No such thing as a West Ham friendly

Click here to watch a video of the crowd trouble

Reading the newspaper reports of crowd trouble in the game between West Ham and Columbus Crew reminded me of another friendly that caught fire some years ago. Julian Dicks' testimonial against Athletic Bilbao was an excruciatingly boring game until the man himself lumbered on to the pitch, his knees shot to hell. He came to a halt near the left touchline, received the ball - to a polite cheer from the crowd - and was instantly cut in half by an insane tackle by an opponent, sparking outrage in the stand and a 19-man brawl on the pitch. Belying his fiery reputation, Dicks himself limped in a studiously straight line directly away from the fracas. In his place, Paolo di Canio took the fight to the enemy and was invited to leave the field by a bewildered referee. It was as if a baton had been passed.

The Columbus trouble, on the other hand, was all 'off the pitch'. I must admit, my heart sank when I heard about it, but rather than a return to the thuggish violence of West Ham's past, the story seems to be a product of a quiet news day. Reports of 100 fans of the American team fighting 30 travelling Londoners appear to have been exaggerated, with eyewitnesses talking about some taunting followed by a small, half-hearted fight, and authorities making just one arrest. Violence is ugly and always unacceptable, but this looks to have been a very minor disturbance talked up by journalists bored to tears by watching a sluggish pre-season West Ham taking on Columbus Crew's second string side. Yes, preseason is hell, and any excitement is a welcome distraction, but while there's nothing at stake on the pitch, there's still plenty at stake off it. West Ham fans' reputation for trouble is diminishing by the season. A little less sensationalism couldn't hurt.

An entertaining post script to this story, reported in The Times, is that Columbus Crew (which sounds like a hooligan firm in the first place) has a "boisterous" group of fans called the Hudson Street Hooligans, named after the US title of the film known in this country as Green Street. That film, starring the wide-eyed hobbit Elijah Wood, was centred around West Ham United. It's almost sweet that US fans are taking the hooligan side of football to heart,  and perfectly possible that, based on their knowledge of the film, the local fans were looking forward to meeting the West Ham contingent with a view to a rumble, as I believe they call them in America. If so, they would have been shocked by the Hammers fans, as they tend to be significantly larger (especially in the x axis) less photogenic and more untintelligible than their on-screen counterparts. (The RADA cockney accents in Green Street* were a particular highlight).

In any case, the football took a back seat, and that's fair enough for a warm-up game like this. The question is, has West Ham's mission to capture hearts and minds in the emerging football market of America been damaged or enhanced by the incident?

(*I must admit that I took my wife to see Green Street, watched it in an empty auditorium, and enjoyed every minute.)

Douglas Carter

Comments

[Brooklyn Hotspur]

I've been going to MLS games for a few years now and there has always been a focus on the EPL and wanting to be a little more like them.

However, the hooligan element - at least in NY - is mostly down to Latin American fans. I went to a New England vs Metro's (sorry Red Bull) game last year and was stunned to see a fan pull a knuckle duster out...on one of his own supporters!

To be fair the singing, taunting and drinking is the only fun to be had at an MLS game as the standard of football is barely above Sunday Pub League!

[Andrew]

Well it seems the MLS is shaping up well and considering a visiting team from the birth nation of football was there with a rather rich history in football violence, I am not surprised at all. Could it be my beloved Hammers kicking off because they can? Could it be the Columbus chancing their arm by wanting aggro with a team supported by hooligan heavyweights? For Columbus this creates their history a sense of belonging, tribalism and a sense of being a 'real' football fan a form of completeness!

Of course the last sentence is nonsense and I would also be the first to acknowledge that some sections of the supporters at Upton Park are absolutely vile in their assessment of others. Take Glen Roeder's return to Upton Park with Newcastle as a great example.
Some hooligans are venerated at Upton Park (no names being mentioned but a film is released about one of them very soon). What kind of backward culture do we live in?

So either way, I doubt either West Ham or Columbus were going to back down. What the MLS will need to think about is how will the culture of football develop? Will they be all sitting together and having BBQ's in the car park or needing to separate fans in fear of violence escalating?

Unfortunately the stewards and security did not do their job properly that day, lets put this down to naivety shall we!

[Kevin]

I'm from Columbus and am a Crew fan and what happened that day was nothing but blown out of propotion from the media. You will see more violance at a Buckeye football game or an NBA game than what happened there. But what had happened was the supporters section in crew stadium where members from three diffrent supporter groups are(Hudson Street Hooligans is only one of them) is called the Nordecke and during the first half the West Ham supporters which was located at the other end of the stadium was cheering back in forth with the Nordecke all in good fun. But at halftime 30 to 40 of West Ham guys decided to march into the heart of the Nordecke and throw beer on people and be loud the Crew supporters just stood their ground but security was there when the trouble started and broke it up rather quickly why security let them march in there I don't know. But it was nothing like it was reported. And I'm no expert but what I know about the Hudson Street Hooligans is they took there name from the fact they always meet at a bar on Hudson street before the games and than march up Hudson street to Crew Stadium usally in mass chanting and singing. And yes the Hooligan reference is from the English experience but its in just fun only(never had a violent episode until this game) and that group has been around for I do believe more than 5 years so when did that Green Street movie come out? Just thought I would drop you a line and tell you what I knew of the incident...Kevin

[Doug]

Ben:
I don't remember that, but it does throw up an interesting possibility.
Dicks came on as a sub for Winterburn, I think. Maybe the Bilbao player was taking revenge on the wrong man. Which would make it the latest tackle EVER.

[Ben]

I was at Julian Dicks' testimonial game and as I recall, it was a Nigel Winterburn tackle on one of the Bilbao players that sparked the 19-man brawl.

[mynameisfairplay.com]

My Name is Fair Play!
Help Stop The Fear!

Moviment Incentive of the Sporting Spirit.

No Violence - No Racism

http://mynameisfairplay.com

[S MacWitch]

Sir,
Putting your appreciative comment about the film 'Green Street' in parentheses at the end of your article indicates to me that you feel some guilt about it. So you should, it was terrible.

[Brian]

It's sad that of all things in English football that we had to import, it's this crap.

Columbus fans are starting to get a reputation. They were accused of racist taunts against a New England player. They regularly throw streamers and other crap at players trying to take corners. And now this...