“Blackburn has no ‘lads'” From the Terraces – Crowd Trouble : Blackburn Youth ‘Elders’

Not only was Blackburn pivotal in bringing football to the masses, not only was the town, its clubs and its supporters

influential in the formation of the football league and the game turning proffessional, Blackburn also has another

less celebrated claim to fame: the invention of the football hooligan.

 The game had been controlled for years by the Old Corinthians, the Old Etonians, and others. The industrial city

clubs then achieved adulthood in 1884 after Blackburn won the FA Cup. The bourgeoisie understood the danger of

the “northern” (working class) rabble, and since then, no gentlemen amateur team has won the competition. The

football hooligan was sparked by an article in the Pall Mall Gazette about the Blackburn supporters’ appearance at

the final, although with some racial and imperialist overtones:

 “A northern horde of uncouth garb and strange oaths – like a tribe of Sudanese Arabs let loose.”

 The bourgeoisie had no intention of creating such vehemently politicised audiences. They made a lot of noise. On

the way to the game, they had a few drinks. They united with one another despite their disorderly behaviour. The

first “hooligans” were these.

Due to their success as the most successful town club in Lancashire and England, as well as the fact that many other

town clubs, including Burnley, Preston North End, Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers, and Wigan Athletic, are relatively

close by, as well as Lancashire city clubs, including Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United, and Manchester City,

Blackburn Rovers have a number of local rivalries.

Preston North End and Blackburn Rovers have had a local rivalry for more than a century. Preston declined to play

Blackburn in 1888 because of how the Blackburn supporters reacted to them. It’s unknown if this took place at

Ewood Park because the Rovers didn’t move there permanently until 1890.

On Christmas Day 1890 during Rovers first season at Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers played local rivals Darwen.

Rovers were due to play Wolverhampton Wandereres the following day and so fielded a weakened team. This

infuriated the fans, particularly as ticket prices had been increased for the game.

When the Darwen team appeared, the fans urged them to leave the pitch, which they did, later re-emerging with

their second eleven. Eventually, Blackburn and Darwen fans invaded the pitch, pulling up the goal posts and

threatening to wreck the press box. The police intervened and finally managed to control the situation.

Lancashire derbies can always be heated affairs and on 27.11.1926, during a Division 1 fixture, Blackburn Rovers v

Manchester United saw ugly scenes of crowd trouble immediately after the final whistle was blown. Rovers player,

‘our’ Sid Puddefoot was seen by many Rovers fans to be lying on the ground after the final whistle.

The Rovers fans believed a United player had hit him, so they stormed the pitch. Consequently, hundreds of angry

Rovers fans surrounded the Manchester United players, posing a threat.

The police intervened to clear the path to the player’s tunnel in order to safeguard the players. Hundreds of Rovers

fans remained on the pitch, though, and there were multiple attempts to attack the United players. The United

players went into their changing room and were so frightened that they shut the door. Soon later, the police were

able to disperse the mob. Rovers won by a score of 2-1.

Blackburn Rovers did have a devoted hooligan following from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, which contributed to

the town of Blackburn and Ewood Park’s particularly sinister image. From the mid-1960s until the end of the 1970–

1971 season, when they were dropped to Division 3 for the first time in their existence, Rovers’ slide persisted. When they were promoted as Division 3 champions in their centenary year, they remained there until the end of the 1974–1975 season.

In the late 1970s, Ewood Park began to lose its scary reputation.

Altercations between Blackburn and Liverpool supporters at Ewood Park were first covered by the national media in

1963. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, Blackburn’s hooligan following was dominated by Darwen Hells Angels.

In the 1970s, skinhead gangs began to follow the club from the Audley, Queens Park, and Little Harwood

neighbourhoods of Blackburn.

There were hooligan mobs at the Darwen End, Blackburn End, and Riverside terrace during this time, which

occasionally led to major outbursts of crowd unrest involving Burnley, Manchester City, and Bolton Wanderers both within and outside Ewood Park.

Other early influential hooligan mobs that followed Blackburn Rovers came from the Mill Hill and Higher Croft areas

of Blackburn, known as the Mill Hill Mob and H Division. However, there were often battles between these two rival

gangs in Blackburn town centre.

During a game against London club Queens Park Rangers, 17.09.1969 a Rovers fan ran onto the pitch from the

Blackburn End and attacked the Queens Park Rangers Goal Keeper. He avoided police detection but was arrested

some weeks later.

Although it is uncommon for individual fans to encroach on the Ewood Park field of play and attack or attempt to

attack players, referees, or opposing fans, such incidents have occurred. For example, during a 1965–1966 season

match at Ewood Park, a fan ran onto the field to attack the Burnley Goal Keeper before being stopped, and during a

1996–1997 season match, another fan ran onto the field from the Riverside Stand to protest with the referee.

The QPR Goal Keeper attack, on the other hand, is noteworthy because it was among the first—some even argue the

first—in English football history for a fan to rush onto the pitch and physically attack a player. Rovers were defeated

0–1.

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