March of the Hooligans: Soccer’s Bloody Fraternity, by Dougie Brimson.
[rating:4/5]

“Former hooligan” Dougie Brimson provides a nice, concise history of football hooliganism, mainly of the English variety:

Another weapon that came into use at that time was the dual-cut Stanley blade. This was simply two blades taped together with a matchstick in between them. The resultant cuts, being so close together, were all but impossible to stitch properly, which meant that the scars were huge. One favorite place for being slashed was across the backside, because it meant that the victim could not sit down for weeks or at least until the scars had healed. Other weapons that saw the light of day at about that time were golf balls with small slivers of razor blade stuck to them with superglue, cigarette packets full of rocks, and small nasal spray bottles full of ammonia that were sprayed into peoples faces.

There are accounts of crazy situations, like this, from “Steve of Bristol”:

It wasn’t long before we found ourselves in a row with a group of local lads. Although we stood and had a go, we had to back off in the end when more Irishmen started joining in. Luckily, this bouncer let us into a bar just around the corner. We’d only been in there about ten minutes when this f*cking bicycle comeds through the window! ‘Course, first thing we do is steam outside and we find a f*cking huge mob on the other side of the road. So we turn to go back into the bar only to find the bastards have locked the doors. In a situation like that, all you can do is front it up.

Probably my favorite parts of the book were the glossary and the “Mob Breakdown” at the end of the book, which lists the names of teams and their “Associated Hooligan Firms,” such as The Treatment, Zulu Army, Frontline, etc.

March of the Hooligans: Soccer’s Bloody Fraternity, by Dougie Brimson.
[rating:4/5]