The mentality of football supporters.

[WBA1955]

Were you not in this category yourself back in the 70's......?

When I was 15 or 16 maybe. But we are talking about men in their forties now. Some people aren't wired up right.

[Dubbag]

Youth tries to develop a sense of belonging.....
Experience with age usually tempers that along with creaking bones....
But ignorance can be ever present, regardless of age or gender......

[Leicesterbaggie]

Unfortunately, football reflects society and society has changed. I can remember back in the fifties and early sixties when there was no segregation on the terraces and little or no trouble. The real trouble began in the seventies when most stadiums became battlegrounds. Improvements have been made and I do feel that it's safer now than in those dark days. However, there does appear to be a trend moving back to those ugly times. I sincerely hope that this trend does not continue as the game has become more family oriented which has made people feel more comfortable.

[WBA1955]

My mom and dad started taking me in the late fifties, Blackpool was my first away game in 1960.
Back then you could walk all around the Hawthorns and fans stood together and had the banter, even the derby games with Wolves and Villa.
It was around the mid sixties when Liverpool made the Spion Kop famous that young fans started having their own end. Then it became the norm for other fans to try and take it. This is where it all began. I went with Albion into the Fulham, Stoke, Coventry, Villa and Blackpool ends, but I was only fif**** and followed the crowd.
I wasn't involved in the crowd trouble that marred and almost destroyed the game from the mid seventies to the late eighties.
My mom and dad wouldn't have dreamed of taking me if I had been born twenty years later.
So for the first one hundred years football fans were well behaved the same as rugby and cricket fans. Apart from Millwall.
I think the first crowd riots began in the latin countries of South America.
Mick is right, it's not the poorer fans who get involved, believe it or not it's business men.
I had two friends who followed Wolves. One drove Ferrari's and Lotus's, went to St Tropez for holidays and dated girls from Tettenhall. He then went to Wolves and had to keep paying fines for being a hooligan. The other worked all day in a Bank lol.
When I stood in the Brummie in a black Country Derby, I knew far more people and relatives in the away end than in the home end.

[Albionic68]

Only skim read the thread. Nothing like a broad brush to tarnish all supporters across a broad base. And there's some serious broad brushing under way here.

In an ever changing world it's strangely comforting to know some things and certain places will always remain the same 😊 .

As an aside I've seen plenty of scrapping at boxing events, some of which has provided more entertainment than what's gone on in the ring.

[Dubbag]

Only skim read the thread. Nothing like a broad brush to tarnish all supporters across a broad base. And there's some serious broad brushing under way here.

In an ever changing world it's strangely comforting to know some things and certain places will always remain the same �� .

As an aside I've seen plenty of scrapping at boxing events, some of which has provided more entertainment than what's gone on in the ring.

Reminds me of a decorator on the Isle Of Wight who use to cut in painting around windows with a 5" paint brush.....but he was skillful enough not to tarnish the glass with paint.....

[Joy_Division]

If I say Albion are sh*te then that is fine. If my lad says Dad we are sh*te that is fine and if anyone else I am sitting next to in the Brummie Road turns to me and has a moan then that is fine with me. But if a non-Albion fan criticises my team then I am quite partial to telling them to go f*ck themselves and that includes my son-in-law who is a Vile fan. It is on a par with my kids, I can call them whatever I like but if someone other than family slag em off then unless its really justified and I cannot argue against what they are saying then I will step in to shut em down. Its a bond you have and your football team becomes part of your family make up. I am not a hooligan and never get involved or condone violence but I do find it hard to bite my tongue when some Vile fan or Stoke moron gobs off taking the p*ss.

[WBA1955]

Only skim read the thread. Nothing like a broad brush to tarnish all supporters across a broad base. And there's some serious broad brushing under way here.

In an ever changing world it's strangely comforting to know some things and certain places will always remain the same 😊 .

As an aside I've seen plenty of scrapping at boxing events, some of which has provided more entertainment than what's gone on in the ring.

I don't think it's a broad brush, hooligans almost killed the game. It got to a point where only hooligans turned up.
Nottingham Forest get bigger gates now than when they won the European Cup twice.