An undercover police officer posing as a football hooligan previously explained how he could not intervene when a firm attacked an innocent fan of a Premier League club during a train journey.
During the 1980s and 90s, football hooliganism was a stain on the English game, with most clubs having ‘firms’ connected to them that engaged in fights with members of other groups of fans on a weekly basis.
Manchester United’s Red Army, West Ham’s Inter City Firm and Chelsea’s Headhunters were among the most famous groups that would travel to away games in search of a scrap with opposition supporters.
Many families and younger fans stayed away from the grounds during this period, which was understandable based on witness accounts of some of the incidents of violence.
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To combat the issue, several police forces across the UK, including the Metropolitan Police, placed undercover officers in the firms under fake names and aliases.
One of the officers given the task was James Bannon, who was 21 at the time.
In 1987, Bannon was part of Operation Pegasus and infiltrated the Millwall ‘Bushwackers’ firm.
He pretended he was a painter and decorator called Jim Ford from Wandsworth and posed as a young father.
"We started going to the Millwall pub, in our painting and decorating overalls," Bannon said in the Channel 4 documentary 'Italia 90: When Football Changed Forever'.
"It is a really s****y, snidey thing to do, to go into somewhere and try and convince people that you're something you are not.
"But, it was the only way to stop people, some really not very nice people beating the s**t out of people, that actually some people didn't want to have the s**t out of them.”
But it was not just fellow football hooligans who caught the brunt of violence, with Bannon describing how he had to sit and watch an innocent Crystal Palace fan receive a beating in front of his wife and children on a train.
Bannon could not arrest the individuals responsible due to the fear of blowing his cover and ruining the covert operation.
"This d**k just stood up, walked over and just punched this guy in the head. And then started kicking him," Bannon recalled when speaking to LADbible.
"His kids are screaming and crying. His wife is crying. He has got a massive cut. His lip is bleeding. And he is on the floor sobbing.
"Every single sinew within me wanted to jump on this p**k and arrest him. But we couldn't. If we had done that and broken cover, we were f***ed.”
Ahead of the 1990 World Cup, which took place in Italy, undercover police officers were also placed in firms connected to Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and United, among others.
Football hooliganism is much less prevalent now due to the enhanced security measures and cameras in and around football grounds.
Luke Davies