| Hateland -
Articles |
03/05/02
- 50 police hurt on night of hate
Birmingham City fans ran a gauntlet of fear last night
after their side's stunning victory over Millwall in
the Division One play-off semi-final last night. Fifty
police officers were hurt as Millwall hooligans targeted
them and Blues supporters as violence erupted outside
the New Den stadium in London after the match.
Jubilant Blues fans fans came under fire from Millwall
supporters - including some who had not been at the
game. A group of about 50 hooligans began raining down
fireworks and flares on the police. A car was set alight
and the trouble delayed the fire brigade getting to
the scene.
A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said about 50 officers
were injured and one member of the public was taken
to hospital. Blues fans leaving the stadium were shepherded
by police to a nearby industrial estate as the trouble
continued. They were eventually escorted back to their
coaches, which left the ground nearly two hours after
the match finished.
Witnesses said the coaches were met with abuse from
Millwall supporters. Dozens of other Birmingham fans,
officials and media representatives were told to stay
behind in the stadium as hundreds of Millwall supporters
gathered in a nearby street to be met by a wall of police.
More than 250 Blues fans also had to be escorted by
police to South Bermondsey railway station.
Millwall president Reg Burr today promised to ban for
life the hooligans involved. Burr, who is also a Millwall
director, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I didn't see
anything of what went on. I'm not competent to comment
on what happened outside the ground - I didn't see anything,
I only heard about it.
"Millwall continue to work continuously to improve
the quality of the support they have and anybody that
misbehaves at Millwall is banned for life. "Inside
the ground the behaviour was impeccable. "Theo
Paphitis (chairman) has done a fantastic job at Millwall.
We've been through difficult times before and I'm certain
we'll come out of them again.
"I can assure you we will do anything we can to
identify any troublemakers and the appropriate action
will be taken - we will ban them for life." Birmingham
chairman David Gold gave his backing to Millwall's efforts
to clean up their reputation - and warned that one incident
should not tarnish the image of the game.
He said: "I know that Theo will be devastated.
I know he is working very hard. "Millwall sadly
have this reputation. We must be very careful, you had
14,000 Millwall fans who were absolutely devastated
who went home peacefully.
"We've come a long way in the last 20 years when
it was almost commonplace at every game. "I'm saddened
by it but be careful we don't turn it into a major,
major issue that football is tied to violence."
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