Product Description

Cass Pennant was one of the best-known figures of the I.C.F. He has used his unique position as a West Ham insider to bring together these first-hand accounts of the men who were at the eye of the storm, both on and off the terraces. These tales from the terraces range from the inflamed East End rivalry with Millwall, to the shed-end-battles with Chelsea, from aggravation at Anfield's Kop to the disaster at Heysel. The stories unfold against a backdrop of sharp fashion and music, such as The Cockney Rejects and Sham 69 that became the hallmark of the hoolifans.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #148547 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author
Best-selling author Cass Pennant has used his unique position as a West Ham insider to bring together these first hand accounts from the men who were in the eye of the storm.

Customer Reviews

Introduction to organised aggro for outsiders
Cass Pennant offers an unapologetic account of the Inter City Firm. He's interviewed many of the former members and let's them speak in their words; granted he has a few tales himself.
This book does not glorify violence and those hoping to recreate this level of aggro at football grounds should look elsewhere. Football hooliganism belongs to another era and Cass points out the reasons that it shall never come back like it was in the 70's and 80's. Millwall and Cardiff are anachronisms.

What's amazing is the level of organisation (obviously prior to mobiles) and puts paid to the claim that it was all mindless violence. Cass doesn't delve into the sociological reasons for this violence. Others have tried from a distance and it's usually absolute dross. I shall never understand the attraction of rucking for fun. However, this book offers a glimpse into this way of life.

Crazy Days, great memories
Whe I heard that Cass was writing a book about the ICF I must admit I did wonder if this was really needed and if it may have gone against the 'code'. I got a copy of the book on Saturday (6.4) and read it cover to cover at the weekend. It is a brilliant book for me. That is because so much of the content is relevant and memorable. If you were not there, then may be it will appear that this book is nothing more than an account of a bunch of football 'hooligans' and their exploits over 15 years. I am pleased to say that this book is more than that , much more than that. It is extremely well written and packed full of accounts of derring do, from those that did them. Cass makes many lucid points and far from trying to explain the 'the reasons why' these firms existed, just paints vivid pictures of the 'do or die' attitude. I have read many a book about football violence and most are nothing more than inarticulate rants about the 'good old days' with the protagonists craving for a return to those times. Cass takes a diametrically opposed viewpoint, backed up by messrs Gardner and Swallow, which is that those days are over, and if you want to repeat them, you are nothing more than a dinosaur. He hits the reasons why the whole scene disappeared bang on the head (Heysel and the Rave Scene) and writes from a position of initial confusion about the way that ex-members of football mobs ended up working the Rave Scene.. This was spot on, in our new world of love, music, and ecstasy the days of violence seemed no longer necessary. The ICF set trends throughout its life and some ex-members are still setting them. This book sets a new trend in books on football violence. It is a first . Well played Cass, I hope that thousands buy this book, marvel at the feats and learn about what it was like to be part of that very special group of firms within firms in those dark days before we experienced Sky TV, Gabby Logan, Champions League TV, exhorbitant ticket prices, World Cups in Japan and Korea, Blair in a Newcastle shirt and even me supporting Man Utd on TV, right or wrong. We were Inter city, Cool and casual and now it is so long, Farewell. Up the Hammers. Oh by the way if we could get singing back into Football that would make us all happier men as we enjoy our middle age......

Interesting, though not brilliant
This is an interesting concept: one ex-West Ham terrace gang leader telling some of the stories of the exploits of West Ham firms, along with the recollections of many of his comrades. In some respects, it's an enlightening, if disturbing read: the organisation, closed-rank mentality and range of social backgrounds of the various terrace firms is far from the generally accepted view of a bunch of mindless, unemployed, drop-out thugs. The clear message that comes across is not that this was something that came about in any sense as a rebellion against their social situation, but simply out of the pure enjoyment of inflicting pain and shame on rival gangs, and establishing their own position as the premier firm. I don't think it's a glorification of football hooliganism, more an honest account of why and how they did it. To be sure, there are disturbing accounts, and one can only be glad that this is no longer the general state of football these days. However, it wasn't the best read - once you've read a few chapters, you begin to get the general theme: travel to club x, fight with their firm at the station/on the streets/outside the ground - get into the ground, attempt to 'take' the home end, more fighting during and after the game, police involvement - escorted back to the train/coach. The author's own comments add rather more - he takes some time to reflect on the mentality that underpinned all this, and the chapter on the demise of the ICF is very well thought out. It would have been more interesting to hear similar reasoning from the other contributors too, though.