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Topics: Millwall, Cardiff City
Josh Lawless
A Millwall hooligan has told the story of how his "toughest opponents" brought 2,000 men for a firm fight back in 1976.
'Ginger Bob' was one of the leader's of Millwall's revered 'Bushwackers' gang in the 1970's and 1980's, having joined at the age of 15.
He clashed with a slew of firms in his "glory days" but there was one firm in particular who gave Bob and his mob their most difficult fighting test.
At the height of football hooliganism, Millwall had around 300 people in their firm. But Bob, who was not even 18 at the time says he and his pals came up against a Cardiff City crew with 2,000 fans and were vastly outnumbered.
Stabbings and brutal attacks meant police told Millwall to retreat and jump on an empty train to London.
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“I've got to give it to Cardiff City," he revealed on the James English's Anything Goes podcast.
“Cardiff had an around 3-4,000-person-strong firm while Millwall – with around 300 – had nowhere to run. My mates thought they were going to die.
“The best row I had ever seen was on March 18, 1976.
"We had 300 firm and they had 2,000... and some of our people were getting stabbed.
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“One of my friends got captured by Cardiff and he was being beaten to death . . . so I've gone back into Cardiff's firm and pulled him along the floor.
“Because of the adrenaline I managed to pull him back, but when we got back to the station Cardiff's firm and the police were all laughing.”
A good chunk of the firm didn't do as they were told by the police and proceeded to attack pubs in the area before being sent packing by the police.
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He added: “We kicked the gates in, ran riot, and smashed all the pubs up. The police had to come back and force us back.
“That was a day before my 18th birthday – it was just like the wild west.”