Operation Fulltime: Police crack down on football hooligans

At 6am on January 20, 1987, the Met carried out a series of dawn raids in the biggest operation against football hooliganism in England at the time.

The two teams in the spotlight of Operation Fulltime: Millwall and West Ham.

In a single morning, 26 arrests were made and seven men were charged.

Uniformed and plainclothes officers had been working for five months on the operation aimed at netting ringleaders of the gangs which followed the two football clubs.

The raids were synchronised, taking place at 30 addresses in London, the Home Counties and the Midlands.

Officers armed with arrest warrants ambushed the sleeping football fans and took them for questioning about soccer-related violence.

Suspects had been identified by police, using TV footage and surveillance film from helicopters at games.

During the raids, police seized an air rifle, knives, a machete and spiked ball and chain, as well as newspaper cuttings reporting on the activities of the two teams’ hooligans.

Millwall fans were identified after trouble at a game against Luton Town in 1985.

Following the final whistle, and a 1–0 victory for Luton at Kenilworth Road, the visiting fans invaded the pitch. The rampage saw Millwall supporters ripping out seats and throwing them at home supporters and police.

Of the 81 people injured during the outbreak, almost half of them were officers. 

But Millwall’s ‘Bushwackers’ had already gained a reputation for troublemaking by 1985.

The Bermondsey-based Den, home of Millwall, had been the scene of a riot seven years earlier when hooligans injured dozens of their own club’s supporters in an FA Cup match against Ipswich Town.

The raids were welcomed by then secretary of the Football League, Graham Kelly, who said: “It seems that some police chiefs are really getting to grips with the hooligan situation.”

But almost exactly a year later, in January 1988, Millwall made the short trip to Islington for an FA Cup third round game. A day that ended in the  ‘Battle of Highbury’.

A Tube train was smashed up at Arsenal station, 48 arrests were made and 60 people were thrown out of the ground as 500 specially-trained police officers were unable to contain violent clashes between the two teams’ fans.

After the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989, in which 96 people were crushed to death in overcrowded terraces, the Lord Justice Taylor report made several safety recommendations including all-seater stadiums and new ticketing systems. 

The new measures led to a gradual reduction in hooliganism. 

Millwall’s fans have a complex history and reputation. Their negative stereotype is rooted in numerous reports of racism and violence at games. 

No other football ground has been closed down as many times because of trouble caused by the crowd.

But, over time, the club has been working to reform its reputation. Millwall was the first club to form an anti-racist committee, has made positive links with groups like Show Racism the Red Card and has been involved with projects like the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign.

Pictured top: Police handle a fan who has been pulled out of the crowd at the start of the FA Cup Arsenal v Millwall match in 1988 (Picture: PA)