But he gave little away about his controversial past as a football hooligan. The ICF would leave a calling card after they had caused some agro on an away trip, which usually involved fighting opposition fans and smashing up there pubs. Club: West Ham United It wasn't just Millwall fans sparking violence at Upton Park — but West Ham hooligans too. Pennant's mother emigrated from Jamaica while pregnant and he was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire. The Inter City Firm is the Hammers' … “So we decided to pay him a visit to tell him to his face."As recently as 2007, a steward at a Cardiff City was blinded in one eye when he was hit in the face by a lump of concrete thrown by Birmingham City hooligans."Home Office statistics show football disorder remains at concerning levels – over the past two seasons, incidents reported are at more than 1,000 fixtures, and worryingly, this is becoming the new normality," said Detective Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chief's Council Football Policing Lead."We ain't here to help plod are we... Let's have a good and interesting season... And keep it tight," the menacing message read.Originally called F-Troop, the Bushwackers have been associated with extreme hooligan brutality.Ninety-six police officers were also injured trying to stop the mayhem, which was later described by a judge as more like "the Battle of Agincourt than a football match".And there's even ties between legendary club players and Manchester United hooligans."You have grounds in the lower leagues where there is frequently no police presence and a limited stewarding presence," Layton added.The Chelsea Headhunters were most prominent in the 1980s and 1990s and sported ties with neo-Nazi terror groups like Combat 18 and even the KKK.It wasn't just Millwall fans sparking violence at Upton Park — but West Ham hooligans too.But they've also been involved in serious fighting in recent years.But he says the thugs are still a problem today.New football banning orders increased by 19 per cent last season, with a total of 1,771 in place across England and Wales.In its heyday, the hooligans were famed for violent clashes all over the country, when fences first started going up to prevent pitch invasions.Leeds became the first English team to be banned from a European competition when, in 1975, the club's fans went berserk during the European Cup Final against Bayern Munich in Paris.The scale of the bloodshed, in which bottles and bricks were thrown, indicated that fights were probably prearranged — one fan was even stabbed.The Inter City Firm is the Hammers' best-known gang, named after the trains on which they travelled to away games.But even in more recent years, the club has been tarnished by its fans' ferocity.And then just a year later, 47 cops and 24 police horses were injured when hooligans turned violent after Millwall lost a game against Birmingham City — the Metropolitan Police considered suing Millwall FC as a result.At the height of hooliganism, the Leeds United Service Crew made a name for themselves as one of the most savage firms in Britain.The ICF reared its ugly head again in 2018 when a West Ham supporters' group threatened another with violence.News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services.Cass Pennant, who was a general of the ICF, has published several books about his time in the firm — he survived being shot three times in a feud with another football gang.Thankfully, it's thought Woodward, his wife Isabelle, and their twin six-year-old girls weren't home during the terrifying incident.But one of the darkest episodes in the club's history came just two years ago during an under-21s game in the Checkatrade Trophy match between Stoke City and local rivals Port Vale.A mob of around 20 hooded goons from the Men In Black firm lobbed flares over the gates of Ed Woodward's £2million home.A member of the Naughty 40 warned members on Facebook against sharing incriminating evidence of their thuggish activities.High profile firm member Kevin Whitton was jailed for his part in the attack in 1985, with fellow thug Terry Matthews locked up for his involvement the following year."My favourite weapons were my fists, the axe and Uncle Stan - my trusty Stanley knife."The Millwall Bushwackers are arguably the most well-known firm in Britain.In 2007, cops were so anxious for travelling Manchester United hooligans to avoid Ponte Duca D’Aosta in Rome — where Roma ultras meet — they made a map pointing out exactly where the bridge was so they could avoid it."We didn’t get to speak to him but hopefully he’ll get the message because we’re not going away and we won’t stand around doing nothing while our club is ruined.”Notorious O'Neill has previously been jailed three times for football-related violence and survived being shot in the stomach in a pub in 2004.Inside Ronaldo's amazing £5.5m yacht with five cabins and six bathroomsLast season, Home Office figures showed Stoke City fans were the most arrested of any club in the country, with 80 supporters handcuffed in 2018-19.That ignoble record has its roots in the club's notorious firm, the Naughty 40.And arrests made by British Transport Police related to football increased by 28 per cent, indicating that hooligan trouble isn't just contained inside and around stadiums.They flew over to take part in pre-arranged fights with Paris St. Germain yobs as their teams clashed in the Champions League.Big between the 1970s and 1990s, the ICF have been involved in many dangerous scrapes with other London club firms.Over 150 police officers were sent to battle the mob in and around Vale Park, where officers were also being targeted with coins and flares.Matthews was back in the news in 2002 when he and his 21-year-old son William were jailed for savagely beating up two police officers when the cops tried to stop William urinating on a police station in Surrey."Interestingly, higher levels of disorder are being seen in the lower leagues, and this could be attributed to the fact there is often a reduced police presence."Reacting to a string of perceived refereeing injustices, the Leeds section of the stadium erupted into a riot, ripping chairs out of the stands and throwing them in protest.Arguably the most notorious incident involving the Headhunters came when an American bar manager was severely beaten following a Chelsea defeat.Real West Ham Fans — which has former ICF hooligan Andy Swallow as a founding member — had an abusive message aimed at another fan group on its Facebook page.Along with the firm's name, the flag featured the SS-Totenkopf skull — a symbol used by the Nazi officers who ran concentration camps.But around 300 Red Army thugs then used the map to find their way there and intense fighting broke out, with one fan reportedly having a set of ladders thrown at him.So who are these firms, and which gang is the worst?
We take a look at their dark histories - and the havoc they're still wreaking today."I've been shot, I've been stabbed and I've dished it out.Meanwhile, supporter drug use incidents reported at football fixtures increased by nearly a quarter.The helicoptering seats led to a German TV operator losing an eye and a photographer having their arm broken.As dramatised in the 2007 film Rise of the Footsoldier, the ICF were known to leave calling cards on their victims' battered bodies reading: "Congratulations, you have just met the ICF".On December 4, 2018 vicious fighting broke out in the streets around the game and inside the stadium fans ripped out the seats and threw them at cops.Staveley blames Prem rivals for takeover failure amid Ashley price hike rumoursBut there were fears of hooligan trouble before the season even kicked off.One group of yobs even filmed themselves smashing up the ground's toilets and throwing sinks through windows.The Zulus were seen as such a menace in the late 1980s that West Midlands Police launched an undercover investigation into them called Operation Red Card.Headhunter yobs were said to have stormed the pub shouting "War! ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
© COPYRIGHT NATIONALFILE.COM. A gang of hooligans mainly active from the 1970s to the 1990s, the feared Inter City Firm was tied to well known London club West Ham United. West Ham’s firm is known as the ICF – Inter City Firm – which derived from there use of the rail network to travel to meets with rival firms. The Inter City Firm (ICF) is an English football hooligan firm mainly active in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, associated with West Ham United.The name came from the use of … War! War!" and, "You bloody Americans, coming here taking our jobs!"He began his autobiography by saying that he had "been involved in more violence than most people will experience in a hundred lifetimes."Dragons' Den mogul Theo Paphitis, who was the club's chairman at the time, said: "The problem of mob violence is not solely a Millwall problem, it is not a football problem, it is a problem which plagues the whole of society."The Zulu Warriors follow Birmingham City — hence their ferocious rivalry with the hooligans backing Birmingham's other big club, Aston Villa.The group inspired several fictionalised hooligan gangs including in the 1988 Gary Oldman film, The Firm, and the 2005 Elijah Wood movie Green Street.And there were 1,381 football-related arrests, along with a 47 per cent rise in reported hate crimes to 193.And in the 2017-18 season, Birmingham City fans were the worst behaved in the country clocking 95 arrests.Afterwards, Chief Superintendent Wayne Jones of Staffordshire police condemned the "despicable behaviour by a large number of fans".The Men In Black is just one name given to the factions of hooligans who support Manchester United — with the larger collective being known more broadly as the Red Army.And in 2018, pictures were posted on social media of a Chelsea Headhunters flag being displayed by fans in Budapest.And in 2007, around 200 Leeds hooligans charged the pitch in a home game against Ipswich.Mourinho snubs Cristiano AND Messi in GOAT debate to dub Ronaldo his best-everOver the past two seasons, incidents reported are at more than 1,000 fixtures, and worryingly, this is becoming the new normality