Memoirs of an asian football casual Show at Curve

[evil jack]

1 hour ago, pleatout said:

Wow, I'm quite surprised he can write, after spending so long dragging his knuckles. Sorry, but I'm the same age and there were a hell of a lot of us that regarded the baby squad and other "casuals" as the total scum of the earth that they were.

 

I love his efforts at justifying his and others behaviour.  Do us all a favour and stop hiding behind some sort of sub-culture when all the time you were just pathetic thug.   He claims he wrote it as a response to the EDL's recruitment of "casuals".  Hmmm, he must have missed the NF recruitment campaign in the early 80's.  I'm a bit tired of this "football gangs welcomed all colours and races".  No they didnt, unless all colours and races were happy to join in with the nastiest and vilest of chants and behaviours.

 

Yep, rewrite history if you like, but some of us can remember just how close football came to being driven out.  Moynihan, Evans etc and their ludicrous membership cards.  Without scum like him Heysel wouldn't have happened & Hillsborough wouldn't have had the fences (just to be clear, hooliganism played NO PART in the Hillsborough disaster). 

 

You know that it's these idiots that mean that you can have a beer in your seat at the KP if you are watching the Tigers but cant if you are watching City, dont you?

 

"Look at me, I'm a reformed character".  No, you're a scumbag.  Go away and please dont speak again.

 

I couldn’t agree more.

[Voll Blau]

2 hours ago, pleatout said:

Wow, I'm quite surprised he can write, after spending so long dragging his knuckles. Sorry, but I'm the same age and there were a hell of a lot of us that regarded the baby squad and other "casuals" as the total scum of the earth that they were.

 

I love his efforts at justifying his and others behaviour.  Do us all a favour and stop hiding behind some sort of sub-culture when all the time you were just pathetic thug.   He claims he wrote it as a response to the EDL's recruitment of "casuals".  Hmmm, he must have missed the NF recruitment campaign in the early 80's.  I'm a bit tired of this "football gangs welcomed all colours and races".  No they didnt, unless all colours and races were happy to join in with the nastiest and vilest of chants and behaviours.

 

Yep, rewrite history if you like, but some of us can remember just how close football came to being driven out.  Moynihan, Evans etc and their ludicrous membership cards.  Without scum like him Heysel wouldn't have happened & Hillsborough wouldn't have had the fences (just to be clear, hooliganism played NO PART in the Hillsborough disaster). 

 

You know that it's these idiots that mean that you can have a beer in your seat at the KP if you are watching the Tigers but cant if you are watching City, dont you?

 

"Look at me, I'm a reformed character".  No, you're a scumbag.  Go away and please dont speak again.

 

Have you actually read the book?

[Evington Fosse Fox]

I remember Riaz from the 1980's. Him and his brothers terrorised the Rushey Mead neighbourhood. If it were happening today, they would have had a cabinet full of ASBO's! 

 

Glad he has moved on and doing something positive, so thumbs up to him turning around his life. Probably feeling guilty for the past! 

 

 

[broughtonblue]

3 hours ago, pleatout said:

Wow, I'm quite surprised he can write, after spending so long dragging his knuckles. Sorry, but I'm the same age and there were a hell of a lot of us that regarded the baby squad and other "casuals" as the total scum of the earth that they were.

 

I love his efforts at justifying his and others behaviour.  Do us all a favour and stop hiding behind some sort of sub-culture when all the time you were just pathetic thug.   He claims he wrote it as a response to the EDL's recruitment of "casuals".  Hmmm, he must have missed the NF recruitment campaign in the early 80's.  I'm a bit tired of this "football gangs welcomed all colours and races".  No they didnt, unless all colours and races were happy to join in with the nastiest and vilest of chants and behaviours.

 

Yep, rewrite history if you like, but some of us can remember just how close football came to being driven out.  Moynihan, Evans etc and their ludicrous membership cards.  Without scum like him Heysel wouldn't have happened & Hillsborough wouldn't have had the fences (just to be clear, hooliganism played NO PART in the Hillsborough disaster). 

 

You know that it's these idiots that mean that you can have a beer in your seat at the KP if you are watching the Tigers but cant if you are watching City, dont you?

 

"Look at me, I'm a reformed character".  No, you're a scumbag.  Go away and please dont speak again.

 

Good post. Was thinking of goint to watch this but your post reminded me of acrually how bad it was in the day for a young fan

[pleatout]

2 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

Have you actually read the book?

 

No, why would I want to line the pocket of a convicted criminal jumping on the bandwagon of footballs popularity.   A sport he and others like him came close to destroying.

 

[Evington Fosse Fox]

51 minutes ago, pleatout said:

 

No, why would I want to line the pocket of a convicted criminal jumping on the bandwagon of footballs popularity.   A sport he and others like him came close to destroying.

 

 

All of his events are targeted and marketed for Muslims football fans. He has a loyal Muslim fan base and is seen as a celebrity in his community (hooligan trouble maker thug turned now apparently reformed due to his religious conviction!).

Edited 29 September 2018 by Evington Fosse Fox
Spell

[Raj]

12 hours ago, pleatout said:

Wow, I'm quite surprised he can write, after spending so long dragging his knuckles. Sorry, but I'm the same age and there were a hell of a lot of us that regarded the baby squad and other "casuals" as the total scum of the earth that they were.

 

I love his efforts at justifying his and others behaviour.  Do us all a favour and stop hiding behind some sort of sub-culture when all the time you were just pathetic thug.   He claims he wrote it as a response to the EDL's recruitment of "casuals".  Hmmm, he must have missed the NF recruitment campaign in the early 80's.  I'm a bit tired of this "football gangs welcomed all colours and races".  No they didnt, unless all colours and races were happy to join in with the nastiest and vilest of chants and behaviours.

 

Yep, rewrite history if you like, but some of us can remember just how close football came to being driven out.  Moynihan, Evans etc and their ludicrous membership cards.  Without scum like him Heysel wouldn't have happened & Hillsborough wouldn't have had the fences (just to be clear, hooliganism played NO PART in the Hillsborough disaster). 

 

You know that it's these idiots that mean that you can have a beer in your seat at the KP if you are watching the Tigers but cant if you are watching City, dont you?

 

"Look at me, I'm a reformed character".  No, you're a scumbag.  Go away and please dont speak again.

 

Great post.

My elder brother was regularly beaten up at football matches and even by his own fellow fans he had beef. This guy makes out the BS was a little fellowship of men!!! 

I won't put a penny into his so called new life just because people now look upto him (sad bastards!) 

 

[m4DD0gg]

13 hours ago, pleatout said:

Wow, I'm quite surprised he can write, after spending so long dragging his knuckles. Sorry, but I'm the same age and there were a hell of a lot of us that regarded the baby squad and other "casuals" as the total scum of the earth that they were.

 

I love his efforts at justifying his and others behaviour.  Do us all a favour and stop hiding behind some sort of sub-culture when all the time you were just pathetic thug.   He claims he wrote it as a response to the EDL's recruitment of "casuals".  Hmmm, he must have missed the NF recruitment campaign in the early 80's.  I'm a bit tired of this "football gangs welcomed all colours and races".  No they didnt, unless all colours and races were happy to join in with the nastiest and vilest of chants and behaviours.

 

Yep, rewrite history if you like, but some of us can remember just how close football came to being driven out.  Moynihan, Evans etc and their ludicrous membership cards.  Without scum like him Heysel wouldn't have happened & Hillsborough wouldn't have had the fences (just to be clear, hooliganism played NO PART in the Hillsborough disaster). 

 

You know that it's these idiots that mean that you can have a beer in your seat at the KP if you are watching the Tigers but cant if you are watching City, dont you?

 

"Look at me, I'm a reformed character".  No, you're a scumbag.  Go away and please dont speak again.

 

Typical foxestalk reaction. 

[Vacamion]

13 hours ago, pleatout said:

Wow, I'm quite surprised he can write, after spending so long dragging his knuckles. Sorry, but I'm the same age and there were a hell of a lot of us that regarded the baby squad and other "casuals" as the total scum of the earth that they were.

 

I love his efforts at justifying his and others behaviour.  Do us all a favour and stop hiding behind some sort of sub-culture when all the time you were just pathetic thug.   He claims he wrote it as a response to the EDL's recruitment of "casuals".  Hmmm, he must have missed the NF recruitment campaign in the early 80's.  I'm a bit tired of this "football gangs welcomed all colours and races".  No they didnt, unless all colours and races were happy to join in with the nastiest and vilest of chants and behaviours.

 

Yep, rewrite history if you like, but some of us can remember just how close football came to being driven out.  Moynihan, Evans etc and their ludicrous membership cards.  Without scum like him Heysel wouldn't have happened & Hillsborough wouldn't have had the fences (just to be clear, hooliganism played NO PART in the Hillsborough disaster). 

 

You know that it's these idiots that mean that you can have a beer in your seat at the KP if you are watching the Tigers but cant if you are watching City, dont you?

 

"Look at me, I'm a reformed character".  No, you're a scumbag.  Go away and please dont speak again.

 

 

 

I’m about the right age, too, and the only lads I knew who aspired to belong to this “subculture” were utterly inadequate, educationally subnormal roasters, who were widely derided by the rest of us.  I can think of two lads in particular who on their own couldn’t fight a cold yet got brave and bold when they thought they had others around them.

 

It was never about politics, or identity or subculture.  It was inadequate lads ganging together to commit violent crime to make themselves feel less inadequate.

 

Football violence, the Baby Squad and the likelihood of trouble or arrest or injury at games in the 80s meant that, after being mad keen on City as a kid in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I spent my teenage years only very occasionally going down Filbert Street and instead I spent most weekends during the football season playing and watching rugby.  

 

I only returned to attending City games in my early 20s, when Brian Little started his wave, by which time fans were corralled and kettled and stewarded to try to prevent trouble at grounds, and it seemed that more people were actually going to games for the football.

 

You are dead right. Football gang culture almost destroyed football in the 80s.  It turned fans away from the game and made people outside the game treat all fans like the worst ones.

[Raj]

The last two posts sum up Foxestalk. Knee jerk post by maddogg who is probably a young lad enthused by the so called charm of "The Asian casual ex hooligan" or what ever title he wants to laud.

And a much more defined and contextual post from someone who actually has understanding of the issue and explains  in an articulate manner what he feels....

[funkyrobot]

16 hours ago, pleatout said:

Wow, I'm quite surprised he can write, after spending so long dragging his knuckles. Sorry, but I'm the same age and there were a hell of a lot of us that regarded the baby squad and other "casuals" as the total scum of the earth that they were.

 

I love his efforts at justifying his and others behaviour.  Do us all a favour and stop hiding behind some sort of sub-culture when all the time you were just pathetic thug.   He claims he wrote it as a response to the EDL's recruitment of "casuals".  Hmmm, he must have missed the NF recruitment campaign in the early 80's.  I'm a bit tired of this "football gangs welcomed all colours and races".  No they didnt, unless all colours and races were happy to join in with the nastiest and vilest of chants and behaviours.

 

Yep, rewrite history if you like, but some of us can remember just how close football came to being driven out.  Moynihan, Evans etc and their ludicrous membership cards.  Without scum like him Heysel wouldn't have happened & Hillsborough wouldn't have had the fences (just to be clear, hooliganism played NO PART in the Hillsborough disaster). 

 

You know that it's these idiots that mean that you can have a beer in your seat at the KP if you are watching the Tigers but cant if you are watching City, dont you?

 

"Look at me, I'm a reformed character".  No, you're a scumbag.  Go away and please dont speak again.

 

I think you should go and watch the show.  I was a kid during the footy violence years and my dad wouldn’t take me for years after we got inadvertently caught up in the middle of fighting between the baby squad and man utd’s Red army in 1984 (after the latter had infiltrated the double decker.) I had to go and watch the tigers instead for years despite being a footy fan.

 

Having lived through it, It’s fascinating now to hear from someone who was part of the hooligan element, why they did it and also the racism, societal and tribal aspects that encouraged him to be a fighter. Not only that, how much the fashions of the casual impacted on all young lads during that era. Many of us were trying rock the sportswear look as young kids not really appreciating how a lot of it had come from the casuals. Fila, Sergio Tachini, Adidas, Ellesse etc etc. It was brilliant and I could definitely see it being a film. The play does not glorify the violence of the era but seeks to explain why it started and ultimately how it ended. It’s very interesting for all football fans and I can’t recommend it enough. 

[pleatout]

On 30/09/2018 at 10:51, funkyrobot said:

I think you should go and watch the show.  I was a kid during the footy violence years and my dad wouldn’t take me for years after we got inadvertently caught up in the middle of fighting between the baby squad and man utd’s Red army in 1984 (after the latter had infiltrated the double decker.) I had to go and watch the tigers instead for years despite being a footy fan.

 

Having lived through it, It’s fascinating now to hear from someone who was part of the hooligan element, why they did it and also the racism, societal and tribal aspects that encouraged him to be a fighter. Not only that, how much the fashions of the casual impacted on all young lads during that era. Many of us were trying rock the sportswear look as young kids not really appreciating how a lot of it had come from the casuals. Fila, Sergio Tachini, Adidas, Ellesse etc etc. It was brilliant and I could definitely see it being a film. The play does not glorify the violence of the era but seeks to explain why it started and ultimately how it ended. It’s very interesting for all football fans and I can’t recommend it enough. 

I think we'll have to agree to differ.

 

It really doesnt matter how someone wants to dress it up is a fashion, tribal, sub-culture etc etc way.  The end result is always the same.  Ordinary people being herded all over by the authorities, treated like 2nd class citizens, put into 3rd rate football grounds.  No one wanted football, footballers and least of all football fans.

 

Folk can get deep and significant about the socioeconomic this and that of the the poor and underprivileged.  I was one as well.  Being in my late teens in the '80s wasn't a bed of roses.  But I never regarded being one of them as being an option.

 

 

Edited 2 October 2018 by pleatout
not complete

[funkyrobot]

7 hours ago, pleatout said:

I think we'll have to agree to differ.

 

It really doesnt matter how someone wants to dress it up is a fashion, tribal, sub-culture etc etc way.  The end result is always the same.  Ordinary people being herded all over by the authorities, treated like 2nd class citizens, put into 3rd rate football grounds.  No one wanted football, footballers and least of all football fans.

 

Folk can get deep and significant about the socioeconomic this and that of the the poor and underprivileged.  I was one as well.  Being in my late teens in the '80s wasn't a bed of roses.  But I never regarded being one of them as being an option.

 

 

I hate football violence like most people but It’s a good play and doesn’t glorify it. 

[FLAN]

I’m going Friday evening. I knew a lot of the characters in the book so it was interesting to read. Many of them I knew post violence and didn’t even know their history until I read the book. 

 

[notnow john]

28 minutes ago, F1_AN said:

I’m going Friday evening. I knew a lot of the characters in the book so it was interesting to read. Many of them I knew post violence and didn’t even know their history until I read the book. 

 

I'm surprised you are risking sitting next to a random stranger in a public place! 

??

[trabuch]

I tend not to read the "I was a nasty **** so I'll write about it" sort of books. Actually that's not true. I have read Lolita.

[volpeazzurro]

On 30/09/2018 at 08:04, Vacamion said:

 

 

I’m about the right age, too, and the only lads I knew who aspired to belong to this “subculture” were utterly inadequate, educationally subnormal roasters, who were widely derided by the rest of us.  I can think of two lads in particular who on their own couldn’t fight a cold yet got brave and bold when they thought they had others around them.

 

It was never about politics, or identity or subculture.  It was inadequate lads ganging together to commit violent crime to make themselves feel less inadequate.

 

Football violence, the Baby Squad and the likelihood of trouble or arrest or injury at games in the 80s meant that, after being mad keen on City as a kid in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I spent my teenage years only very occasionally going down Filbert Street and instead I spent most weekends during the football season playing and watching rugby.  

 

I only returned to attending City games in my early 20s, when Brian Little started his wave, by which time fans were corralled and kettled and stewarded to try to prevent trouble at grounds, and it seemed that more people were actually going to games for the football.

 

You are dead right. Football gang culture almost destroyed football in the 80s.  It turned fans away from the game and made people outside the game treat all fans like the worst ones.

Also around at the time and so called Baby Squad were largely a bunch of cowards on their own. Their victims at times were younger loan teenagers who occasionally got attacked with Stanley knives as well as a kicking. I knew of most of them and the majority were just low life's. If Riaz has reformed then that's good but, just get on with it, don't try and bask in some imaginary reflected glory of what was just scumbag behaviour and nothing remotely good to be nostalgic about.

[Rob1742]

I read the book, well a quarter of it. I got it off eBay, so didn’t support it by paying full price for it.

 

A dreadful read, I put it in the bin after 4/5 chapters. A very poor book, only aimed at those who took part in the violence in the day. 

 

These people terrorised football, crowds of sub 10,000 as families dare not go along, yet he and others somehow try and justify it in book format and now a play. 

 

Just think who who you are supporting when you go along. Lads were killed, slashed, life changing injuries due to football hooliganism in those days and your money is going into their pockets. 

 

It wasnt a good time. Bullying at its best. I recall these hard lads making a trip to our local and doing it over. They did it at 6.00pm when nobody was there. Loads of stories of them terrorising other groups when they were outnumbering others. 

 

Town was the same, if you went in certain pubs with a group of mates, they would go and get their large group to give you a kicking. They always made sure they outnumbered you, they always made town an uncomfortable place to be. 

 

Can’t believe anyone would support this play if you ever saw what went on. If you are curious I’d just wait for the book to come onto eBay second hand. It’s really a poor read and I think you would struggle to get through it. But more than that, I would never support people who did that sort of stuff and so I would think hard before parting with my cash. 

 

 

 

 

[FLAN]

8 hours ago, notnow john said:

I'm surprised you are risking sitting next to a random stranger in a public place! 

??

I have no idea what that means?

[notnow john]

56 minutes ago, F1_AN said:

I have no idea what that means?

 

On 6 November 2017 at 13:01, F1_AN said:

There’s a guy who must have obtained an ST in front of us this year and he stinks!  He’s directly in front of me and the two ladies either side of him try and move to spare seats when possible 

 

His behaviour indicates he may have some learning difficulties and he is alone. So what can we do to address it?  He really does stink to the point you have to lean back to move to the sides to avoid the smell. 

 

Would the Club help out here??

 

[FLAN]

5 hours ago, notnow john said:

 

 

Stalker ? 

 

?

[Lionheart10]

Excellent Play and the 2 actors who did the whole thing were fantastic,one of them an up and coming Leicester actor.The money from going to see the play goes to the Curve who do a lot of great work for the local community so can't be a bad thing.To be honest the story is more about his struggle as a young Muslim lad growing up in a pretty racist 70s & 80s Leicester,how sad that he felt the only way to fit in and be accepted was to go down that route.

[FLAN]

very good show. The two actors were brilliant and this was their professional debut. A lot of the content of the book wasn’t in it and it was more about his life than about football violence 

[foxinsox]

It is a good show and does explore some interesting themes of racism, integration, belonging and the history of Asians in Leicester. It is well staged and directed. 

 

I left at the end in a thoughtful mood, and the final scene involving the Author grated on me, where in his reformed role he has a young lad come up to him hero-worshiping him as a role model for the fight against racism. Certainly Britain in the Seventies and Eighties tolerated and even encouraged racist abuse, but the victory over that crap was not won by thugs slashing up others with Stanley knives, and making matches and city unsafe places to be. That last scene demonstrated to me that Khan has not truly repented violence, but rather thinks his violence justified. He remains a dangerous individual. 

 

 

[m4DD0gg]

On 30/09/2018 at 09:37, Raj said:

The last two posts sum up Foxestalk. Knee jerk post by maddogg who is probably a young lad enthused by the so called charm of "The Asian casual ex hooligan" or what ever title he wants to laud.

And a much more defined and contextual post from someone who actually has understanding of the issue and explains  in an articulate manner what he feels....

You know nothing about me or my age.