Help with FourFourTwo article

[LeeB]

Isn't there a story about them being removed from villa park back in the day by an anti right wing fan group?

I mentioned this on another thread a while back yes. F(ans) A(gainst) N(azis).
The "group" locally were from several clubs (myself and two other Villa, Everton, Newcastle, 2 Wolves plus others) and we only saw NF at a couple of home matches selling Bulldog or whatever it was called near the Holte on Witton Lane. They were moved on by "crowding" - surrounding them and taking the materials off them. If they cut up rough then... most just left.

There was actually very little racist activity at Villa. We had most problems at Wolves to be honest and came off worst a couple of times. Leeds and Chelsea were always targets when they visited the Midlands.

It was not particularly organised (we were late teens to early twenties). It was our left-wing politics spilling over into footie hence the mix of lads.
442 can speak to someone who can remember it properly!

Righteous brother, sterling work.

[AV82EC]

Isn't there a story about them being removed from villa park back in the day by an anti right wing fan group?

I mentioned this on another thread a while back yes. F(ans) A(gainst) N(azis).
The "group" locally were from several clubs (myself and two other Villa, Everton, Newcastle, 2 Wolves plus others) and we only saw NF at a couple of home matches selling Bulldog or whatever it was called near the Holte on Witton Lane. They were moved on by "crowding" - surrounding them and taking the materials off them. If they cut up rough then... most just left.

There was actually very little racist activity at Villa. We had most problems at Wolves to be honest and came off worst a couple of times. Leeds and Chelsea were always targets when they visited the Midlands.

It was not particularly organised (we were late teens to early twenties). It was our left-wing politics spilling over into footie hence the mix of lads.
442 can speak to someone who can remember it properly!

Great stuff, well done that man.

[AV82EC]

We fortunately don't seem to have been targeted by the EDL either which is a good thing, I'm quite convinced some of our support would be attracted to that nonsense.

There are quite a few Villa and B-lose on EDL marches. Top boys as well.

Out of genuine interest Percy are they there for the politics or the aggro? or both?

[Percy McCarthy]

We fortunately don't seem to have been targeted by the EDL either which is a good thing, I'm quite convinced some of our support would be attracted to that nonsense.

There are quite a few Villa and B-lose on EDL marches. Top boys as well.

Out of genuine interest Percy are they there for the politics or the aggro? or both?

Mainly the aggro I think. I don't think a life-long commitment to political struggle and/or campaigning is likely. Bigoted through ignorance, violent by nature, that's about it really.

[AV82EC]

We fortunately don't seem to have been targeted by the EDL either which is a good thing, I'm quite convinced some of our support would be attracted to that nonsense.

There are quite a few Villa and B-lose on EDL marches. Top boys as well.

Out of genuine interest Percy are they there for the politics or the aggro? or both?

Mainly the aggro I think. I don't think a life-long commitment to political struggle and/or campaigning is likely. Bigoted through ignorance, violent by nature, that's about it really.

Guessed as much.

[Percy McCarthy]

We fortunately don't seem to have been targeted by the EDL either which is a good thing, I'm quite convinced some of our support would be attracted to that nonsense.

There are quite a few Villa and B-lose on EDL marches. Top boys as well.

Out of genuine interest Percy are they there for the politics or the aggro? or both?

Mainly the aggro I think. I don't think a life-long commitment to political struggle and/or campaigning is likely. Bigoted through ignorance, violent by nature, that's about it really.

Guessed as much.

See, this is why run-of-the-mill football violence has never bothered me. People who like violence fighting over something essentially trivial like football - so what? When people do it over religion, race etc, that's when it gets sinister.

[Chris Jameson]

It's incredibly silly to want to fight somebody because they support a different football team.

[Percy McCarthy]

It's incredibly silly to want to fight somebody because they support a different football team.

True, but it's preferable to wanting to fight someone because they prefer a different fairy tale or are a different colour.

I remember after the little bit of trouble when England lost to Germany in EURO 96, some middle-class journalist bemoaned the fact that the working-class didn't riot over 'something more important'.

Well, she might  get her way now if the EDL ever manage to get it together. Hope she enjoys it.

[Pat McMahon]

Does that mean the NF never even attempted to recruit at Villa?  I kind of imagined they would have tried all of the first division teams in the 70s.

Bulldog, the paper of the young NF, used to publish a 'league of louts'. They'd tried to sell it as a measure of which clubs were the hardest, but in reality it was just a monthly list of the top ten clubs for sales of National Front News. B-lose were always in it, Villa never were.

I think the close proximity of Danny Brown was quite off-putting for NF recruitment officers.

And Clarkie. And Pete the Greek wasn't actually European either - Middle Eastern IIRC

[Percy McCarthy]

Does that mean the NF never even attempted to recruit at Villa?  I kind of imagined they would have tried all of the first division teams in the 70s.

Bulldog, the paper of the young NF, used to publish a 'league of louts'. They'd tried to sell it as a measure of which clubs were the hardest, but in reality it was just a monthly list of the top ten clubs for sales of National Front News. B-lose were always in it, Villa never were.

I think the close proximity of Danny Brown was quite off-putting for NF recruitment officers.

And Clarkie. And Pete the Greek wasn't actually European either - Middle Eastern IIRC

Yes, half-Arab.

[richard moore]

Hi - Looking for Villa fans with memories/stories of how the NF tried to use football as a recruiting ground in the 1970s and early 1980s, and what that meant at Villa. Part of a wider piece on football and the NF. If you can help, please reply here or drop me a line: steve.anglesey@mirror.co.uk

Ta

You'd be better off getting memories from Chelsea fans.

If you can find one who followed them then...

[Pat McMahon]

Hi - Looking for Villa fans with memories/stories of how the NF tried to use football as a recruiting ground in the 1970s and early 1980s, and what that meant at Villa. Part of a wider piece on football and the NF. If you can help, please reply here or drop me a line: steve.anglesey@mirror.co.uk

Ta

You'd be better off getting memories from Chelsea fans.

If you can find one who followed them then...

I know 2 Chelsea fans down here who independently of each other stopped following them about 5 years ago, becoming sick of the antics of some of their players - Drogba being the main culprit. Both of them had supported Chelsea since around 74-75 when they were truly awful( Tommy Langley, Teddy Maybank are players who still make me chuckle with their all round shiteness)

[DrGonzo]

Football is probably the only thing that unites every nation, colour, creed and religion (fairytale) in the world.  It is something that needs to be above subversion.

[PeterWithesShin]

There was racism at VP. Fortunately never as bad as at other clubs. I've said before how an Asian friend of mine started going in the early 70's and got the shit kicked out of him in the back of the Holte by a bunch of other Villa 'fans' and told never to come back as the Holte was no place for Pakis.

For those with back issues of H&V it's mentioned in an article he wrote in H&V called Too Many Cowboys.

[neo_Villan]

I remember reading somewhere that the Hardcore were pretty racist in the 70's/80's and were known to engage in 'Paki-bashing' and the like.