Unfortunately West Ham’s hooligan history will always make them a scalp to target in Europe after the latest violent scenes.
West Ham fans are waking up this morning excited ahead of what is the club’s biggest game for decades against Sevilla in the Europa League last 16.
But once again the occasion – on what has been a brilliant European adventure – has been marred by violent clashes between fans.
But what is abundantly clear this time around – if it wasn’t before to those outside West Ham – is that Hammers fans appear to have very much been targeted and were defending themselves.
There were already sensationalist headlines doing the rounds this morning from the likes of The Daily Mail apportioning the blame to West Ham supporters for clashes with ultras from German side Eintracht Frankfurt – who are also in Seville after beating Real Betis last night in the same competition.
But video footage clearly shows West Ham fans – 10,000 of whom have travelled to Seville – keeping themselves to themselves in a Spanish bar before being ambushed by a group of Frankfurt hooligans (The Telegraph).
The worrying element here for West Ham is that they are already on a warning from UEFA.
Disturbances in West Ham’s previous Europa League games led to the club being fined and Hammers supporters being banned from the away game at Rapid Wien.
Lockdown in Austria rendered that supporter ban irrelevant as the match was played behind closed doors anyway.
But as pointed out by West Ham at the time, any further trouble could result in the club being forced to play behind closed doors if UEFA deem their fans to have broken the rules again.
Surely, though, from the video evidence we are seeing today, UEFA’s attentions will be firmly on Frankfurt as instigators.
These kind of unfortunate scenes will always be an issue for West Ham in Europe due to the club’s rich hooligan history.
No football club has had more books written or films made about its hooligan element – the famous ICF – than West Ham United. The movie Green Street, starring Elijah Wood (pictured above) being the most internationally recognised.
Hailed as the most feared and undefeated hooligan element in Britain for decades, West Ham’s Inner City Firm became part of football folklore.
As a result the hooligan element – or “ultras” – at foreign clubs across Europe in many ways look up to and idolise West Ham’s support and history.
Fans of Lazio and West Ham, for example, enjoy a very close and unlikely relationship born from that affiliation.
But it also works against the Hammers because West Ham’s hooligan history will always make them a scalp to target for rival supporters in Europe.
And David Moyes plans on making West Ham being in Europe a regular occurence.
One has to question UEFA’s planning here. Having four sets of fans from three different countries – including England and Germany – in the same city for a big European fixture was a recipe for these kind of unsavoury scenes.
Playing the game two days apart would have made a lot more sense.
But UEFA do not seem to need much of an excuse to pile on English clubs and have already taken a hard stance against the Hammers this season.
Let’s hope game day passes without incident to further underline that West Ham were the trouble magnets rather than starters in Seville.
More West Ham news:
Lopetegui: ‘West Ham very good but not more excited than us’.
Mysterious Bowen injury has West Ham medics stumped says Moyes.
West Ham issue update on four stars ahead of Sevilla.
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