“A GOOD GAME OF FOOTBALL, A GOOD PUNCH-UP, A GOOD PISS-UP”
It begins with a young kid and his older brother, wandering past council blocks and gasometers on the way to the match. We hear him singing, in a high-pitched voice, “When I was young and just a boy, I asked my mother, what will it be? Will it be Arsenal, will it be Spurs? Here’s what she says to me…” Then we’re looking down at The Den, and we’re among supporters wearing scarves and raising pint glasses, and they’re all bellowing, “MILL-WALL, MILL-WALL! MILL-WALL, MILL-WALL, MILL-WALL!”
It’s 1977, and Millwall are in the bottom half of the old Second Division. The Sex Pistols have just released Never Mind the Bollocks, power blackouts are plunging the United Kingdom into darkness, and the Yorkshire Ripper is on the prowl.
Unemployment is at its highest rate since the 1930s and violence is on the rise too, in pubs, in schools, on public transport – and at football.
The tabloids are loving it, splashing “SOCCER SHAME” and “SATURDAY AFTERNOON THUGS” across the front pages. introduces a “League of Violence”, ranking fans by the trouble they cause, and launches a “Thug’s League”.
