Toon Army - The Sixties - Trouble

Loony Latins

In the first few years of the decade officials and supporters alike used to smile smugly at reports and photographs of hooliganism in Southern America and Greece. The grounds had moats and fences to keep the players and fans apart, but the authorities still needed hose-pipes and tear-gas to maintain control.

They thought that the antics of hot-blooded Latins would not catch on in our cooler climates; they were wrong. During the decade the hooligan problem multiplied within a social vacuum due to the lack of concerted action and failure to develop a long-term strategy.

Invasion of the Boys

At the beginning of the 1962-63 season Football League Secretary Alan Hardaker stated that he believed that the biggest problem in football was the invading of football matches by spectators both during and after a game.

Early "invasions" were of a celebratory nature as youngsters ran on to celebrate their team scoring and many older supporters were mildly amused by the antics of the new generation of supporters who viewed it as a bit of innocent fun. Dogs still got a look in to with one providing most of the entertainment in a drab friendly with Hibernian in 1967/68.

But the invasions became more regular and increasingly threatening; the potential implications required little imagination.

Hardaker argued that although injuries had up to now been minor a continuation could lead to something far more serious. He was concerned that UK fans were copying the foreigners but suggested that they were "still a long way from the ultimate in Continental and South Americanism - a barbed wire fence!"

The situation got so bad during 1966/67 that there were threats of abandonment and even ground closure; in the event the children's enclosure was closed

Top of the Pops

The decade saw the establishment of pop music as a million pound industry and a by product of the increasing fixation of youth with the 45 was the emergence of the Kop choirs. Songs had been sung at matches before but only on occasion; during the sixties it took over our grounds

It wasn't just chart toppers that had their words mangled and manipulated; folk songs, hymns and even The National Anthem got the Kop treatment from the song writing supporters. Nothing was sacred.

Initially the songs were simply topical and humorous. Sunderland's Jim Baxter was serenaded with a version of "She'll be coming round the mountains" that suggested we "hoy him in the Tyne". But these were soon augmented by far more derogatory ditties.

Across the country My Darling Clementine became a vehicle for questioning whether the referee was born out of wedlock and Newcastle fans (again using that mountain song) offered Setubal's players and spectators "a luridly descriptive recommendation for their Spanish onions".

The Sunday Sun was so incensed by the language of the louts that they launched a campaign to silence the slanderers.

The club's themselves also appealed for a stop to the bad language. United chairman Lord Westwood said at the time: "some of the songs are very dirty and embarrassing. We would like it to stop but the difficulty is finding a way".

The National Federation of Supporters Clubs and the club's own organisations also spoke out against the growing problem and Newcastle Supporters Club issued a statement asking supporters to "refrain from objectionable chants - particularly with regard to foul language"

Toilet Roll Toreadors

As early as the 1920s United player Billy McCracken's perfection of the offside law often resulted in a veritable cornucopia of fruit and vegetables heading his way so missile throwing by spectators was nothing new.

As with the encroachments the antics of the "toilet roll toreadors" raised a chuckle at first soon became tiresome as the game was stopped once again to tidy the mess up .

At least - even in those pre supersoft days - a toilet roll did not harm. But for the real thugs the projectiles of persuasion were to be far more sinister and dangerous.

Scouse Scrape

By 1963 football violence had reached Italy with a vengeance. In a game between Naples and Modena bottles and bricks were thrown at the referee whilst the goals were dismantled to use as weapons against the police. On the same day fans also rioted in Salerno. The result was one dead, a hundred injured and hundreds of pounds damage.

By the mid sixties the situation had escalated so much in Britain that hooligan behaviour had become a regular occurrence on match days.

The first real major incident at St James' was in the match against Everton in 1966/67. When the scousers went 3-0 up fighting erupted between rival fans at the Leazes End. Bottles and coins were thrown and the police had to wade in. The Everton supporters were led to other parts of the ground.

A number of people were treated by St John's Ambulancemen at the scene and a thirteen year old boy had to go to hospital after suffering a serious head injury.

Despite the seriousness of the incident only four supporters were arrested including two from the North West.

Man the Barricades

Although many were already suggesting that the best way to combat trouble was to improve the spectators' viewing conditions; the immediate response was the opposite.

In Scotland Rangers and Celtic fans became the first to be officially segregated for the "Old Firm" clashes. Everton became the first club to make ground alterations when they installed barricades and closed circuit TV was tried out at Old Trafford. Extra bobbies were drafted in and "anti-rowdy" police in plain clothes infiltrated the terraces.

Soon it became common for supporters to have to enter the match sans hobnail boots having had them confiscated by the coppas.

After the Everton game Newcastle officials met with the police and announced that they had devised a "secret plan". The police presence at matches increased and arrests started to be made.

The National Federation of Football Supporters urged it's members to set up "vigilante" forces to mingle with the yobs and report misbehaviour to the police.

Scottish visitors

Plan or no plan the situation deteriorated further; two of the worst incidents involving Newcastle were when Celtic (February 1968) and Manchester City (January 1969) visited Town.

Bottles were banned and 55 police were on duty for the friendly with Celtic but many were smuggled through and their were seventy arrests. But the real trouble came after the match with hundreds of drunken Glaswegians running riot through the City's pubs; nearly every pub had to make a call to the police.

Trouble had been expected for the City game and there was 100 police on duty, some on horse-back.

A fight broke out between United and City fans in the Magpie pub before the match and during the match 70 fans required treatment, seven of them needing a hospital visit. The vast majority of those affected were under the age of fourteen having been crushed against the barriers or fainting.

Scottish visitors (part 2)

The police admitted that they had not been prepared for trouble when Celtic had played but when it was rumoured that 10,000 ticketless Rangers fans would join the 12,000 lucky ones extra reinforcements were drafted in.

Before the match a thousand Rangers fans without tickets attacked a thin blue line outside the stadium. More fans joined in and they managed to break down some of the steel gates at the Gallowgate End. Outnumbered 50-1 the police somehow managed to reseal the gap.

There was constant trouble throughout the match and the first flash point was just before half-time when a clash between Wyn Davies and McKinnon of Rangers led to a fusillade of missiles being hurled onto the pitch one of which injured Rangers' 'keeper. Police rushed to the scene but couldn't prevent Rangers fans invading the pitch.

When United opened the scoring after 52 minutes hundreds of United fans invaded the pitch and referee Gow warned that he would take the players off if there was a repetition.

When Sinclair added a second 25 minutes later it was the Rangers fans turn to take to the pitch amidst a shower of bottles, but their motive was abandonment. They swarmed all over the pitch, lashing out at the United players who had to run for their lives.

True to his word, Welsh referee Gow took the players off and thousands of United fans - fearing the worst - took the opportunity to make an early exit. The delighted Rangers fans smelt victory and battled with police for nearly twenty minutes.

The game was eventually restarted with poor McFaul separated from the Scottish thugs by only a few yards, a line of police and a pile of empty bottles.

Phil Osborn writing in Football Supporter magazine described it as "the worst scenes that have been witnessed in British football history" and he went on to describe some of the incidents he had witnessed outside the ground.

"I saw blue-scarved louts brandishing bottles in the faces of passers-by. I saw young girls being molested by evil-looking, foul-smelling hooligans in broad daylight. I saw flags and banners thrust in front of the windscreens of moving cars. I had to run a gauntlet of gesticulating, Glaswegian drunkards to reach my hotel from the ground two hours after the game".

South American Tragedy

By the end of the decade the hooligan problem had become the major issue in British football. Many warned that without action the situation would deteriorate further, but none of the parties involved were prepared to take ultimate responsibility.

Most injuries up to now had been relatively minor, but significantly a lot of the victims were youngsters. As usual the media were at the forefront of the criticism and the troubles regularly made front page news. They would have you believe they were exposing the yobs but the emotive words and garish headlines were simply glorifying and publicising their actions.

Meanwhile in South America fans rioted after the referee disallowed a Peru "equaliser" in a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay. All hell let loose and over 300 people lost their lives.To their eternal shame the clubs, administrators and politicians failed to appreciate that the same could happen here.