Written by Adrian (Unite BCAH Member)
The recent civil disturbances in the UK led to a discussion with a couple of old comrades about the situations we experienced in the mid to late 1970s around football grounds. I should state right away that we did not consider ourselves particularly to be “hooligans” despite being vilified as such in the press. Initially we were young, loud and excitable young people but this energy rapidly became more focused as some of us became politically and socially aware.
In early 1975 half a dozen of us had begun frequenting a Labour Club deep in the heart of the Black Country. It did not take long for us to join the Young Socialists and so began a personal journey of 5 decades in progressive left politics and approaches.
The first thing this band of comrades noticed was the majority of the adult members knew little and cared less about what was happening on the streets around them. Theirs was a world of ongoing industrial action and, while obviously important, it meant little to a group of teenagers still in school and college. Our focus was on the rights of women, our Black and South Asian peers, apartheid and our gay friends.
We also share a passion for football with Albion, Wolves and Villa amongst our number plus a Manchester United fan and, strangely, an Evertonian. We would swop tales after matches and a theme began to appear of racist chants focussed on Black players and attacks on South Asian owned businesses after games. It was not until the start of the 75/76 season that I experienced anything other than hearing occasional cat-calls among Villa fans.
At the first match of the season we played Leeds United and, as always we arrived early to soak up the atmosphere. Outside Aston Station there was a group of lads handing out leaflets. We took a couple and were shocked to realise they were calling for immigrants to “be sent home”. We confronted them and a heated argument broke out which led to us being called a Commie c^^ts and told to f**k-off back to Russia etc. It ended with some shoving and the fliers going up in the air. Before the match we saw Leeds fans Seig-Heiling at Asian families on Witton Lane which was just plain weird.
That Tuesday there was an intense discussion at our YS meeting with other fans recounting similar tales. We still had one of the fliers and it was eagerly passed around and shown to an adult member who gave it a cursory glance asked if it was local and when told it was from Aston said “well that is their problem ay it”.
Two weeks later three of us decamped at Aston Station for another home match and braced ourselves for another potential confrontation but there was no sign of the previous group. This was because they were at the turnstiles outside the Holte End. This time they were mob-handed with over a dozen of them handing out fliers. One of our number who was seeing them for the first time managed to wander amongst them and reported back that they were waiting for the “gang of Commies” who they had, apparently, battered a fortnight before. It was pointless confronting them outnumbered 2-to-1 so we went in another entrance. During the match we talked with other fans to gauge opinion on this new phenomena and most could not care less but a couple were appalled at “nazi-boys” at Villa Park. We agreed to meet up at the well-known Aston Social club at the next match with the idea of confronting the nazi-boys.
It should be pointed out that from the outside looking in there was no distinction between the two groups of antagonists. As we would find out later the Police were quite bemused about what was to transpire over the next couple of seasons.
We had chosen a local derby against Coventry City to confront the Rightist group and this worked in our favour as the Police were occupied keeping the opposing fans apart at the other end of the ground. Our plan was simply to outnumber the Nazis and push them away from the entrance to the Holte End back towards the Aston Church. We had a couple of Socialist Wolves fans with us who had been having their own issues at Molineux and wanted to see how we fared. Unfortunately they were somewhat buoyed by the moment and as we sighted the opposition group they charged at them and a general melee broke out not the orderly show of strength we had hoped for.
Luckily the Rightists ran back towards Aston Church as hoped and were seen off with chants of “Nazi scum get out of Brum”. The Police arrived and mistakenly took the fracas to have been Coventry fans trying to get into the home end so no action was taken against us.
This initial skirmish became a regular occurrence for the next two seasons with our group searching for where the fascists were handing out their leaflets around the ground and us then moving en-masse to drive them away. Only occasionally now was there anything more than the odd punch thrown as we had numbers and I never remember weapons being present let alone used. That would change.
It was not unusual to attend matches of other teams with friends and one chap named Jim loved watching teams from the North East when they played in the West Midlands. We travelled with Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesborough, Burnley and last but not least Leeds. In August 1976 we tagged along with their fans to Coventry and what an eye-opener it was. While racism and misogyny were rife in daily life never had I experienced such concentrated hatred for anything that was not male, white, straight, English and from Yorkshire than that day with Leeds. Never again.
The change came in 1977 with the “birth” of football firms. The first match of the season saw 300 West Ham fans creating havoc around Aston and Witton. This was the now infamous Inter City Form (ICF). They came into the Holte End at 1:30PM and lorded it for half an hour until they realised this was the biggest home end in Britain holding 29,000 and 28,700 ejected them. Later we found out that local South Asian businesses had been targeted with damage to property and intimidating behaviour. Even my Father who was sat in the stands that day said he hoped we had given them a walloping.
On November 5th 1977 8,000 Villa fans travelled to Anfield more in hope than expectation of a result. Darlings of the media and league champions Liverpool was a daunting trip both on and off the pitch. The experience was terrifying. We were attacked before, during and after the match by cheeky, lovable Scousers. A woman standing in front of me was badly burned when a firework thrown at us stuck in her fake fur collar and exploded. The Police were disinterested and told anyone who complained it was their own fault for coming. Amazingly Villa won.
We were kept in the ground for 45 minutes but were warned that thousands of Liverpool fans were waiting for us. Some people tried to sneak away but were set upon with no regard for age or gender. A large group of us who vaguely knew each other banded together and faced off the angry mob. What happened next has stayed with me for a lifetime. A Scouser shouted out “we only wany your Blacks, leave them and you lot can f***-off back to Birmingham”.
Around 20% of our travelling fans were Black, mainly African Caribbean, with a couple of lads from South Asian heritage. I remember going cold. Partly with panic, partly with shame as I thought the Villa would walk and leave these kids to their fate. In response a fella started the chant “the Villa, united, will never be defeated!” It gained volume and then a figure hurtled past me into the opposition fans. We charged.
I would like to say we saw them off and all was well but this was our first experience meeting Mr Stanley (the bladed craft knife) and his friends. We did however gain enough space to make a run for the coaches across Stanley Park. We found almost every window had been smashed so we had a cold journey home.
The kid who led the charge that day was Danny Brown who would go on to become a well-known character at Villa Park. A young Black lad who from that day in Liverpool would be an ally of ours against what we were now perceiving as an organised movement of racists. It was at this time the chant “Black and White, unite and fight, smash the National Front” could be heard. The fight against the Right had finally reached the terraces.
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