No Surrender In Hull - The Dark Side Of Football by David Jones

Last week's match between England and Turkey was one of the most crucial and pivotal sporting events this country has been involved in for quite some time (probably since THAT World Cup game against Brazil, in fact). Hull, of course, is a city which loves football, as can be evidenced by the stellar attendance figures at Hull City's matches so far this season.

Thus it was that most of Hull's pubs were rammed to bursting point on Saturday evening as football fans - male, female, young and old - clamoured to get a good view of the action. I watched the match with some friends in the Corn Exchange pub in the city centre. The Corn Exchange is a fantastic venue for televised sport - its large screen is kept separate from the main section of the pub, which means that those who don't want to watch the sport don't get in the way of those who do. Perfect!

There was a great atmosphere in the pub - we chatted with the people stood around us , swapped jokes and compared notes on just how useless Emile Heskey really is. We were united as England supporters. But then, midway through the second half, something happened which changed that. Out of the blue, a group of lads in front of us suddenly launched into a chorus of, "No Surrender! No Surrender! No Surrender To The IRA!". This highly dubious "song" is a long-standing favourite of the flag-waving Nationalist hooligan element which, despite media claims to the contrary, is still present at many grounds around the country, albeit in smaller factions.

Since this was a Hull pub, and these were Hull men, it seems reasonable - very reasonable - to assume that that they must have been Hull City fans as well as England fans. And if you're wondering how I can be so sure that they were from Hull - well, I was behind them for the duration of the game and I know a Hull accent when I hear one. I wonder if one of them was the same guy who, last time I was in the Corn Exchange - to watch Hull City play Doncaster Rovers on Sky TV in September this year - who was singing "We Are The Kempton Fusiliers" at half-time in the gents' toilets? I wonder also if these guys were part of the idiot mob who, after City's home games against both Boston and Southend this season, pelted the away fans' coaches with stones and rocks - coaches which had women and children among the passengers? For the record, Hull City won both of those games - which takes away at least one excuse (if there can be any) for such behaviour.

Chairman Adam Pearson made mention of these stone-throwing incidents in his programme notes for the recent sell-out clash against Swansea City, when he said, "if these incidents do not stop immediately somebody is going to be seriously hurt and the club will also face severe sanctions from the Football League, who are monitoring the situation". So once again, the FA's spotlight falls on Hull City and its less desirable "fans".

It is just over a year now since Middlesbrough's star-studded Premiership squad came to Hull for a pre-season "friendly" at our faithful old ground of Boothferry Park. Before the match had even started there was bedlam on Anlaby Road as rival fans clashed in the worst scenes of football-related violence Hull has seen in recent years.

Many of the ringleaders from that day were caught on camera by a local resident who filmed the riots from his home. As was reported in the Hull Daily Mail, this man has recently left the city after receiving numerous death threats and seeing his name publicly displayed on posters in the area near his home, which proclaimed him to be a "grass". Depending on which side of the fence you sit, perhaps he really is a "grass". But I have another theory. Maybe, just maybe, this man is a good, honest citizen, maybe a City fan himself, who realised that Hull and Hull City would be better off if as many of these thugs as possible were stopped from ever having anything to do with the club again? continued below.

No Surrender In Hull - The Dark Side Of Football continued by David Jones

Of course, there is little doubt that there were Middlesbrough fans on Anlaby Road that day whose actions were no less deplorable than the Hull hooligans, and it is also worth noting that the whole thing might have been avoided if the police had not failed to realise the obvious significance of the match. They were apparently of the opinion that the match was "low key" and that there was "no history" between supporters of the two clubs. In fact (as Shaun Tordoff's book "City Psychos" explains) the rivalry between City and Middlesbrough goes back for decades.

Last month, eighteen Hull men were sentenced for their parts in the disturbances that day. They each received custodial sentences of between 4 and 27 months, and football banning orders of between 6 and 8 years. In addition, each one of them is now banned for life from all KC Stadium events, sporting or otherwise.

On the field, City are of course reaching for the stars this season, with things looking brighter than ever under the expert guidance of Peter Taylor. The KC is an intimidating place for away teams to come to - as it should be. We need the KC crowd to be as vocal as possible, to lift the home team and unsettle the visitors, and to be the fabled "twelfth man". But what we don't need, and cannot have, is the kind of "fan" who backs up their support with the use of violence and intimidation, with brick-throwing, and with extreme chants.

Hopefully the rest if this season - and onward - will pass without off-field incidents and we Hull fans can look forward to waving goodbye to Division 3 and enjoying our long-awaited success in the higher divisions. I leave you with Adam Pearson's closing words from the aforementioned Swansea match programme: "Enjoy the game". And as for the Corn Exchange - my apologies to the management and staff, but I think I'll be watching the big match somewhere else next time. Sorry guys. Great pub - shame about the customers.

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