpool colours were seen at the station in Brussels according to the final report of the judge Popplewell. This report also found out a lot of witnesses who saw people with the National Front symbols or

40 writings among the English hooligans before the tragedy. Popplewell report is certain about the presence of the NF contingent in block Y and X at the stadium.

The violence broke out 1,5 hours before the match. The Liverpool supporters pierced a little fence and assaulted the Juventus fans. The Italians tried to run away, many crushed against the wall that finally collapsed. Number of fans died under the bricks of the collapsed wall. The situation was embittered by some Englishmen using knives.

Belgium police did not control the situation at all. The Heysel Stadium was a neglected ground built in 1920, the game was to be the last, the stadium did not meet the level of safety needed for such a tensioned match. Vandalism and attacks had been going on for all the day, unfortunately local police reacted by moving fans to the stadium as fast as possible instead of taking the worst participants into the custody.

If we are to have the complete image of the 1980s, we should describe another two disasters which were not caused due to the hooliganism but forced number of inquiries into the stadia safety. Lord Justice Taylor and Lord Justice Popplewell inquiry has changed football on The British Isles. The disaster at Bradford City stadium was caused by fire, by the accidental dropping of a match or a cigarette stubbed out in a polystyrene cup , respectively. The fire began to burn much more because of the rubbish underneath the wooden stand. 56 Supporters died and about 256 were injured.

The second disaster happened on Saturday 15th April 1989. Liverpool was playing Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, the ground of Sheffield Wednesday. Because of delays at the turnstiles ,as the police were searching for alcohol, and the roadworks on one of the motorways leading to the city of Sheffield, the spectators began gathering in large numbers in front of the stadium short time before the kick-off. People wanted to see the match and so this bottleneck of the mass of people were trying to get into the ground pushing against the closed gates, the situation became unbearable and one of the officers in charge order to open gate C. Thanks to such sad judgement of the situation certain section of the terraces became fatally overcrowded because of people rushing in to see their team playing. The fans could not escape from the pens because of the perimeter fence. Ninety-six people died. All three main and sad

41 disasters marked the old era of football in UK. Changes advised in the enquiries were implemented into the law. The stadia became all-seated. The security was supported by new strict acts of law aimed also against disorder.

The first massive riots in football history happened in Scotland between the two rival teams in Glasgow in 1909. Celtic and Rangers Glasgow have been trying to put one over on each other ever since the teams came into an existence. The referee took a wrong decision in the first match , the second match ended in goalless draw which intensified the pressure.

The hooligan activities seemed to go back to 1930s, it was a decade when it began to develop in Scotland. The football disorder south of the border in Britain started to be addressed around 30 years later. The Scottish authorities took as first the step to ban the alcohol consumption inside the stadium. Scottish city of Aberdeen was the first one to become all-seated in the UK. The alcohol has been prohibited in the Scottish grounds since 1970s. The city derby has always meant a degree of tension. In Sheffield the first city derby was in 1890 and the supporters of both sides had produced funeral cards announcing the death of the rival side.

The term Hooligan was coined in the 1890s. The origin of the word has been lost to ages. The most acceptable theory goes back to 1980s. An Irishman thief and bouncer Patrick Hooligan and his gang , the Hooley gang, terrorised part of London. The word ‘hooligan’ derives from the name Houlihan or OhUllachain, as the connection to the person it might have referred to was forgotten. The historians also mention a play with a character called ‘Hooligan’ in 1824, so it is likely for the word to be used even before as the theatre practise was to name characters after words describing their manner. The word began to grow in usage during the late years of the twentieth century thanks to the young fans rioting and rebelling at football grounds. Hooliganism was present at football events from the end of the nineteenth century, though. Similar behaviour to hooliganism of ‘roughs’ was often noted. They were causing troubles attacking visiting fans ; chasing rival players out of town ; or even insulting referees in absence of another targets. Between the wars the phenomena of hooliganism seemed to decrease probably due to the feeling of solidarity. It was not till the early 1960s that the media regularly started to cover the hooliganism at matches.

42 The radical football fans of a particular team are often organised in subcultural organisations called ‘firms’. The teams as any grouped individuals could finally work out a special set of gained behaviour as sort of prepared reactions to the usual situations that the team, a hooligan firm in this case, has gone through more times.

The hooligan phenomenon was highlighted by the press in 1960s. This undercover movement was a public secret. The media have also been interested in a phenomenon of the terrace culture produced by the fans standing on the concrete stands. The word has been invented because of its place of origin. The young people did not really answer the call of football but rather the calls of different life style devoted to real rough man. In 1960s first skinheads appeared on the terraces but finally late seventies meant a united style for the fans.

London’s football clubs have been a centre of hooligans for past decades. No other stadium has been closed so many times because of the riots as Millwall. Millwall’s fans chant ‘Nobody likes us and we don’t care’ has interrupted a minute of silence to commemorate the deaths in the Hillsborough tragedy. Despite the fact that the greatest publicity was devoted to London ‘firms’ in 1980s, every club has had its firm ready to fight for the reputation. These times the term ‘superhooligan gang’ was widely used. West Ham ‘Inter-City Firm’ was named after their habit to travel on the Inter-City trains, not boarding usual football special trains. The name was adopted around 1982. The Chelsea’s firm, ‘Headhunters’, were known to be leaving cards after beating a victim. In the card they congratulated the victim to have the honour to be ‘serviced’ by them. Both of these groups were accused of murders of the other firm members. Liverpool’s ‘Nutty Crew’ was proclaimed to play an active role in the Heysel Disaster. Several ‘generals’ of the ‘Cambridge Casuals’ firm were put in jail for using a deadly weapon. Most of the leaders of the firms were there to initiate the attacks. Terry Last , imprisoned for knife attack, led ‘Chelsea Headhunters’. On the contrary it is said that the former West Ham ‘general’ Bill Gardiner fought very rarely him self because the ‘firm’ could not risk his imprisonment. The well known firms outside London were primarily in Leeds United and Newcastle United. After incidents and vandalism some city councillors threatened to ban visiting fans. Luton Town finally took the motion and employed ‘watchers’ to inform about the fans movements. The ongoing violence

43 between Cardiff City and Swansea City almost caused edging out both clubs from the football season.

‘Firms’ are commonly further divided and lead by a general or a major. Every general is accompanied by his bodyguards who should always protect the leader. The organisation evokes real army. The fact could be proved by the army terms widely used by the ‘firm’ members. They are the participants in ‘it’. They define their opponents as ‘them’ or ‘their boys/lads’. They use special language as undercover for various activities and things. They could have various nicknames. Sheffield Wednesday are called ‘Pigs’. Even if their team loses at the away match, they could win, relating to the score of the clash with the supporters of the rival team. For the hooligans the game provides a particular degree of identity. They have ritual chants such as the one of Sheffield United:

”Fight, fight, fight, wherever you may be, we are the famous BBC, and we’ll fight you, whoever you may be, cos we are the famous BBC.” (ARMSTRONG, 1998, pp. 54)

The Heysel tragedy could have been a planned action of revenge by English ‘firms’. It is thought that the tragedy has got its roots in an event one year before. Liverpool were playing AS Roma in the European Cup Final. After the match won by Liverpool the English fans started being haunted by gangs of opponent supporters. A young boy is reported to be seriously wounded. People injured were mostly members of English families coming back to their hotels near by the ground. The Italian police seemed not to endeavour much to protect the English fans. Even though there existed a strong terrace culture of violence those years, Liverpool supporters involved were not considered to be particularly violent, but the news of what happened in Rome dilated fast. The presence of the hooligans of various ‘firms’ indicates some sort of unification in order to fulfil revenge for the incidents in Rome.

44 There is a certain code of manner within the hooligans. In spite of the fact that they know each other they would not tell the names to the police. They would not attack if they in are superior numbers. You should stand your honour and fight, once you run you may cause shame to your firm. The code might be crossed and then there could be plans for a revenge.

Even though the disorder and violence has been radically lowered in the 1990s, there are still incidents being reported. However the place of the football disorder has moved to the streets from the stadia. Still the level of physical confrontation is not comparable to the trend in the early 1980s. The hooliganism feature of confrontation has changed from the physical to verbal in recent decade.

A perfect example is provided by two fan groups from Scotland. According to Dan Brennan (October 2005,pp. 94) everybody could expect a sheer hatred whenever Aberdeen plays Rangers. As it is in most cases, nobody really knows the purpose of the hatred, no one can trace the origin of it. The history of the matches of the clubs is full of incidents on the pitch and among the followers of the team.

The Aberdeen fans are still celebrating the incident in which the Aberdeen’s midfielder ,Neil Simpson, broke the knee of the Rangers’ young player, Ian Durrant. The injury kept the young player two years out of football. The two protagonists of the incident decided to forget, the fans did not. The chant of the Aberdeen fans is sang whenever the two teams meet:

‘Who’s that lying at Pittodrie? Who’s that lying on the floor? It looks like Ian Durrant to me, cos Simmy’s fucked his knee, and he won’t be playing for Rangers anymore.

Nice one Simmy, nice one son. Nice one Simmy, let’s have another one.’ ( BRENNAN, October 2005,pp. 97)

45 The supporters of the domestic teams in the Scottish league are often reported to be behaving aggressively. On the contrary the ‘Tartan Army’, a nickname for the Scottish national supporters, has a reputation of being a group full of cultivated fans.

Disorderly actions of the travelling English fans had threatened the countries which have organised European Championships or World Cups. The World Cup in France in 1998 saw a major disorder of English fans in Marseille. They supported their reputation of bad behaving fans by this act. In 2000 Scotland played England, there were great amount of police forces involved in operation to prevent major incidents. A group of around 50 supporters of England attacked 300 Scottish supporters in Trafalgar Square in London. Fifty-six people were injured.

In spite of the a few serious incidents abroad the fan style of supporting the national team is suggested to be changed. The milestone was probably the Euro Championship in Portugal 2004. The relatively smooth history of Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 enables the icon of English fan gain a new better reputation. It could have been achieved thanks to the banning orders that prevented well known hooligans to travel away from Britain, further depicted in details in chapter four of this section.

It has been tried many times to give reasons for football hooliganism. According to some authors the core of the problem is hidden in the natural violence of the British working class. Bill Buford (1990,pp. 47), a journalist who infiltrated Manchester United’s ‘firm’, does think that the violence was a form of a protest ; the football matches serves as a possibility to give away the frustration. Pursuant to the sociologists young men predominately from working class are expected to be able to take care of themselves. Fights can be quested out because of the enjoyment it brings. They describe the riots and fights to surpass sex. Another source of this behaviour on and out of the football stands could be seen in the nation for which almost every generation has fought in a war. The historically gained predisposition resulted in affective discharge of the violence at football matches. Manchester hooligans abroad started singing ‘Rule Britannia’ loud and spontaneously when they caught a sight of the Italian army uniforms.

46 There was presented a theory that uses the fact that all social interaction works on the bases of theatrical performance. The football hooligans stands for dark side of football with the image of masculinity conveyed in massage of violence or aggression. Violent football supporters are a modern threat and a source of panic in the society. Dougie Brimson (2006,pp. 62) criticises the easy instinctive interpretation, which according to him is not right. The interpretation is focused on class, education, background and politics before rebellion. The theory shows us a hooligan who is right-wing orientated, poorly educated product of broken home. The clear solution for this ‘product’ is to long for a new feeling to belong, simply for a kind of replacement of the family. Armstrong (1998,pp. 20) warns us against making easy judgements saying football hooliganism can not be really explained but adds that a history of space is also a history of power. A hooligan can be considered a romantic rebellious figure with his emphasis on drink, spontaneity, emotional involvement, and physical contact.

2.4 The terrace culture

The fans formed so called casual scene. Casuals differed in style of clothing. Casuals are hooligans who were dressed up in designer casual clothing ; to be dressed in clubs’ colours was of a less importance and, what was worse, attracted too much unwanted attention from police. The new style of dressing made the infiltration of the rival group easier. Fila, Stone Island, Diadora, Lacoste, Benetton, Kappa and Sergio Tacchini were the most wanted labels. The clothes were a ‘uniform’ as well as the haircuts or the style of music. The new cult was brought by the football fans who came back from continental trips. Fans of Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Liverpool and Everton arrived with expensive Italian or French designer clothes. English club supporters started to wear expensive upmarket clothing as a symbol of prominence, however the misbehaviour of ‘Roughs’ or Skinheads remained the same. The casuals are also known for pre-arranging the fights of the ‘firms’. They would face the opposing side outside the stadia. The authorities seemed to not be able to do anything to prevent the incidents or eliminate the growing violence within the new scene. The inability to get

47 them under control ensured the fans to feel somehow ‘untouchable’, a feeling radically changed after the tragedies of late eighties. Later on in the last years of the 20th century the casual scene slowly faded away, however labels such as Stone Island is still being worn.

The links between the British considering themselves superior football nation and the fans’ expensive fashion might work. They felt to be representing the country, the country with glorious past ,respectively. Hooligans firms members used the lack of expensive labelled clothing to differentiate from others. This fact may easily corresponds with every new generation of people trying to self-determinate. Since English clubs were playing abroad in Italy and France, the hooligans were robbing the cloth shops during the rioting all over the old continent bringing home upmarket pieces of clothes.

Bill Buford in his book Among the Thugs (1990,pp. 76) describes how the Manchester hooligan firm travelled abroad. Usually they illegally boarded various means of transportation. The power of the crowd strengthen individuals, the hooligans would be breaking the law looting goods from stores and committing many other offences. This style of life has attracted the youth as much as abusing alcohol or drugs common among hooligans. The banning of alcohol from grounds after the Hillsborough tragedy did not have the implicit effect. It may increased drugging and the alcohol was consumed outside the grounds.

Possibly the echo of the casual plus hooligan cult resulted in establishing new genre of literature. Authors recruits from football fans of the 1980s. They write about the days of the past when they were belonging to the firm. The hooligan literature, as Dougie Brimson calls it, is written for example by Cass Pennant, Martin Knight,and Chris Brown. It became popular new genre. Despite the fact that the reader of this genre is criticised for being manipulated and easily influenced. Daily Express campaigned against this literature in August 2005 and some bookshops refused to sell it. It was even prohibited for one of the authors , Andy Nicholls , to enter the ground of the firm he focused on in his books. Some of the books were used as a script for pictures. Well known low-budget film, The Football Factory , flooded the country with pirated copies.

48 2.5 Police and the crowd

The police forces should be included as an important factor playing also an active role at the league matches trying to keep control of the crowds. O’Neil suggests (2005, pp. 12) that the hooligan ‘team’ and the police ‘team’ often perform with each other (as actors in the same play), rather than for each other (as actors and audience).

Especially British police have had a long time of practice with football hooliganism and disorder. With the help of the law , the club stewards, private security services ,and modern technique they try to eliminate the tension in the streets and at matches. However the strategy that is going on all over the Western Europe, we may call it a zero-tolerance strategy, may have the opposite effect. It could lead to the risk of demonising big section of the fans and makes it even more attractive for young people.

The police use every possible weapon to eliminate the disorder. One of the worth mentioning is Closed Circuit Television(CCTV). It is a technological weapon. CCTV room as well as the holding area is situated inside the stadium with special police entrance. CCTV is a system of cameras build in the stadia to monitor the crowds behaviour. It was pioneered around 1975. It is supported by another hand cameras outside the ground shooting the streets leading to the stadia and also a van ,functioning as a centre outside the ground, is there to move in case of incidents to be filmed. Cameras are also placed on the policemen’s helmets or attached to a dog or a horse. The statistics show decreased number of arrests at matches. In 2004 37% of Premiership matches, 71% of First Division games and 80% in the Second Division were without an arrests, however these figures could be misleading as the convictions are obtained later thanks to CCTV.

Another mean to eliminate the football disorder and related crimes is to infiltrate the firms of hooligans. Although this is not easy, it is known that similar actions were realised for example in rough days of 1986. It was a several years lasting operation. Seven man from Chelsea firm were charged with conspiracy to commit violence, followed in court by hooligans from Millwall, Manchester United, Birmigham City, Leeds United and others. Nevertheless, the police tactic in 1980s were criticised for they

49 tried to discover and imprison the leaders. The police officers believed the remainder would be not able to do any action on its own. Apparently, this was wrong.

FIO is information gathering technique. Football intelligence officers co-operates closely with the club and collects information about local hooligans, The FIOs give away details of ‘lads’’ movement during their travelling to away matches. It has proved to be very effective right from the start within Euro 88. Unfortunately later on, certain officers started to neglect the information passing, because they got too close to the ‘boys’ and a kind of friendship developed. This was noticed largely in Belgium and Holland during Euro 2000. The FIOs could not find the balance between their role and a effective relationship with the fans.

Since the problems with English fans had grown in 1980s a new original football unit was formed to try to eliminate growing problems. This unit was made a part of NCIS in 1990. NCIS provided a central leading and co-ordinating point for all football intelligence officers. Thanks to the FIOs and other police forces the new NICS had a big database of hooligans with photographs right from the start. People who were in the list of the NCIS were divided into sections in accordance with the offence they committed: peaceful supporter – A, possible risk of involvement in disorder – B, violent supporter or organiser of violence – C. NSIC unit had the right to put the banning orders in place. It could be with the domestic or international validity. Due to the growing list of hooligans and the thread of being ahead for 2004 Euro in Portugal 2700 banning orders were put in place and the Portuguese introduced the borders control again to ensure matches without riots and disorders. The police in Portugal had the power to stop and search anyone suspected to be possible troublemaker.

NSIC, the main intelligence gathering body in the UK, was absorbed into larger unit named Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). Then finally again a unit dedicated only to football was established as a department within SOCA – the UK Football Policing Unit came into existence in 2006. This UK FPU should deal with all cases relating to football.

With the list of addresses of the troublemakers, police could easily warn them not to show during certain matches as it had been done in August before the English National

50 Team faced Liechtenstein at Old Trafford, Manchester in 2000: ‘If you travel to, or are sighted in Manchester city centre, or the vicinity to become involved in football-related disorder and police action will be taken against you’. (BRIMSON, 2006, pp. 43)

The law was strengthened by the Government during last decade: the Football Offence Act is dealing with throwing missiles, invading the pitch and taking part in racist incidents or chanting ; the Football Disorder and Disorder Act were revised in 1999.

In spite of the fact that football grounds became places of more safety and the disorder is limited partly thanks to police and modern technologies being it for sure more complex matter, in the solution chapter I will present another view which sees the approach of the police as being too strict and sometimes punishing people according to little evidence.

2.6 Conclusion

Although the British Asians breakthrough has not occurred yet, the first black players challenged racism and the example is now being followed by many others. Thanks to them according to all the evidence the strongest period of racism has passed. The black players has been proving their qualities in the top leagues on the British Isles. The top players also accompanied the challenge. Many of them helped to record a video to show support for the fight against racism. Using top players may work as the most effective weapon. These top footballers gain respect by the fans. It’s advisable for them to criticise the racism baldly at all times. Logically white players could help much more in this issue openly expressing their opinion about the racists and racism. The white British citizen ,who is critical about the racist activity, could influence the fans to reassess his/her attitude to the racist issue, which is felt by many fans as exaggerated. It is a criticism as if from the inside of the white society. In other words the critical statement would be uttered by a member of the race the racist recognise as superior, hence they may listen to it. Garland and Rowe (2001,pp. 12) have mentioned an

51 opinion on the media coverage of the anti-racist projects and campaign stating that ...... indeed, for much of the press, racism is a creation of the anti-racists who have manufactured the problem. The fans should develop more sophisticated understanding of racism to be really effective in eliminating it. One of the most important goals of the anti-racist campaigns should be to force individuals among managers and players gain feeling that anti-racism movement within football is a thing they want to be part of.

The scouting system should be adjusted. The clubs should be co-operating with the minorities living in the city/town. The Asian participation within the sport can not and should not be forced, however the football authorities in British society has to ensure equal chances for all the citizens of the country to play football at every level. It is in terms of the incommunicativeness of the club and of the minorities afraid to cross sort of unwritten law. Racism on the stands ought to be more effectively addressed by the clubs which are, in fact, not fully participating. The clubs can also prosper from minority ethnic workers. The FA runs a various training programs for ethnic minority workers. These trained workers should establish and keep alive the link between clubs and minorities. They should be a part of the administrative body of the professional football clubs, however they according to many reports are still under-represented. We could do nothing but wait till the clubs will find out that there might be an effective outcome in establishing link to the minority – in discovering new talented players for the Academies for instance.

On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that the whole western world began to be to some extend suspicious about Asian communities, Islamic respectively, due to the terrorists attacks in September 11, 2001. However far it seems to be from the football related issues, seeing the communities in the Western Europe celebrating the attacks may influence the attitude of the others.

Hooliganism was a key factor in the Heysel tragedy. It probably could have been avoided if the local police would have eliminated the rioting groups from the start. The state of the football ground did not allow to host such a tensioned match. The Union of European Football Associations decided very badly the place. The Belgium police did not consult the possible events with the British police. The situation was worsen by various ‘firms’ contingents accumulating in one place.

52

It may be preferred to watch football without any marks of human segregation as encircling by fence. This trend has valued the people’s solidarity, even though it might be dangerous.

The attitudes towards hooliganism has changed rapidly. The trials in Britain has started to pass on strict judgements and are able to ban fans from the grounds in and outside of the British Isles because of the new legislation. Nevertheless, the rough boys would hardly disappear from the football matches. The antisocial behaviour that has been always connected with football stands will not fade away completely. The great change rests in no longer commonly seen street battles of 1970s and 1980s mainly thanks to all seated stadia. The terrace culture known from the past decades slowly faded away. The majority of football matches in the UK no longer experience any severe spectator disorder (O’NEIL, 2005,pp. 14). British football match could be seen as a relatively safe place to go. For example in season 2004/05 37 million people went through turnstiles and the average arrests per game was as low as 1.21.

Football supporters have been a subject of legislation ,which has been tightened up and is strictly controlling movements of the fans, since the Hillsborough Stadium disaster in April 1989. The police power has increased. The arrests at matches figures may be so low because of the CCTV which delays the arrests after the match. The fact that you could be banned from the stadia by the court based on the evidence dating back up to ten years does not leave a place for an individual to undergo certain changes and during these ten years to become a well behaved citizen. Police may easily abuse the power. The section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order act could serve as a little example. The police officers are allowed to stop anyone who either has been, or is likely to become, involved in acts of violence. This section of 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act practically allows police forces to stop anyone anytime. It is also suggested that only inexperienced fans usually get caught, but the real disorderly behaved hooligans would know how to escape. The policing football, to be fair, is to some degree understandable after all the violence in 1970s and 1980s. The ordinary fans undoubtedly could be appreciating more safety. The fan at football is no more anonymous because of the tickets registered with a name and a seat of the stadium, a fact that allows the police to gain full control of what is going on in every section.

53 2.7 Cited sources used in section ‘People’:

ARMSTRONG, G. (1998) Football Hooligans : Knowing the Score. Oxford : Berg Publishers Ltd., 1998. 320p. ISBN 1859739571.

BBC Sport : Nike hits back at Neville [online]. 10 February 2005 [qt.2006-06-11]. Available from WWW:

BRENAN, D. (October 2005) Our friends in the North. FourFourTwo:More than a game. r October 2005, no. 134, pp. 94-98. ISSN 13550276

BRIMSON, D. (2006 ) Kicking Off : Why hooliganism and racism are killing football. London : Headline Book Publishing, 2006. 210p. ISBN 0755314328

BUFORD, B. (1990) Among the Thugs. London : Secker & Warburg , 1990. 238p. ISBN 80-903556-0-9.

DUNNING, E., et al. (2002) Fighting Fans : Football Hooliganism as a World Phenomenon . Dublin : University College Dublin Press , 2002. 288p. ISBN 1900621738

Football Task Force : Eliminating Racism from Football [online]. 1998 [qt.2006-06- 11]. Available from WWW:

GARLAND, J.; ROWE, M. (2001) Racism and Anti-Racism in Football . Wiltshire: Antony Rowe Ltd., 2001. 304p. ISBN 0333730798.

McLEAN, L. (2000) Participation in sport: Do ethnic minorities get an equal chance in sport? BBC News: Analysis [online]. 2000 [qt. 2006-06-19]. Available from WWW:

54 O’NEIL, M. (2005) Policing Football : Social Interaction and Negotiated Disorder London : Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. 272 p. ISBN 1403941181.

Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research : Racism and Football [online]. November 2001 [qt.2006-06-10]. Available from WWW:

Social Issues Research Centre : Football Violence and Alcohol [online]. 1996 [qt.2005- 09-08]. Available from WWW: < http://www.sirc.org/publik/fvalcohol.html>

VASILI, P. ,et al. (1998) The First Black Footballer: Atrhur Wharton, 1856-1930 – An Absence of Memory. London : Falmer Press, 1998. 272p. ISBN 0714644595

WATSON, J. (2003) I'll put my job on the line to stop racism. Liverpool Echo [online]. September 2003 [qt. 2006-06-20]. Available from WWW: .

Wikipedia: British National Front [online]. 26 July 2006 [qt. 2006-05-20]. Available from WWW:

WRIGHT, I. (1996) Mr.Wright:The Explosive Autobiography of Ian Wrigh., London: HarperCollins, 1996. 256p. ISBN 0002187264

55 3. Place

3.0 Introduction

The last part goes into the passive participant at the football match: the stadia. The increasing number of spectators was not followed by a proper reaction of the clubs. The clubs neglected the level of the safety at the grounds as will be manifested later in the text. It turned out to be the cause of several tragedies. The football stadia had remained in the centre of the constantly growing cities which ,further in the text proved, worsened the situation.

The football ground era in Britain is divided into the period before and after Lord Justice Taylor Report implemented by the law. Lord Taylor, a High Court judge, was entrusted to inquiry the tragedy at Sheffield Wednesday Football ground ,Hillsborough. The grievous event is significant for the end of standing terraces which were replaced by all seated stadia. The tragedy ,already briefly mentioned in the previous section, will serve as an example to identify all the problems which were caused by neglected safety. There will be other disasters mentioned to indicate the rest of the facilities out-of-date.

The last part of this section will be focused on the impact of grounds’ change to all seated. The rebuilding of the stadia in Britain may have reflected on the football ticket prices. The loss of cheaper standing terraces is argued to exclude less wealthy social classes from the games of the top clubs. We will look at the ticket prices and compare it to the other leagues in Europe. Widely known opinion of some football fans is that the standing terraces were places of a great atmosphere which could be shared with others in the sector. Both views ,for and against standing terraces, will be discussed.

3.1 The Hillsborough Tragedy

England won the World Cup in 1966, the popularity of the sport became growing and

56 consequently the attendance at the matches heightened. After the tragedies, namely after the Bradford fire in 1985, the attendance numbers lowered , but already since 1986 the numbers of people at matches have risen again , particularly after the modernising programme of 1990s (Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, February 2002). The top league clubs were not prepared for growing amount of people in 1980s, the stadia had remained mostly unchanged. The grounds did not have good facilities. Nevertheless, the reason for the football tragedies in post war era is a combination of more facts, the most noted are: the stadia being outmoded, sometimes too passionate support, the hooligan phenomenon, and the crowd being poorly managed by police. There have been several reports into the tragedies, however, the grounds’ safety was not dealt with in the law until the Taylor’s Report after the worst tragedy in 1989.

The Shorrt Report goes back to 1924, the aim was to inquire into chaos at the first Wembley Cup final 1923. Ibrox Park in Glasgow has gone through three disasters during the 20th century. Fifty people were killed when the terrace collapsed in 1902, all of the tragedies at Ibrox Park claimed 118 lives and a lot of injuries. Victims were crushed or died under the remains of the walls that collapsed. Already in 1914 at Hillsborough stadium , the place of the worst football tragedy in 1989, were 80 spectators injured. The Moelwyn-Hughes Report investigates the deaths at Burden Park, Bolton Wanderers’ stadium. The club was playing Stoke City in the FA Cup. On the terraces in the north west corner two barriers gave way after people swayed and those at the back started falling on people in front of them. Thirty-three people asphyxiated. Media blamed the fans, because many entered the ground illegally making the terraces too crowded. The tragedy at Burden Park happened just after the Second World War in 1946.

The bigger amount of people accumulated at one place always runs a potential risk of crashing. In 1972 66 followers died at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, as fans tried to get back to the ground from exit stairways, the steel barriers gave way. The victims were suffocated. The following Wheatley Committee took an important step and the sport ground statute was introduced. Up to then the grounds pertained to a specific buildings and the deaths at the sport venues were a matter of common law. The investigation to the Ibrox tragedy resulted into the introduction of the Green Guide.

57 The Green Guide is the Home Office publication, it provides detailed advice about the safety measures which are needed at the grounds. The Green Guide was firstly published after the Wheatly Report, it has been republished twice since then. The republishing was carried out after the Popplewell Report into the Bradford Fire and also in 1986. The advises are focused on the entrances and exits, stairways and ramps, the terraces, crush barriers, and perimeter wall and fences. The main paragraphs are named: Calculating the safe capacity of a sports ground ; Management - responsibility and planning for safety ; Management - stewarding ; Management – structures installations and components ; Circulation - general ; Circulation – ingress ; Circulation - stairways and ramps ; Circulation - concourses and promontories ; Circulation - egress and emergency evacuation ; Barriers ; Spectator accommodation – seating ; Spectator accommodation – standing ; Spectator accommodation – disabilities ; Spectator accommodation - temporary ; Demountable structures ; Fire safety ; Communication ; Electrical and mechanical services ; First aid and medical provision ; Media provision ; Alternative uses for sports grounds ( The Fire Safety Advice Centre, April 2005).

The new trend was supported by the law. In 1975 the Safety at Sport Grounds Act brought in special certificates required for large sport stadia. The fire disaster at Valley Parade stadium ,Bradford, shocked the British society. Therefore the safety was further ensured by another investigations and acts of law. The disaster, mentioned in the previous section, claimed lives of 56 people. The recommendations of Popplewell Report ,dealing with the Bradford tragedy, were implemented into the new act of law in 1987. The Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sports Act is divided into five sections and was introduced in phases. The worth mentioning are the first three parts. The First part of the act deals with the fire safety. Part II is about safety at the sport grounds and does not allow to differentiate between the ground and the stadium anymore. Part III focuses on the stands introducing safety certificates for the stand itself. The stand with the proper certificate is called ‘regulated stand’.

Unfortunately when the new Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sports Act of law was introduced, the Britain was ahead of the worst tragedy in the football history of this country. It is suggested that the inquiries had already addressed the problems successfully before, but the implementation of the advises into the law was not done satisfactorily. This is said to be the reason for the Hillsborough tragedy dealt with in

58 Lord Justice Taylor’s Final Report in 1990. There are more acts of law brought in before or after the tragedy than only those two already mentioned, though. The attempt was to improve the safety within the football grounds. Some of the key pieces of law aimed at football fans are as follows: The Sporting Events Act of 1985 made illegal the carriage of alcohol in vehicles when going to the match and also prohibits to enter the ground being drunk ; The Public Order Act brought in a possibility to ban a fan convicted of hooliganism from the ground ; The Football Disorder Act of 1999 actually requires the court put a banning order in place or to explain why a particular fan was not banned from football grounds ; finally The Football Disorder Act 2000 does not make any difference between the domestic and international banning orders.

Taylor’s Investigation was the ninth in a row and , in fact, together with Popplewell report finally reached the real change. Other inquiries before had pointed out the problems but unfortunately without any widely visible effect. The radical change was felt necessary after the Hillsborough Tragedy which resulted in ninety-six deaths. It was the FA semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest played at Hillsborough, the stadium of Sheffield Wednesday, in April 15 1989. Liverpool fans were entering the gates from the Leppings Lane. At 2.30pm there was a large crow spotted in front of the stadium. Because of the roadworks on a motorway another Liverpool supporters kept arriving late and the crowd of fans in front of the gates continued to grow. Police was ordered to stop cars and buses to search for alcohol since it was banned by the Sporting Events Act in 1985.The match was about to start and fans were afraid to miss the kick-off. The policemen at the turnstiles searching for weapons even retarded all the process. Already big mass of people in front of the entry kept building up.

The queues had grown into a mass of people desperately trying to get in. With the part closest to the turnstiles pushing, the situation became unbearable. Chief Superintendent Duckenfield commanded to open the gate C. This step, denied after the tragedy, was to play a crucial role. As the officers received the order, they opened the gate, immediately 2000 fans rushed straight on to the terraces, pens 3 and 4 respectively. The BBC commentators already had spotted overcrowding in the pen 3 and 4 before the time the gate was opened. This overcrowding must have been noticed also from the police control box by the match commander David Duckingfield, however the entrances leading to the pens 3 and 4 were not blocked. This fact is mentioned in the Taylor’s

59 Report as the principal reason of the tragedy.

The mass of new comers created a crush and the fans that had been already in the pens were trapped. Fans started to climb up the perimeter fence to avoid the crushing. Mr. Duckenfield reviewed the situation as a pitch invasion and called for reinforcements. As soon as the officers arrived, it was clear that many fans were in a situation dangerous to life. The overcrowding on the terraces resulted in ninety-six deaths. Officers tried to help the people out of the place enclosed by perimeter fences and the pitch was soon full of injured and dying fans. It had taken an hour to transport all the wounded to the hospital. The Emergency was late and their work was worsened by the chaos right after the tragedy. Doctors , present among spectators at Hillsborough, declared that the emergency response to the disaster was very badly organised.

The Sun and other newspapers in England accused Liverpool hooligans of causing the tragedy. The British press turned the situation against the victims immediately. The Sun’s headlines were blaming the fans for picking pockets of the victims. The main headline on the front pages states: The Truth. The newspaper even proclaimed the fans to be urinating on the brave policemen ( Hillsborough Football Disaster, 1998). The shocking reaction of the press is more understandable if we consider the speech of the South Yorkshire Police officers right after the tragedy claiming the gate to be crashed by the Liverpool fans. The BBC also had reported unconfirmed fact that the gate was broken down by the fans. In the following days the authorities of other football association in Europe sided with the British press. Jacques Georges, President of Union of European Football Associations, commented his impression from the match by marking the fans ‘the beasts in the arena’( Hillsborough Football Disaster, 1998). The nebulous situation after the tragedy was further abused in propaganda by the press of the communist countries.

60 3.2 The Taylor’s Final Report and its outcome

The Final Report on the tragedy from 1990 stated the police errors during the operations at the football match as the main cause of ninety-six people crushed to death. Their families were horrified by the treatment of the dead people in the British and consequently European media. Lord Justice Taylor was entitled by the Government: “To inquire into the events at Sheffield Wednesday Football ground on 15th April and to make recommendations about the needs of crowd control and safety at sports events." (Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, March 2003).

The final report criticises: the leadership of football in Britain ; poor facilities and services ; the lack of communication between spectators and football authorities within a club ; badly behaved fans. The report also indicates selling of alcohol as a possible cause of disorder and declares football grounds as outmoded. The media are criticised as well as the impact of segregation and hooliganism. Another part of report consists of 76 recommendations which are supposed to improve the football in Britain in general. The crucial points considering the stadia safety turned out to be: the replacement of terraces with seated areas till the year 2000 ; the introduction of Football Stadium Advisory Design Council to be an advisory organisation to the grounds safety and construction. The final report recommended to lessen the perimeter fencing to maximum 2.2 metres. Lord Justice Peter Taylor discovered that British football had not been prepared to prevent the disaster, even though several tragedies had happened before 1989 and football in UK could have learned its lesson. The thread of violence blinded the police to such a degree that the officers were unable to recognise the desperate situation the fans were in. One of another important act of the report is proclaiming the fans to be the victims rather than the group on blame. The investigation has shown the neglect of checking the safety certificates for the ground. The club , Sheffield Wednesday, had rebuild certain areas without applying for a new certificate. Consequently the emergency services could not orient that easy as the lay out of the stadia had been changed.

The result of the Taylor’s recommendations implemented to the law , The Football Spectators Act 1989, changed the British stadia radically. The initial recommendation for the stadia to be changed to all seated was brought in by Government with certain

61 exceptions. The clubs in the two top divisions closed the terraces at their grounds by May 1994. The Football Licensing Authority (FLA) was introduced by the Football Spectators Act of 1989. The main function of the FLA is to ensure effective management of the crowd inside the football ground.

The rebuilding of the grounds to achieve new better levels of safety according to new safety regulations and regimes connected with all seated stadia were paid partly by tax money. The Football Trust (tax money) granted 30% of the total cost in the period 1991-1997. Ł500 Million was paid altogether, the rest of the money Ł371.3 million (70%) paid by the clubs. Ten clubs relocated their grounds in 1990s. The main reason was of course the compulsory change to all seated stadia which forced the rebuilding. Another reason was that the former placement of the football venue did not allow further enlargements to follow the higher attendance of people to the matches. The principles of the modern stadia are based on easy accessibility which could not be provided within the old stadia mostly situated in the centre of urban areas. A new idea of two city clubs sharing one ground was considered to be also a good solution to secure financial future. However, there was a little will to share a ground with a city rival. Just Wimbledon and Crystal Palace are known to share a ground from early 1990s, as the Wimbledon’s Plough Lane was closed for safety reasons.

The radical change, the loss of standing terraces in particular, has provoked a discussion among the fans, petitions for reintroduction of the standing areas appeared. However the National FA Premier League Fan Survey ( Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, March 2003) found out that most fans appreciate new facilities and are satisfied with the hooliganism reduced.

The fans , opposing the all seated stadia, criticise mainly the lack of atmosphere. For example at Leeds United a quarter of the fans would like to stand again at the matches (Stand Up Sit Down , 2005). Peter Caton is a co-ordinator of a campaign for return of the standing areas with improved safety in the Premier League. The campaign is called ‘Stand Up Sit Down’. Peter Caton summarises the main positive features of people standing at the match supporting the team: the first important feature is the atmosphere ; another is that you are not only spectating but you are a participant of the event going on the pitch. Peter Caton (November 2005) compares the football match to a rock

62 concert saying:

“Standing is permitted at pop concerts even though behaviour is often far worse than at football matches.”

Some fans decided to stop attending the matches because of the standing areas loss and the atmosphere missing. Although the Football Licensing Authority tries hard to keep people sitting at the football events, people still continue to be standing at some moments of this passionate game. The ‘Stand Up Sit Down’ campaign sees the solution in properly managed terraces with controlled number of people and no fences. The fact is that the terraces are permitted in Germany and also in British lower football divisions. The co-ordinator of the campaign ,Peter Caton, is speculating about a hidden agenda of certain people and their attempts to exclude the working class support from football matches. The argumentation for reintroduction of terraces is also based on the fact that even when they are sitting major part of the event, they would stand up at the moments of excitement.

Richard Caborn ,Minister for sport in 2005, directs fans’ attention to an increasing number of spectators at league matches. In 1993 the average amount of people was 21,000 at league matches, but the figure was 34,000 spectators in 2004. He also highlights the positive feature of the new era of British football history with all seated stadia – the slowly rising figure of women and families attending the matches. Many clubs have introduced new areas specially designed for families. Richard Caborn (November 2005) says that the real issue is:

“At a time when we are encouraging the game to move into the 21st century, the return of terraces would be a symbol of a game moving backwards and unwilling to look forward.”

The all seated stadia with no cheaper areas are said to prevent less wealthy people from buying a ticket to the Premier League match. Carling Stand ,a new stand in Leicester City, is being criticised by fans for the introduction of executive boxes. The Leicester City fans would rather see boxes for devoted fans of the club. Many top clubs’ tickets are being too expensive for some people. The Football Supporters Association

63 chairwoman, Allison Pilling, supports this fact as she expresses her view:

“With the loss of terracing there's been the loss of cheaper areas, and it's excluded a lot of people from football." ( BBC News, April 1999 )

The ticket prices of the Tottenham Hotspur for season 2006/2007 was compared by journalists to an opera ticket. As the both tickets are more less the same price, football was indicated as the modern British opera. The supporters of ‘Spurs’ pay the highest sum for the tickets: up to Ł70. The second highest prices are paid for the Chelsea FC tickets. Even though the prices remains the same as last season, being a fan of Chelsea London means to pay between Ł35 and Ł60 for the games. Surprisingly, the most expensive ticket you get for a match of Manchester United is still cheaper than the least expensive ticket to Chelsea’s stadium. Wigan will have the cheapest tickets in season 2006/2007, the prices will range from Ł17 to Ł25.

We can compare prices of the tickets to other top leagues around Europe to find out if the prices are really high or not. The top league in Czech Republic has the ticket prices much lower. The cost of a ticket to see a match of for example Vysocina Jihlava FC ,playing the top league 2005/2006, cost not more than Ł4. We have to point out that the quality of both leagues are not comparable, though.

Football tickets in France starts at around Ł7 and increase a little at better performing clubs. Football followers in the Netherlands were paying 10 – 27 pounds for the top club tickets. The other clubs in the Netherlands sell their tickets for prices ranging from Ł8 to Ł17. The cheapest tickets are for the seats behind the goals and in the corners. Italian top clubs have got quite a lot of different ticket categories. Ticket could vary from Ł8 to Ł82. A football fan could get the cheapest ticket in Germany because even at the top league there are still possibilities to buy a ticket to standing areas. The ticket for the standing place is about Ł5. To see less famous club playing would not cost more than Ł13 if you want to sit. The prices actually do not differ that much between the top clubs and the less famous clubs in Germany ( The Stadium Guide, 2003-2004).

The ticket policy of one of the most profitable and famous clubs on the British Isles ,Arsenal London FC, divides matches to categories. Arsenal has moved to a completely

64 new and modern stadia: The Emirates Stadium. The cost of the brand new venue was Ł390m. The capacity of the stadia is 60,000. As some fans say ,the atmosphere might be suffering, if the seats would not be sold out. The deal between the London club and the Emirates Airlines brought the club Ł100m. The firm will be the sponsor of the club’s shirt for 8 years and the stadium will carry the name of the firm for 15 years. The ticketing office of Arsenal FC introduced a system of categories A and B for the year 2006/2007. Category A consists of the most popular games with: Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United. Prices vary from Ł46 to Ł94.

Category B prices are lower. The cheapest tickets within this category is Ł32. The most expensive places in upper centre of the new stadia cost Ł66. Family discount , for instance two adults and a child, would bring total Ł110 in A category and Ł77 in B category. ( Football Grounds Guide , August 2006)

3.3 Conclusion

The football grounds after Taylor’s Report implemented by the law have ensured better safety than before. This is undeniable fact. However the atmosphere may be different. The fan is no longer participating in the game. The passionate moments in the match were somehow even physically reflected by the crowds. This reflection could still be seen at matches when ,at certain moments, people simply can not remain sitting. I do not find appropriate to force the crowd to be sitting by banning orders. The FLA ought to differentiate among the fans’ behaviour according to the situation on the pitch and punish only the unreasonable standing for longer time.

According to several aspects, I do not assume that return of the terraces is not possible in the top league level for the future. To be precise, it will have to be modern stands that will achieve new levels of safety. The idea of a certain fan be allocated a certain place on the stand for a period may work well. The CCTV system would be monitoring the

65 fans’ behaviour on the stands. The standing fans would be also included into an agenda with photos and addresses to easily recognise those causing troubles and prevent them from disorderly behaviour by banning orders.

British ticket prices are considered to be high. The tickets to the British Premier League are ,in fact, one of the highest in Europe together with Spanish league. The expensive tickets , in particular those of London clubs, could discourage the less wealthy people to go and see a match. To see a match of the top team from a place at the stadia became an expensive matter. However the feeling to be present at the match supporting the club could mean to be willing to pay always little more, a feeling easily exploitable.

The era after the Taylor’s Report changed British football indeed. But the suggestion that the Government forced rebuilding of the stadia is what heightened the ticket prices is not right. Ticket prices have been growing during last years hardly reflecting the reconstruction of the stadia done mostly in 1990s. Especially London clubs with their policy of double prices for the season 2006/2007 make the matches less attainable. The advisable solution to this problem could be for example an office to protect the spectators against the clubs demanding more and more money. Another possibility may be the ceiling on ticket prices implemented into the law.

3.4 Cited sources used in section ‘Place’:

BBC News : A hard lesson to learn [online]. April 1999 [qt. 2006-05-22]. Available from WWW:

CABORN, R. (November 2005) Should standing areas return to Premiership? Guardian Unlimited [online]. November 2005 [qt. 2006-06-14]. Available from

CATON,P. (November 2005) Should standing areas return to Premiership? Guardian

66 Unlimited [online]. November 2005 [qt. 2006-06-14]. Available from

Football Grounds Guide : Arsenal [online]. August 2006 [qt. 2006-08-03]. Available from WWW:

Hillsborough Football Disaster : The Media Reaction [online]. 1998 [qt. 2006-07-06]. Available from WWW:

Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research : Football and Families [online]. February 2002 [qt. 2006-07-06]. Available from WWW: < http://www.le.ac.uk/fo/resources/factsheets/fs14.html>.

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67 4. Conclusion to all sections

The spreading process of the game did not stop at the borders of Britain. Thanks to the Scots playing it, football became quickly famous all over the country. Then during several decades football started to be played all over the world. The development of football brought in legalisation of the payments for the players. This fact was seen by some people as ruining the sportsmanship and the game itself. Nevertheless, it was the payment that allowed less wealthy social class members to play football as professionals. However, the commercialisation process that began with first payments led into an interesting change. Because in the end the growing money involvement in football turned against the less wealthy social classes excluding them from the position of the spectator at the top football matches demanding high ticket prices.

The all seated stadia without terraces ,which were banned in the act of law in 1990s, have been rebuild to achieve better levels of safety. Notably, the arrests, injuries and deaths related to football hooliganism has decreased in numbers rapidly after this change. However still some people do not accept the theory that the areas where football fans stand watching could be of a higher level of danger. The campaigns for reintroduction of the standing areas highlights the atmosphere missing at the all seated stadia. The standing areas still exists for example in German top league. These areas represent the cheapest places. The idea of possible return of improved terraces into the Premier League stadia is supported in this diploma theses.

The outmoded stadia and neglected levels of safety had claimed number of spectators’ lives mainly until 1990s. The grounds remained unchanged, but the spectators’ attendance had been increasing during 1980s. British football grounds should have been improved radically much earlier than 1990s. The Taylor’s Report into the Hillsborough tragedy urged the clubs to rebuild stadia in order to achieve new levels of safety. The all seated stadia were introduced. Although the implementation of the advises from the Taylor’s Report into the law has proved to be a good decision, the reintroduction of specialised terraces does not have to be contradictory idea to newly demanded levels of safety.

The hooligan phenomenon caused deaths of many spectators during the tensioned years

68 1960 – 1990. This was also a period of the appearance of racism among spectators. The behaviour of the spectators we see now is different thanks to complex process of many aspects. The introduction of the all seated stadia have been mentioned, but also the values of British fans have changed and especially after the football tragedies the reassessment of the attitude towards hooliganism, fascism and racism took place. We have to point out that the rough boys would hardly disappear from football for good, though.

The link between the club and ethnic minorities should be established. The ethnic workers may be included into the administrative body of the club to keep the relationship alive.

This diploma work has tried to sum up all the important facts from the British football history. The goal is to depict what the outcome of certain historic events is to these days or what has been changed during the period after the event. The focus is mainly on the football era after the WWII. The ongoing commercialisation of the top football and the involvement of money is being criticised. The top football needs to rediscover the real values of the sport with the help of fans supporting the ‘sportmanship style’ of football. The football players should not forget that it is a spectator that enables them to sing contracts for such amounts of money. The involvement of money should be lowered in general, making the sport less corruptive all over the world.

Part of the diploma work is also based on contemporary information. The lower number of English players within certain clubs on the Isles is alarming. Even the most wealthy clubs should ensure enough chance for the English players of their junior teams. The easier it became to buy a relatively cheap player from abroad, the more difficult it is for the young English player to fetch through. The lowering of the money involvement could possibly result in more space for domestic players, however the top league in Britain might lose a bit of its quality. Another problem of the contemporary British football is the ticket price. It has been increased and even the double prices has been introduced by London clubs for season 2006/2007. The prices are so high now that the lower social classes are more less excluded from watching the top football. The ceiling on the ticket prices implemented into the law could be highly valued as a supportive approach for the spectators.

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76 6. Resumé

The diploma theses describes the crucial moments in British football history. The body of the text is divided into three sections. Each section focuses on one of the participants within the game: players, people, place. The first section is about the development of the professionalism in football and the money influence on British football in general. The top football on the British Isles is shown as a modern entertainment industry. The second section is about the spectator. Two main topics concerning the spectator participation are described: the racism and the hooligan phenomenon. Also the police forces are depicted because of the more less effective attempts to eliminate the misbehaviour. The last section is about the passive participant at the football match: the stadia. The level of safety has improved due to the reaction to several tragedies in the history of British football. The main tragedies of 1980s are described in the text of the last section indicating the neglects of the safety levels.

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