When the Met launch an undercover operation the first location they come up with is The Den. This time was no different as they targeted football hooligans who use racist chants and abuse black players. They would have got much better results going to Chelsea, who have been strongly linked with Combat 18, a right-wing, racist group. One geezer actually joined their firm from Cardiff because of C18. Racism has never been a big issue at Millwall but the Met headed over to us anyway, unsurprisingly. They would certainly have got better results with an undercover operation at their own HQ, given the institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police.
They carried out the first two operations, in which dozens of officers were used to secretly record and photograph offensive chanting, in late 1998. They could have picked any club and got the same results. These things are all done for a reason, of course, but – no offence intended to any black person – but this was not done to protect you. The initiative came about because the Home Office was set to announce proposals for stiffer penalties against hooligans at football matches. It just needed a new report to justify them. A stricter vetting programme to try to control the type of people following the England team abroad was then subsequently unveiled by the Football Association. Sir Paul Condon, Metropolitan Police Commissioner at the time, apparently showed films of the two undercover operations, both obviously involving followers of Millwall. When you need maximum exposure for some new civil-liberty-busting imminent legislation, then use the biggest bad boy in town. An old, transparent tactic.
In one, five men aged 19–42 were recorded and filmed making monkey noises and chanting racist obscenities by undercover police officers. Condon admits the investigation, known as Operation Den, was intended to make people afraid that ‘the police could be recording them at any match’. He described their behaviour as ‘despicable and offensive’. Under the Home Office clampdown, measures included making the chanting of racist abuse by an individual fan a criminal offence. Fair enough. Not too many enlightened people at the start of the new millennium would oppose the eradication of racism, in all walks of life, not just football.
Yet what they tagged on the end of it can only lead anyone to believe that targeting racists and protecting the black community was the last thing on their mind. To begin with, a racist and a hooligan are two entirely separate beings. For hooligan read ‘delinquent’, ‘hoodlum’, ‘lout’, ‘ruffian’, ‘tearaway’, ‘thug’, ‘tough’, ‘troublemaker’, ‘vandal’ and ‘yob’. For racist, read ‘biased, ‘bigoted’, ‘chauvinistic’, ‘discriminatory’, ‘intolerant’, ‘prejudiced’ and ‘xenophobic’. Even using the Oxford Popular Thesaurus, there is not one word that crosses over or links a racist with a hooligan. The reason is simple: they are totally different. The vast majority of hooligans would be offended at being called a racist, myself included. I would hazard a guess that not too many KKK members ever went to a football game for a good old punch-up and a piss-up. Too busy cutting holes out of their stupid fucking pointy hats. For sure, some people are both; without doubt, there are racist hooligans but, without doubt, they are in the minority. Yet the hood-winkers at the Home Office lump it all together to achieve their main objectives.
The Home Office had a hidden agenda and used Commissioner Condon as their vehicle. He used football – and, in particular, Millwall – as his vehicle. He launched Operation Den, ostensibly to ban racism at football. Records were taken and five people were arrested – a landslide victory. And so the propaganda machine was let loose – the press were called in to inform the public dutifully and obligingly about the ‘outrage’ at Millwall. The public accepted it all unquestioningly, as we invariably do. The legislation was passed. The vehicles had all been ridden smoothly on their way to a final destination.
So under the guise of tackling racism, a noble cause, of course, legislation was soon introduced that contained new laws which would bring in more revenue through higher fines and exclusion orders – designed to prevent people from travelling abroad because they do not like your tattoo or bald head or football shirt or designer jumper or your face; in effect, they now had the ability to ban anyone from going to any game and gained more control over the sales of tickets for matches overseas. Bang went freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of association and innocent until proven guilty. Never mind hooliganism; civil liberties would soon be a thing of the past.
The Government’s Working Group on Football-Related Disorder wanted ‘greater effort by clubs, their stewards and police to tackle racist chanting and remarks’. Again, just completely pass the buck – why not? They also wanted to see ‘initiatives to recognise and develop the value of grassroots football as a method of promoting social inclusion’. Sounds great, that, but what you are really saying, though, is just get kids playing football so they don’t feel left out. Kids have been doing that up and down the country on their own since Dick docked. Good effort, though, and you have to publish something after all those hours sat around talking shite.
There have been a number of high-profile campaigns to drive out racism from football, by the clubs, Government, police and the PFA. The Professional Footballers’ Association and the Commission for Racial Equality founded the ‘Kick It Out’ campaign. It gives children the opportunity to see footballers talking personally about the effect of racism on their lives. Great idea – it can help break the cycle of racism being taught or passed on through every generation. I am all for it.
Other clubs came up with their own ideas to combat the problem. Derby County teamed up with the police in a scheme called Rams Against Football Troublemakers. Sheffield Wednesday and police regularly exchange information about known hooligans to ensure that anyone banned from the ground for causing trouble is kept away from games. Not sure how or if it works, but I would assume that the threat of it could keep some away. They want everyone to feel like they are being watched all the time.
They also have a scheme under which suspected hooligans can be banned before they are proven guilty. Let me repeat: under the initiative, the club can ban fans before the Courts convict them! That could be any Wednesday fan who is casually strolling around on a nice, sunny day with a tin in her hand a mile from the ground. Bang … you’re nicked. Tagged, bagged and banned before your beer is warm, by the club you have supported all your life, pressured by a Government who is telling us that the loss of our fundamental right to innocent until proven guilty is for our benefit – to eradicate the hooligan problem. It is just the contempt they have for us. It is natural. We all know that. I don’t even take it personally anymore.
Some lies are despicable and intended to frighten us and to take us to war – Saddam has WMDs; terrorists are in your street and flying overhead right now. Some are funny – in the run-up to Euro 2000, the Home Office said that domestic hooliganism was over. Oh, right. Then what the fuck are a couple of thousand riot cops lurking with intent outside my living room window for every other Saturday? As he himself said, the bigger the lie, the more people believe it. And this – give up your right to innocence so that we may protect you even better – is as big a lie as you will ever hear.
Forgetting I am a hooligan anyway, surely everyone has got to be concerned by the fact that you now only have to be ‘suspected’. Glad I’m not a Wednesday fan. The club and South Yorkshire Police claimed this strategy was to tackle violence, racism and anti-social behaviour both inside and outside the ground. Of course, the Old Bill are behind it, they have a vested interest.
Apparently, the Wednesday Against Soccer Hooligans scheme (WASH) ‘has helped make improvements to safety inside the ground and other measures are planned’. Lord knows what else they introduced or what other measures they have planned. Tag everyone? Chip in their forearm to track them? Camera in their living room to record them? And they are just putting the finishing touches to a machine that reads minds.
Fucking hell. Scary shit. They only want to watch a game of football. No wonder Wednesday’s gate receipts have fallen through the floor.