Six Worst English Football Firms Were Named in BBC News Report

Hooligan firms from Millwall, West Ham and Chelsea were named alongside three others in a special report on gangs that were creating the most mayhem in English football at the time.

The year 1985 was a watershed moment for football hooliganism, with European football's governing body UEFA banning all English clubs from European competition for five years following the scenes at Brussels' Heysel stadium.

The ban was imposed after the riots at the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus, which resulted in 39 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

It was an incident that highlighted the widespread football hooliganism in England at the time. In fact, the BBC broadcast a special Six O'Clock News report in 1985, which listed the worst football hooligan firms in England.

London clubs Millwall, West Ham and Chelsea were among those most associated with hooliganism, particularly in the 70s and 80s, and they were all named in the report alongside Leeds United, Bristol City and Blackpool.

The European Cup Final at the Heysel Stadium in Brussel. Image credit: Getty

Two years later, police officer James Bannon spent months inside the Millwall 'Bushwackers' firm, posing undercover as a painter and decorator called Jim as part of a Metropolitan Police operation.

Bannon, who was just 21 at the time, had to stick to his cover at all times throughout a two-year stint. He clashed with opposition fans in experiences which he found to be "quick, brutal and not very pleasant".

In the meantime, Frank Harper – an actor renowned for playing "hard man" roles in The Football Factory and The Rise of the Footsoldier – was a hooligan with Millwall in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

"One of my most frightening experiences at football was when Millwall played Ipswich at the Den in the '70s," he recalled in the book, Terrace Legends.

"Somehow a mob of Ipswich came into the Cold Blow Lane End of the ground. Everyone pushed down the terraces towards them, and I was being carried and shoved by one mass of angry bodies."

"My head was heading towards a metal barrier and I just ducked underneath it, but my mate hit his head and I had to drag him up because he was nearly out cold," added Harper.

The actor also named his top five football firms, although he didn't rank them in order. "West Ham, Chelsea, Pompey (Portsmouth), Leeds and Cardiff City," he said.

Last year, Lower Block, a website dedicated to football culture over history, ranked the 12 most notorious firms in English football history, with the Millwall Bushwackers missing out on top spot.

Top 12 'most notorious football firms' ranked

• 12. The Naughty Forty (Stoke City)
• 11. The Blades Business Crew (Sheffield United)
• 10. Aberdeen Soccer Casuals (Aberdeen)
• 9. Leeds United Service Crew (Leeds United)
• 8. The Jungle (Celtic)
• 7. Glasgow Rangers Ibrox Boys (Rangers)
• 6. Tottenham Hotspur Yid Army (Tottenham Hotspur)
• 5. Cardiff City Soul Crew (Cardiff City)
• 4. Manchester United Inter-City Jibbers (Manchester United)
• 3. Chelsea Headhunters (Chelsea)
• 2. Millwall Bushwackers (Millwall)
• 1. Inter City Firm (West Ham United)