The London Stadium faces its first big test after new security measures were introduced after the EFL cup game against Chelsea last week. Segregation has been widened as part of a new five point security plan. It couldn’t come at a better time as West Ham face Stoke this weekend whose fans have a checkered past.
Although rarely reported there has often been trouble with Stoke fans in previous seasons as they made their way to and from the old Boleyn Ground although they were usually well behaved inside the stadium. West Ham fan fought with stewards at the Britannia stadium in 2009.
Like West Ham Stoke had a notorious football firm called the Naughty Forty, at their height, the firm had over 700 members and were considered one of the more violent football hooligan firms in England.
In 1998, dozens of stoke hooligans invaded the pitch at the club’s new Britannia Stadium at the end of a 7-0 Division One defeat by Birmingham City and several seats were thrown onto the pitch.
In 2001 84 people were arrested after rival fans clashed at Stoke City’s local Potteries derby with Port Vale. Violence broke out in the streets around Vale Park in the Burslem district of Stoke. There were two pitch invasions and fans from both clubs threw missiles at each other. About 300 police officers were drafted in to keep the peace. Later that year hooligans from the Naughty Forty and another firm associated with the club the Under 5’s fought with hooligans from Huddersfield Town in Huddersfield. In the worst incident Stoke fans smashed up and set fire to the White Hart pub, causing extensive damage.
In 2002 Stoke City played Cardiff City at home. Staffordshire Police mounted a large operation and had to call in officers from other forces and around 1,000 officers were on duty on the day. The match had to be halted for seven minutes as the police attempted to arrest Stoke hooligans in the ground. After the game police were pelted with stones, and Cardiff City chairman Sam Hammam had his car vandalised.
While the worst days of both clubs involvement with football hooliganism is mostly behind us there remains a small minority who are intent to rekindle old rivalries and the London Stadium will be seen as a day out for some of these individuals on both sides.
The stewards, police and stadium operators will need to be on their A game if they are to prevent any further troubles inside or outside the stadium.
What a lovely optimistic article – the most recent episode you quote is 7 years ago and then we have a crawl back through Neanderthal times. As if the press aren’t spouting enough anti- West Ham all week. The sooner all the negative whingers, thugs, so called die-hards who want a 70’s style ruck etc are permanently removed from the Olympic park and its environs the better. I have been watching the team for 52 years – the stadium is fantastic from my perspective in the 1966 seats and yes., as my neighbour says, the pitch seems to get nearer each week. We don’t have to walk down the khazi that is East Ham High St or past all the downsides of the Queens Market area (though I do miss the Queens Fish Bar and sav and chips at £2.50 rather than the sheer rip off prices of the concessions outside the London or the £5 hot dog inside) I had wonderful memories of the Boleyn all the more so when my daughter started coming with me 15 or so years ago – but the club has to grow or we stay as a Championship pretender to the Prem with all those teams we like to think of as rivals playing to 60k whilst we were stuck at 35k. Before the Chelsea match we waited outside for 20 minutes for the 6.15 open with a few morons who were moaning they couldn’t get in and get a pint, giving the poor ever so polite stewards hell, as if they could change it – these guys just wouldn’t give up even when my daughter rightly told them its people like them getting the club a bad name – oh you are just new fans was the best answer – wrong, as I told the mouthiest how long we had been going, before this cretin was even born. Its about time that all the support ( that’s what its meant to be) got behind the team, manager, ground and board -most of the sexist abuse thrown at Brady in particular is another throw back, most of the teething problems are beyond West Ham’s control ( for example, how on earth were the terror threatened Olympics ever policed if the cops couldn’t be in the stadium with no radio control).
So yes, there may be a bit of potential trouble tomorrow – lets pray not, lets hope a proud club like Stoke City bring their best support and we have a proper football afternoon- there is trouble at every game but right now the only one noticed is ours – lets all grow up a bit and do our club proud instead of shame – and yes, that’s you, the ********* spoiling for a fight – we don’t want you.
Good comments!
A small minority of Stoke fans always seem to be intent on causing trouble and have in recent seasons. Only two season ago they were throwing bottles at West ham fans outside a pub in Plaistow. Not wishing for trouble but Stoke have some morons as do West Ham
JGP you have absolutely zero chance of some of our fans stopping their moaning about the stadium.Its their daily ritual on blogs hehe.Its what they get off on while spouting off about Upton Park through their rose tinted glasses.
I was at the Britannia in 2009, and it wasn’t to dissimilar to what happened with Chelsea. There was also a nasty atmosphere outside the ground that day too. However, I’ve been a couple of times since then and it’s all been relatively peaceful, so I wouldn’t take 2009 as an indicator now.