Aston Villa Hardcore
Aston Villa Hardcore is a notorious football hooligan firm associated with the English Premier League club Aston Villa, based in Birmingham.
Background
The firm have been active since the early 1990s[citation needed], and have been involved in some high-profile hooligan fights in Europe, while following Villa and England.[citation needed] The firm still exists today, but, like all hooligan firms, they have been marginalised. The Hardcore have clashed a number of times with city and fierce rivals, the Birmingham Zulus, associated with Aston Villa's fiercest rivals Birmingham City.
Fifteen people were arrested in October 2002 in a series of dawn raids in connection with serious disorders committed in the Rocky Lane area of Aston before the game between Aston Villa and Birmingham City in September 2002,[1] in what was described as the "Battle of Rocky Lane". In 2004 one member, Steven Fowler, a Category C hooligan, was jailed for six months for his part in the fight in 2002. In 2005 he received a twelve month jail sentence and was banned from attending football matches for ten years, for his part in an organised brawl between the Villa Hardcore and Chelsea Headhunters at King's Cross in London on 27 March 2004, while five other Villa fans were also jailed.[2] One of them was Steven Fowler of Minworth, who already had a string of convictions for football related violence to his name, and was jailed again in 2006 when he and 57 other people were found guilty of their involvement in a riot at a Handsworth pub on 22 August 2004 - the same day as Villa's Premier League clash with local rivals West Bromwich Albion.[3]
In November 2006 a planned launch of the book Villains about the various Aston Villa hooligan firms, which included details of clashes with the Birmingham Zulus, which was due to be held at Sensations Club in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham, had to be cancelled due to threats that the Zulus would turn up and cause trouble at the event. The Zulus were said to have taken exception to the launch of the book and the presence of rivals on what they considered "their territory".[4]
In October 2008, Fowler, along with Michael Lutwyche released a book entitled Hardcore about the firm.
See also
References
- ^ "Dawn raids in football violence inquiry". BBC News. 10 October 2002. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ Cowan, Mark (2005-08-05). "Jail for top villa hooligan". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Trouble halts hooligan book event". BBC News. 18 November 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
Further reading
- Brown, Danny (10 February 2008). Villains: The Inside Story of Aston Villa's Hooligan Gangs. Milo Books. ISBN 1903854679.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Lutwyche, Michael (18 October 2008). Hardcore. VHC Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9561302-0-4.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)