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A Brief Mention of the Policing of Travelling Football Followers



I had a chat today about the challenges of managing potential football disorder away from grounds.  As always everybody was keen to remember that more than 99% of people attending football matches are there to enjoy themselves in a way that poses no threats to the King’s peace.   A sense of perspective is important in all public order and crowd management scenarios.

 The subject of the history of the issue came up.  The problems of the 1980s and 1970s are still fresh in the mind and the lessons that were learned then are pretty well incorporated into modern practice.  Modern public order (not a phrase I especially like) policing and the co-operation between forces has a lot to recommend it.  Looking to the past the books by Mike Layton on the subject are worth a look.  The particular challenge of policing fans as they travel on the railway network has been a speciality of BTP for the whole of the history of the force.  Time consuming, expensive and sometimes dangerous this is a difficult subset of policing wherein officers are always outnumbered by fans and often by trouble makers.  It requires a strategic oversight of who is playing, where, and how rail routes provide points of intersection, sometimes many miles from venues.

Retired BTP officers have plenty of tales on this subject.  From the ‘riot’ on the Koningin Beatrix in 1986  (1)  back to the weekly scenes of the near destruction of football specials and the running battles up and down the Euston Road as crowds were fed by the London Underground to the mainline termini of the north of the Metropolis.

With this discussion in mind I looked at a report by the Chief Constable of BTP to the Police Committee (2) dated 2nd May 1973. 

He informed the committee that in 1972 there were 1,831 Football Trains including  1,489 special trains and 114 Football Charters.  These ran in addition to normal passenger trains.  He pointed out that a probationary constable had been awarded the ‘Whitbread Trophy’ (3) for meritorious work when he had used his truncheon to confront a crowd of 200 who had trampled a female passenger who had fallen to the ground as supporters rushed through a station.  This was a policing at its most challenging.

In describing the escort of football trains he commented:

“The officers travelling on these trains arrive at destination (sic) with their uniforms burned by cigarette ends, covered with spittle and other filth.  Arrests are made but not so often as they should be because arresting officers would have to take the prisoners to be charged and thus abandon the trains, probably to orgiastic destruction”(4)

My own experience of football escorts (quite a few years later) was mixed, but the picture and the dilemma painted in this quote are entirely recognisable.  I think this period is sometimes referred to as ‘the good old days’!

As the years move on I would urge all members of the emergency services to write down some of their experiences. Policing football is but one of many many subjects of course.   History will be better informed if we have a written record from the front line.  Such texts don’t have to be literary works.  A few memories will enhance the record for future generations.  Many organisations have History Groups or oral history projects, where notes and voices can be preserved.

BTP is lucky to have an independent History Group (5) which seeks to preserve the history of policing the railways, docks and canals of Great Britain and other forces are also well served by amateur and volunteer historians.    We can better understand the challenges of today if we appreciate how we have got to where we are.

 

Philip Trendall

June 2024

 

NOTES

(1)    The Koningin Beatrix was a new luxury ferry that worked between Harwich and the Hook of Holland.  On 7th August 1986 large scale disorder broke out on board between Manchester Utd and West Ham supporters during the crossing of the North Sea.  The ferry returned to Harwich to be met by BTP and Essex police officers.  The scene was total chaos.  Considerable damage had been done to the ship and several people were injured.  After a lengthy investigation nine people were convicted for serious public offences, including ‘Affray on the High Seas’.  It was my only experience of dealing with offences on board a ship.  A little later BTP ceased to be responsible for policing Sealink vessels and ports.  The government now have a, vague, plan for ferries to be policed by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary in times of terrorist threat.

(2)    Until the creation of the British Transport Police Authority in 2004 the force was overseen by the BTP Committee.

(3)    The Whitbread Shield or trophy was presented to BTP by J R Whitbread who wrote a book:  The Railway Policeman in 1961.

(4)    Minutes of the British Transport Police Committee 9th January 1973.  The National Archives AN 167/919

(5)    The British Transport Police History Group (BTPHG) is a group of volunteers that work to preserve the history of the policing railways, docks and canals. The Group is not part of BTP but works very closely with the force in matters historical.  Although I am not currently connected with the Group I commend the efforts of a great team of individuals.  Further information can be found at www.btphg.org.uk

For further information see, for example, Tracking the Hooligans by Mick Layton and Alan Pacey, Amberley Publishing, (2016)

 

The poster used to illustrate this piece was found on the internet.  With thanks.  https://downtothecellar.blogspot.com/2010/10/football-special-british-rail-1972.html  

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