Product Description

From its ironic name based on the Russian fighter plane, the MIG Crew were always a bit different. Tommy Robinson was never the average hooligan and MIG Crew charts his 25-year career in football violence and the gritty reality of following a team in the lower echelons of English football. Robinson also documents how the first generation of Anglo West-Indians learnt to mix their own culture with the hitherto whites-only world of football hooliganism and how they became the MIG Crew, underdogs who took on the legendary firms holding a far bigger reputation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #312316 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Exciting backstory to real-world research
This powerful book presents the hidden story of English football `hooliganism'. This account differs from the plethora of hooligan autobiographies currently on the market, however, in two important ways. First, it is not an account of personal `glory', but the backstory to an ambitious research project carried out by social scientists. Second, it serves to challenge the very notion of `hooliganism' as it is used in common sense, media accounts and by the authorities.
One of the most impressive features of the book is the way that a scientific project is described without the usual jargon and dry turgid prose of a scientific text. The two authors, Cliff Stott and Geoff Pearson, manage to convey in very human terms the profound sense of injustice that many travelling English fans have felt at their treatment when travelling abroad to watch their teams play. `Football "hooliganism"' is page-turning stuff, and readers will find themselves emotionally engaged with the story. Cliff and Geoff have been with and in these crowds of travelling fans. They are able to understand their experiences from the inside, as well as to explain how such fans sometimes come to be defined and treated as `hooligans'.
But what makes this book a must-read for anyone interested in football `hooliganism' is the authors' radical view of the nature of such `hooliganism'. The problem for the common sense representation of the problem is encapsulated in the following facts. On the one hand, banning orders have prevented known hooligans from travelling abroad, yet have not prevented mass violence involving English fans abroad. On the other hand, when known hooligans have been present at matches abroad, hooliganism, or mass disorder, doesn't necessarily follow. Over fifteen years of research on crowd-police interaction in and around football matches has suggested that the presence or absence of `hooliganism' is explicable in terms of policing styles. The book documents how `heavy-handed' policing, which presumes that fans are hooligans, can operate as a self-fulfilling prophesy, creating the very problems that the authorities fear.
While the book presents a critical perspective it is also a constructive one. The ultimate test of the authors' `hooligan' hypothesis was what they describe as `the biggest social psychology experiment ever carried out'. When the European championships were held in Portugal in 2004, the researchers were able to brief half of the local police forces involved with the principles derived from these research. Fan behaviour at events policed by these forces showed almost a complete absence of hooliganism, whereas in other areas the `English disease' was still evident. The intervention was judged such a success that Cliff and Geoff's research later came to inform the European Union handbook on the policing of football fans abroad.
This fascinating book will be of interest to football fans, social science students and researchers, and anyone interested in the risks, possibilities and excitement of real-world research.

An eye opening book
Anyone expecting another typical book on the 'antics' of the football hooligan (or as it's called in this book 'hoolie porn') will be disappointed.

Instead you'll find a serious attempt to understand how and why acts of disorder happen around football matches, and the way policing, the media and government have affected it, and tried to prevent it happening.

The book looks at various high profile events, including the Roma V Utd game in 2007, Liverpool in Athens for the Champions League final, the World Cups of Italia90, France98 and WM2006 and European Championships of 2000 and 2004.

The thing that struck me when reading the book was the wealth of studies into crowd dynamics (not just at football). As a former sociology student, I hadn't realised how much work had been done in this area. Clifford and Geoff attempt to compare and contrast these various studies and use them to back up their own research, both as observers at the various championships listed above, and from interviewing others present.

The book highlights the attempts to legislate against football related disorder, sadly seemingly driven by hysterical (and often totally inaccurate) media reporting. The high profile banning of known trouble makers is contrasted with the fact that those arrested abroad generally have no history of being in trouble with police at all, and the book explores the way people's behaviour in a large crowd can differ greatly than if they were alone or in a small group. You may have a different opinion on 'the English disease' after reading accounts of those present, although the book never suggests that English fans are innocents abroad.

But the interesting thing is the various methods used by police to prevent disorder in the first place, and controlling it as it kicks off. The baffling thing is that, even when presented with firm evidence of what works well and what doesn't, there seems little enthusiasm to implement the good methods uniformly. The European Championships in the Netherlands and Belgium highlights this, with the Dutch based games being relatively peaceful, comparing with the infamous plastic chair throwing and water canons competition in Belgium. Guess where the good methods were employed?

A parallel is drawn with the poll tax riots (at which Clifford was present). Again, police handling is seen as helping create the tension that resulted in the mass disorder that day, again turning people in a large crowd into something completely at odds to their normal, individual behaviour.

The book doesn't try and suggest solutions, but lets the evidence speak for itself. They by no means suggest that the hooligan has disappeared, but have produced a book that tries to explain why some games experience trouble and some don't, and the contributory factors that breed the problems.

Should be recommended reading for every police chief, home secretary and newspaper editor.

A must-read for journalists and police officers everywhere
Every time there is a major football tournament, the newspapers print the same horror stories. What can be done about these rampaging thugs? Why are football fans so badly behaved? Won't somebody please think of the children?

Drs. Pearson and Stott's book evaluates the received wisdom propagated by the media against actual evidence. Without glamorizing crowd disorder but also without hand-wringing or judgement, it is a sober but engaging account of why disorder takes place, why it doesn't take place, and how, with correct policing procedures, it can be avoided.

It also offers a disturbing case study into how the modern media works, and how a lie, repeated often enough, becomes received wisdom.