The EFL’s ‘Family Club of the Year’ 2017 has always been interestingly synonymous with fan trouble and football hooliganism throughout Millwall’s chequered history.
After winning this award for the first time in the club’s history, Millwall Football Club fan’s actions in recent memory have been less than acceptable.
Chief Executive Steve Kavanagh – back in May 2017 after receiving the award – said to millwallfc.co.uk:
“It is a fantastic achievement to win this award and everyone associated with Millwall should be very proud.
When I first arrived at this club it was very quickly apparent just how much thought and hard work went into fan engagement and making the matchday experience as good as it could possibly be for young supporters and their families.”
Fast forward over 18 months and the club has been involved in a fair few incidents involving violence between supporters and racially abusive chants, none more so disruptive than the recent FA cup victory over Premier League side Everton.
Even though the Bermondsey-based side pulled off an upset on the pitch, with a late 3-2 win over their Merseyside counterparts, what will be most talked about is the off-field antics by a small section of supporters which has forced the football club into retrospective action.
FA Cup Trouble
There was a mass brawl away from the stadium before kick-off, during which an Everton fan was slashed across the face with a knife.
While a small group of supporters allegedly directed racially abusive chants towards the visiting supporters during the game which was shown through a video which appeared on social media.
Chief Executive Steve Kavanagh took a different interview this time as he spoke to talkSPORT following the FA Cup game at The Den:
“We have got together to put a raft of measures in place to make sure we try to rid this club of any of these tags, and anyone who wants to commit racism or any form of hate – they’re just not welcome at Millwall.”
Action Taken
Millwall have now closed three sections of the stand and added extra stewarding to try and control the area where the racially abusive chants started.
Kavanagh spoke about the fact that the majority of Millwall fans do not want this atmosphere at their home ground or football club after liaising with a few fans in that section of the ground:
“Myself and a number of the board members also went into the stand in block 18 and spoke to the fans over there and made our feelings clear about what went on, and the fans also made their feelings clear and they were in line with us.
They do not want this. They did not like it and they self- policed it to make sure these people were shut down as quickly as they could.”
Government Statistics
According to Home Office figures, Millwall fans have been arrested for football-related violence, more than any other club over the last four seasons. A total of 56 supporters were held on suspicion of violent disorder between August 2014 and May 2018.
These statistics show that even though the club are trying to get rid of their negative image amongst English Football, it’s going to take a lot of work to fix the issue.
The fact that Millwall’s history over the last 50 years has not consisted with top flight football but notorious incidents of hooligans shows the way they are portrayed across English football.
Media Portrayal
The Millwall Bushwhackers are a hooligan firm which started in the 1970’s and perhaps started this trend of showing Millwall FC as a club with tendencies of violence.
There have been several reports of riots happening at games involving Millwall, including Luton, Birmingham and most recently the Upton Park riot in 2009 where West Ham fans stormed onto the pitch three times to confront the Millwall fans.
It does not help the Lions as their fan groups of hooligans have been glorified on the big screens in the form of Green Street and The Football Factory, which show stories of West Ham and Chelsea fans fighting Millwall fans respectively.
Even if they do manage to quell the negative image of their club by reducing the number of incidents at The Den or on the road, there is always that lingering image and idea of Millwall fans as trouble making thugs which will forever be associated with the Lions.
