Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

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nbgoooner64
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Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by nbgoooner64 »

Wrote this for a mate months ago who wanted to know what it was like following football teams in the early 80`s as he had heard there was lots of crowd trouble back then. Actually this would have been a fairly normal day out for a working class teenager following Arsenal in the early 80`s, quiet simply that was the way it was back then.

It was Luton V Arsenal and being a Arsenal Fan living in Watford I had two Options, either go down to London and travel backup with the crew or hop across to StAlbans and attempt to meet them on route, I took the second option. I got on the train and was informed by two Arsenal fans that the crew had gone up earlier and they had missed them as well. I decided to get to the ground with these two or until my mates showed up. Once off the train we headed for the Arndale Shopping center, not before long we stood looking at it from across a green and watched an Arsenal fan I recognised walking into a pub. We just started to head in the direction of the pub when one of my mates came rushing through the crowd of shoppers, he told us not to go across to the pub as a crew of Luton fans had just emptied out of the place in pursuit of 20 Arsenal fans who had walked by, he was sure they would return. I turned to the two I was with and said I will give a pint a miss in this pub, however they insisted they go across to the pub. I once again insisted they do not go, however they would have none of it and started to walk across the green to the pub. Needless to say as they disappeared inside the Luton crew came around the corner and headed straight for the pub, when they were about 15 yards from the door the Arsenal fan I had seen earlier came out clutching a pie and full pint of beer, he launched both pie and pint in the direction of the Luton crew before taking off like a greyhound. The two I had been with then came running out straight into the Luton crew who proceeded to beat them senseless, it was one of the Luton fans who stood over them in the end to put a stop to it. The ambulance took about 5 mins to arrive and took both of them away at which point me and my mate decided to head for the ground. We started walking up this residential road and hear shouting from a very angry man across from us who is dressed like a 70s reject with grey flares and a furry jacket. He shouted abuse and was getting aggressive to everybody walking up the road in full view of the Old Bill who was following behind. The Bill told him to shut it which did for a moment then he clocked me and my mate walking on the opposite side of the road. He ran into a garden and picked up a two house bricks joined with cement brick and launched it in our direction. The Bill grabbed him by the collars and shook him and threatened to arrest him, unless he calmed down, this time he did shut up. We turned off further up the road and headed to the ground the 70s reject walked on which made me think he was unconnected with football.

Ten yards on and at the bottom of the road we view a mob of about 150 gooners strutting past under police escort and chanting “Luton” , they were going to try and infiltrate the Luton end and incredibly the Old Bill were escorting them there. I made no attempt to join them as the whole idea appeared a waste of time surely someone was going to realise what was going on. The Luton crew I has seen earlier at the time were still wearing stay press, loafers and had cropped haircuts, the Arsenal mob were casuals dressed in faded jeans, track suits, brightly coloured jumpers and white trainers, in my mind you might as well have been infiltrating in an Arsenal shirt.

The ground started to fill up and with me still comparing an infiltration to the chance of finding Rocking horse shit the Arsenal Battle cry of the time went up from the Opposite end of the ground, “She wore, She wore, she wore a Yellow ribbon” When yellow ribbon was sung it all started kicking off with the Gooners attacking the luton fans stood at the back and center of the stand. The Luton fans backed off and and vacated their part of the terracing while the Gooners took it over and then bayed them to have a go back. The Luton fans were not up for it , the Old Bill and stewards were and not before long the Gooners were surrounded and pushed to the corner of the stand. Here the Old Bill and stewards started to lead the Gooners along the side of the pitch to the away end . They strutted down one side of the pitch and got to the halfway line when another group of Lutons in front of the main stand on the opposite side of the pitch piped up. They sang then pushed forward as if to make an attempt to get on the pitch. On seeing this the Gooners ran straight across the pitch to confront them, the Luton fans disappeared in a hurry behind the main stand to much laughter and jeering from the Arsenal fans in the away end. Thats how you do it Watford I thought and chuckled to myself, two years previously I had gone in to take that section in front of the mainstand with the Watford lads. Somebody got excited and announced our presence before the full mob could assemble, so in no time we were surrounded and taking a pasting. Being only 16 at the time I decided to bail out early and leave it to the older lads so climbed up railings into the mainstand in doing so I lost one of my shoes that fell back down to the terracing below. I just stood there looking down at a white sock wondering what the hell to do. I look over the side and see my mate Paddy taking the same route as me, I shouted down to him to get my shoe, his face was a picture he just stared at me then shouted back "Its kicking off we are taking a pasting and you lose you fucking shoe, Gooner your a c**t", He dropped down picked the shoe up and hurled it back up at me then continued with his escape. BTW That cost me a load of beers during my teenage years.

With the game well underway I hear the sound of it kicking off behind me and then cheering from the Luton fans, no way would they have a go like this I Thought. Next came the shout of “ICF” that was it every Gooner was piling up the terrace to take a swing, and within seconds this mob of West Ham ICF were surrounded and taking a pasting. The police managed to get between us and them and started to lead them off the terrace and out of the ground, Hundreds of Gooners also tried to leave the ground at the same time and carry on the fight , the police with truncheons drawn barred the exit gates, it was touch and go but the police managed to hold their line and send us back up to watch the game.
The game finished from memory in a draw and much to our disgust we were held in for 15 mins, then when the exit gates were open they did let us out only into a street that was blocked at the end. We waited for a further 10 mins and then I bumped into mate who had driven down from Watford who offered me a lift home. As we were still stuck in this side street and no sign of a breakout by the gooners and thinking the ICF would have been put on a train and left town ages ago I took his offer, we approached the police who let us through.

In the local pub that evening an Arsenal mate of mine walks in happy as Larry, he said I should have stayed as I missed the main event. He went onto explain, 5 mins after I left the Gooners managed to break out of the Police escort and then for the next hour and a half fought running battles with the West Ham ICF who had not left town as thought and also Luton fans, the gooners coming out victorious in the encounters.

In the Luton press it reported that violent clashes took place between visiting Arsenal fans and West Ham ICF the previous weekend, The ICF realising they would not make their game made their way over to ours and the police already over stretched containing the Arsenal fans did not have the numbers to escort the West Ham fans out of town.

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REB
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by REB »

nice read 8) i started going to games in the 80s and it was a nightmare, not the fighting because as a quiet irishman around the time when the i r a were letting off bombs on mainland britain i was afraid of been arrested :D but for travel. i used to have to get a bus,train, ship,train,bus and tube just to get to a home game and used to take me 20 hours to get to london :?
but i loved it 8)

NBN
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by NBN »

Superb read, i sometimes wish i was born 20 years earlier.

hertsgunner
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by hertsgunner »

Nice read those were the days,you certainly needed your wits about you then.

SPARKSY
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by SPARKSY »

Remember the game well. I would have been about 17 then. Think the game was 85.
We went round to the home end and lined up in an "orderly" queue outside. the police knew who we were, so much so, that one copper actually said to us outside, "we know who you are just go inside and keep your mouths shut". The Old Bill loved a row in those days.

When we got inside the firm split in two. One lot from the top and the other going in from the bottom of the terrace in a splinter movement. It was a real mess in there, remembering there were fences up as well the stewards and coppers wouldn't let anyone out at first. It must have gone on for 15 mins and during this time the game continued even going on while we were walked around/across the pitch to the away end.

Soon as we were all put in, West Ham kicked it all off again. There game at Birmingham had been called off that day.

Anyone who wasn't scared or at the least very nervous when it was about to go off like that, was not telling the truth!!
Still, it was a massive adrenline rush.

Luton was always a rough place to go then. They were always up for trouble. I remember one well known gooner getting cut across the face after that game. He was onthe train trying to hold his face together until he could get to Kings Cross and an ambulance.

Anyone remember York City?
Last edited by SPARKSY on Tue May 15, 2012 7:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

nbgoooner64
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by nbgoooner64 »

Anyone remember York City?

No, but sure am looking forward to you account. :D

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Eboue-Why?
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by Eboue-Why? »

I remember going to Luton for a cup replay in about '85 on their bastard plastic pitch. We were shite that day, got hammered 3-0 and it was like a war zone after that game too. As you say, was a lively fixture!!

nbgoooner64
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Memories from the 80`s

Post by nbgoooner64 »

Brought a tear to eye when I first saw this, most of the images are from
Arsenal West Ham 82 when it kicked off big time on the North Bank and against
Villa in about 81 when they won the League. Forget the rubbish films with crews of 30 or 40
at 0:36 is Arsenals crew on the pitch, I am in there somewhere. The first two images we run to the players
and also gathering to charge down the pitch towards the Villa fans on the Clockend. The final
image we have been chased back by the OB some on horse back and have been contained.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq5ruszosr4
Last edited by nbgoooner64 on Mon May 14, 2012 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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flash gunner
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by flash gunner »

Try and keep all these great memories in one place please nbgooner64 :barscarf:

nbgoooner64
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by nbgoooner64 »

Wrote this elsewhere, a memory from 82 Arsenal v Spurs on the North Bank,

" with Denton’s mob certainly making more of an effort than your lot"

That quote does deserve a special mention before its lost in time. The OB managed to seperate the Arsenal and Spurs fans on the North Bank but Denton and his mob managed to work their way to the bottom of Tottenhams crew from here they steamed up into the spurs fans who backed up into each other in an attempt to avoid them creating a gap, stood in the middle of the gap is Denton and a few of his lads beckoning the whole of Tottenhams crew to come and have a go, nobody stepped forward.

Another sorty into the Spurs fans Denton picked up I was told a knife wound to the leg, he goes to the front of the North Bank hops onto the pitch while the game is going on and gets a st John Ambulance man to bandage his leg over his jeans, hops back into the North Bank and steams straight back into the Spurs fans. This time he is arrested and led along the side of the pitch to a huge cheer and applause from the Arsenal fans on the North Bank.

nbgoooner64
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by nbgoooner64 »

The link above and below at 0.56 the two lads scrapping, the Villa fan is in the picture
facing you the Arsenal fan has his back to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq5ruszosr4

Every Picture tells a story...........

........I am with a couple of my mates stood on the North Bank and we are all pissed off,
we never saw that coming, they had given the whole Clockend to the Villa fans and
also done a good job at keeping us out. The Arsenal crew always stood on the right hand
side of the clockend looking down from the North Bank referred to as the quiet side, no singing
just fighting. Away fans had to walk through us to get to their enclosure behind the goal and we always gave them a rough passage. And now last game of the season we had to stand on the North Bank, given the Clockenders
had in the past two seasons payed their disrespects to the Villa holt end and given a great account of themselves coupled with never before having seen a Villa fan at Highbury in all the years we played them we were only expecting about 6,000 not 16,000.

Jules a mate was first to spot it,he tapped me on the shoulder, pointed and we were off down the North Bank
towards the gate into the West Side at the time manned by an old Codger, other Clockenders saw where we were heading and started piling down the terrace towards the gate as well. The Old Bill spotted this and moved quickly to
stop the flow of lads into the West Side, about 40 made it through, leaving many cussing behind a closed gate now
manned by the OB.
The Big Lad at the front turned and faced those that made it through and said "Fuck it none of my boys made it" he then went on to say "No offence lads but I trust my mates to stand by me, so no fucking bottling it". My mate
poked me in the side and with a grin said "yeagh gooner no bottling", I was about to reply with a comment about his
bottle but given a judge a few weeks previously had commented that his record for football match offences is growing into a double album I witheld my comeback.
We Strutted down to the gate between the Westside and the Clockend and I noticed a few more police move down to man it.We began to bait the Villa fans, singing mainly about taking the holt end and shouting for them to meet us on the pitch and come down for a scrap and for about 10 minutes they were having none of it. Then all of a sudden across the Clockend we could see their lads start to climb the small perimeter fencing and pop onto the pitch, the Big lad looked straight at me and those stood around me and said "You lot with me now on that fucking pitch, the rest follow". The moment my foot was on top the fence I here a thwack, then I am pushed sidewards of the fence by my mate who is shouted fucking Bill move it, the OB have come through the gates and have dragged the lad nearest them of the fence and clubbed him with truncheon he is just laying there dazed, they then steam into us truncheons waving and we in turn run down the West side towards the North Bank. I am in front of my mate who is taking the blows from a truncheon on his back as we run and all the time you can hear the North Bank cheering us. We get over half way down along the Westside and stop and turn and face the OB, my mate is fuming, he shouts at them "That was a bit fucking heavy handed" the OB shouted back "plenty more where that came from". Then a huge cheer goes up from the North Bank we look past the OB and start laughing, they had only dragged and chased a small number of us from the fences, the rest now had climbed on the pitch and started to fight with and chase the Villa fans back into the clockend. The lead OB in front of us turned saw what was happening rolled his head and shouted "you bastards" he turned and started running down back towards the Clockend where the trouble was, this time pursued by us shouting "All planned mate".

The Villa fan you see in the picture eventually falls over the lad he is fighting then starts kicking him another Arsenal fan who has just chased a Villa fan back into the Clockend joins in around the penalty area all to thunderous cheering and applause from the North Bank. The police eventually try to arrest the two Arsenal fans, it turns into Keystone cops as they run around in circles and at least five policemen slip over trying to catch them.

Pele was there that day, I not sure he was to impressed.

And remember that was the way it was back then!

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Monkeymaw
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by Monkeymaw »

Great post. Wish the site had more of this and less of the AKB/realist nonsense.

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Barriecuda
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by Barriecuda »

shouted down to him to get my shoe, his face was a picture he just stared at me then shouted back "Its kicking off we are taking a pasting and you lose you fucking shoe, Gooner your a c**t", He dropped down picked the shoe up and hurled it back up at me then continued with his escape. BTW That cost me a load of beers during my teenage years.
:lol: :lol: :barscarf:

Been meaning to come back and read this thread for some time and finally did so. Only being born in the late 80s (and in Canada no less) the stories of the old days are unbeknownst to me - but I love reading about the culture of football back then.

Thanks for posting, all.

RoscommonGooner
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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by RoscommonGooner »

Great threads nbgoooner64. They reminded me of this old one viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1518&hilit=terrace+legends :barscarf:

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Re: Following Arsenal in the early 80`s

Post by nbgoooner64 »

To all the lads, Thanks for the memories and enjoy following Arsenal to Bolton in 1980 FA CUP.............


It was late Friday night and I was just finishing my job helping the local green grocer on his round, I reached into my top pocket for a fag and pulled out a fiver as well my heart raced, this would mean only one thing I now had enough money to go and watch Arsenal away at Bolton in the cup. I had forgotten to give the grocer a payment earlier on from a door collection and there was no way I was going to get honest now, the fact he had a wife and 5 kids did not figure in the equation when it came to help me following Arsenal. I went home and phoned Scott my mate and asked if I could go with him, “sure” he replied, “glad to have you along”. I explained I was not a travel club member and did not have a ticket, he replied “just bunk it”.
The next morning when it came to check the tickets it was mayhem so I held up a folded fiver to make it look like a ticket and I was let through. I was 15 years old and at the real bottom end of the Arsenal crew, the main crew had gone up earlier on the service train. The journey up was boisterous as ever with the older lads half cut and everyone singing. When we pulled into Crewe station the only person on the platform was a man in a grey suit and a pink tie, in those days men just did not wear pink, one of the Arsenal fans lent out the window and shouted “ere mate what’s your name Quentin Crisp” to hoots of laughter from the nearby carriages further abuse followed. (Fashions come and go, around the summer of 84 the Clockend crew have become the Gooners and having done the Pringle, Fila BJ, Tachini etc thing are now all dressed in pink and yellow jumpers and tee shirts in a huge splash of vibrant colour across the quiet side of the clockend, the only crew to do so and it even gets a mention in Timeout magazine where a Millwall hooligan turned writer commented in an article that we look quiet good. For my part I cannot get a pink jumper for love nor money and am laughed out of every menswear shop in Watford when I walk in and ask for one, the man on the platform had got his revenge!)


All the train specials were late as we neared the station you could see into the ground the game was underway, the Arsenal fans on the open terrace waved and cheered as we went by. We jumped of the train and hundreds of us ran at a small police line positioned to check tickets, they wisely stepped aside as we ran through the station and on to the ground. The open terrace did not do the vociferous Arsenal fans justice if it had been covered we would easily out sung them. The game was ok and ended in a 1-1 draw which meant a replay back at Highbury, but I must admit I was not so interested in the game as to what happened after. We left the ground and I turned and headed towards the station, my mate Scott called to me “Hey gooner where the fuck are you going”? As I turned to face him I saw behind him a big spiky haired Arsenal fan in donkey jacket and doc martins boots clench his fists and shout “Come on Arsenal where the fuck are you”, “Follow me” in seconds this lad was surrounded by hundreds of Arsenal fans and we set off behind the Main stand at a jog to the street behind one of the ends. Here we encountered the first Bolton fans, anyone who was between the ages of 13 and 30 were fair game and set upon. I was to the rear of the mob so as we swept down the street I had to avoid curled up bodies of the Bolton fans hit and pulled down by the lads at the front, I did not give them a kick as I went by that was cheap. I glanced back quickly and saw them all getting to their feet, one was shouting at us “you cockney bastards”. We met the Bolton crew a bit further down the road coming around to have a go at us, our numbers must have scared them because they turned and ran, my adrenaline was pumping and I was ecstatic, we had Bolton on the run and I was loving it. We got to the bottom of the road, half the crew stood jubilant singing “Arsenal” while the other half continued to chase Bolton for a while longer before returning to us. Roz another mate went by me waving his fist and said “See that Gooner we run the northern bastards”, he was older and a hero of mine he had been in a crew of 50 that tried to take the Forest Trent end, they failed but caused utter mayhem to the point Brian Clough appeared on Television the next week with a policeman by his side, claiming his respect for the Police force after the rumpus that happened against Arsenal the previous week. Roz crowned his part in the Trent end episode by greeting Terry Neil the then Arsenal manager with an “Alright Terry” as he is passes the dugout while being escorted up the pitch by the police to the Arsenal Enclosure, Apparently Terry Neil’s jaw dropped and he just stared back.
The first thud was to my left I looked down and buried in the grass was a roofing tile, “Watch out from above came the cry” I looked to where the missile had come from and could see half a dozen 11 or 12 years old stood on a steep embankment with a stockpile of bricks at their feet shouting “fuck off you cockney bastards”. This had all the Arsenal fans dodging the missiles while picking up and returning what had been thrown, coins where thrown and others jumped into the front gardens of the terraced houses to take empty milk bottles and throw. This had kept us busy and we had not noticed a sizeable build up of police to our left, they charged us with truncheons drawn and had hundreds of us retreating back up the road, it was obvious they were forcing us back to the station. They stopped their charge and made a line across the road and started walking up behind us forcing us on, the Bolton crew got brave and came in behind them. Missiles were thrown between the two sets of fans with the police in the middle, all the time we were being walked on.
We arrived at the station and queued on the pavement with the odd policeCar and policeman spaced at intervals along the road, one Arsenal fan had stepped back while talking to his mates on the road, a policeman rushed forward and violently shoved him back onto the pavement and into his mates “On the pavement you fucker” he barked. A brief stand off occurred as everyone in line weighed up laying into him, the policeman saw this and took a step back but remained bullish. What happened next left us all open mouthed, a white escort van with Arsenal scarves dangling out the window skidded around the corner, the driver lost control swerved towards the policeman who had to leap into the Arsenal fans to avoid being run over the escort van then crashed into a stationary police car, The driver reversed back and took of again at high speed with the policeman running behind him shouting “oi stop”. For me revenge was sweet and when the policeman returned red faced and slightly shaken I shouted up to him “Next time mate we’ll get you”, he replied “no you little fucker we will get them”.
On the train back I relived running Bolton’s crew to Scott who was slightly subdued about it. He was 17 but size wise looked 21 a big lad that could handle himself well and loved a scrap, he had left school and was at work so could afford to go to all the away games as well. He agreed although today had been good for me he preferred the league game up at Bolton a few months previous, apparently Arsenal only had about one thousand fans up there with a smaller but tough crew of Clockend, Bolton’s crew where not overwhelmed with the numbers so stood there ground in a side street and went toe to toe with the Clockend, we were victorious in the end but they gave us one hell of a go.
The icing was on the cake for me when we were joined on our journey homeward by another of my heroes another older lad by the name of Gaz, he was pleased the way the day had gone as he had at first taken the service train up with the Clockend and got out at Crewe Station and in his words “run a load of Man City fans”. Gaz was skinhead and a veteran of many famous Arsenal battles, one year he queued up with a crew of Clockend to go in the Villa holt end an argument broke out over which side they should go in and accents recognised so the first Arsenal fans through found Villa waiting. The police closed the turnstiles and the lads queuing could hear there mates on the other side get a good pasting. Those queuing held their nerve and still managed to infiltrate and from all accounts gave the Villa lads in the Holt a real good going over.
The journey home was taking to long the train was stopping the whole time, I began to worry and moan about not having a ticket as I was sure the Guards with little else to do would start checking tickets, Gaz in the end stood up and said “Little gooner there is doing my head in with his moaning” and walked off, five minutes later he is back presses a ticket into my hand and said” now shut the fuck up and don’t ask”. Another hour passed and three lads came rushing past, a voice down the carriage called to them “where are you going” the reply came “we don’t have tickets and the guards are checking” but “you do have a ticket you daft sod”, the reply was priceless “ not anymore, about an hour ago, I was sat on the bog, there was a knock at the door and somebody said tickets please, I just handed my ticket around the door without checking who it was”, Gaz just smiled and looked out the window.
By good fortune the train stopped at Hemel in thick fog and me Scott and Gaz got off as we lived nearby. We were about five hours late and only when I got home I was told a train had crashed in to a platform at Bushey station.

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