The Millwall Bushwackers are a football firm associated with Millwall Football Club. Millwall has a longstanding reputation for football hooliganism, which became prominent in the 1970s and 1980s with a group initially known as F-Troop. This group eventually became widely recognised as the Millwall Bushwackers, one of the most notorious hooligan gangs in England. The Football Association has closed The Den on five occasions, and the club has faced numerous fines for crowd disorder. Rivals regard Millwall’s hooligans as among the toughest, with Manchester United hooligan Colin Blaney ranking them in the top four firms in his autobiography ‘Undesirables’ and West Ham hooligan Cass Pennant highlighting their fearsome reputation for violence on his Top Boys TV YouTube channel.
The stigma of violence associated with Millwall dates back over 110 years. On 17 September 1906, Millwall played local rivals West Ham United at Upton Park in a Western League game. Both sets of supporters were primarily dockers from east and south London, who were often rivals working for competing companies. A local newspaper, East Ham Echo, reported: “From the very first kick of the ball it was seen likely to be some trouble, but the storm burst when Dean and Jarvis came into collision (Millwall had two players sent off during the match). This aroused considerable excitement among the spectators. The crowds on the bank having caught the fever, free fights were plentiful.” In the 1920s, Millwall’s ground was closed for two weeks after a Newport County goalkeeper, struck by missiles, jumped into the crowd to confront home supporters and was knocked unconscious. The ground was closed again for two weeks in 1934 following crowd disturbances after a visit from Bradford (Park Avenue). Pitch invasions led to another closure in 1947, and in 1950 the club was fined after a referee and linesman were ambushed outside the ground.
In the 1960s, hooliganism in England became more widely reported. On 6 November 1965, Millwall played Brentford at Griffin Park and won 2–1. During the game, a hand grenade was thrown onto the pitch from the Millwall end. Brentford’s goalkeeper, Chic Brodie, picked it up, inspected it, and threw it into his goal. It was later retrieved by the police and determined to be a harmless dummy. There was fighting inside and outside the ground, with one Millwall fan sustaining a broken jaw. The Sun newspaper ran the sensationalist headline “Soccer Marches to War!” Trouble also erupted at Loftus Road on 26 March 1966 during a match between Queens Park Rangers and Millwall. At that time, both teams were near the top of the league, vying for promotion to Division Two. QPR won the London derby 6–1. In the second half, a coin thrown from the terraces struck Millwall player Len Julians on the head, drawing blood. The stadium announcer warned that the game would be abandoned if disturbances continued, prompting some Millwall fans to invade the pitch in an unsuccessful attempt to have the game abandoned. When Millwall’s unbeaten home record of 59 games ended against Plymouth Argyle in 1967, the windows of the away team’s coach were smashed. In the same year, a referee was attacked, leading the FA to order the club to erect fences around The Den’s terracing.
In 1977, the BBC documentary Panorama was invited by Millwall to show that their hooligan reputation was a myth exaggerated by the media. However, the BBC portrayed hooliganism as being deeply rooted in the club and attempted to link them to the far-right political party National Front. The show was extremely damaging for the club.
On 11 March 1978, a riot broke out at The Den during an FA Cup quarter-final between Millwall and Ipswich Town, with Millwall losing 6–1. Fighting began on the terraces and spilled onto the pitch; dozens of fans were injured, and some hooligans turned on their own supporters, leaving some innocent fans bloodied. Bobby Robson, then manager of Ipswich, remarked, “They [the police] should have turned the flamethrowers on them.” In 1982, Millwall club chairman Alan Thorne threatened to close the club due to violence following a loss in the FA Cup to non-league side Slough Town.
The 1985 Kenilworth Road riot, following an FA Cup sixth-round match between Luton Town and Millwall on 13 March 1985, stands as one of the most notorious incidents of football hooliganism. That night, around 20,000 people crammed into a ground designed for half that number to watch Luton defeat Millwall 1–0. Violence erupted before the match when Luton Town fans hurled bricks, bottles, and other projectiles from rooftops at Millwall fans making their way from the train station to the stadium. Overcrowding on the terrace holding Millwall supporters forced the police to open security gates, allowing fans onto the pitch side to avoid a crush.
Numerous pitch invasions, fights in the stands, and missile-throwing occurred, with one object striking Luton’s goalkeeper, Les Sealey. In response, Luton Town banned away supporters from Kenilworth Road for four years. Millwall had requested that the match be made all-ticket to control attendance, but this was ignored, allowing rival hooligan firms to infiltrate the stadium. Among the 31 fans arrested, many were identified as members of Chelsea’s Headhunters firm and West Ham United’s Inter City Firm, in addition to Millwall and Luton’s own hooligans, the MIGs.
The FA conducted an inquiry and concluded that Millwall had not taken all reasonable precautions as required by FA Rule 31(A)(II). Consequently, Millwall was initially fined £7,500, though this penalty was later withdrawn on appeal. However, the lasting consequence for Millwall was that the club’s name became “synonymous with everything that was bad in football and society”.
In May 2002, hundreds of hooligans associated with Millwall were involved in widespread disorder around the stadium following the team’s play-off loss to Birmingham City. The BBC described it as one of the worst cases of civil disorder in recent British history. A police spokeswoman reported that 47 police officers and 24 police horses were injured, and the Metropolitan Police considered suing the club in response to the events. The then-chairman, Theo Paphitis, defended the club, stating that Millwall could not be held responsible for the actions of a “mindless minority” who attached themselves to the club. He remarked, “The problem of mob violence is not solely a Millwall problem, it is not a football problem, it is a problem which plagues the whole of our society.”
In response to the violence, Paphitis introduced a membership scheme requiring fans to join and carry membership cards to attend matches at The Den. This effort, along with a donation to a charity supporting injured police officers, led Scotland Yard to withdraw its threat to sue. They stated, “In light of the efforts made and a donation to a charity helping injured police officers, the Metropolitan Police Service has decided not to pursue legal action against Millwall F.C. in relation to the disorder.”
Legal experts noted that it would have been challenging to hold a football club responsible for incidents occurring away from its ground involving individuals who did not attend the match. The membership scheme now only applies to perceived high-risk away games. Many fans blame the scheme for diminishing Millwall’s away support. For example, at Leeds United, fans are issued vouchers, which are then exchanged for tickets at a designated point chosen by West Yorkshire Police on the day of the game. Additionally, early kick-off times arranged by the police often result in only a few hundred fans making the trip.
The most infamous recent flare-up of the rivalry between Millwall and West Ham occurred during the 2009–10 season when The Lions were drawn against The Hammers in the Football League Cup. The police halved the number of tickets allocated to travelling Millwall fans from 3,000 to 1,500, sparking anger among Lions supporters.
On the evening of 25 August 2009, clashes between some Millwall and West Ham fans outside Upton Park resulted in 20 people being injured, including one Millwall fan who was stabbed. During the game, around fifty West Ham supporters invaded the pitch on three occasions, forcing the game to be temporarily suspended once. The police later stated that the large-scale violence appeared to be organised in advance.
The Football Association subsequently charged Millwall with three offences and West Ham with four. Millwall were cleared of all charges, while West Ham were found guilty of two: violent, threatening, obscene, and provocative behaviour, and failing to prevent their fans from entering the field of play. The FA fined West Ham £115,000.
In January 1988, after Millwall was knocked out of the FA Cup by Arsenal in a third-round match at Highbury, 41 Millwall hooligans were arrested following clashes with Arsenal’s firm, The Herd. In August 1993, Millwall relocated to the New Den and finished that season third in Division One, entering the playoffs for a chance to reach the FA Premier League. However, they were eliminated in the playoff semi-finals by Derby County, with the game at the New Den being halted twice due to pitch invasions by Millwall hooligans and widespread fighting in the stands.
In October 2004, during a Football League Cup tie at home against Liverpool, Millwall fans taunted Liverpool supporters with songs mocking the Hillsborough disaster, which had claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans in 1989. This escalated into violent clashes between fans of the two teams. Seven months later, three Liverpool fans received three-month prison sentences, and two others received banning orders but avoided prison. Three Millwall fans also received three-month prison sentences and six-year banning orders.
In January 2009, hundreds of Millwall fans deemed “high risk” gained access to an FA Cup fourth-round match away at Hull City. The game, which Hull won 2–0, was marred by Millwall fans throwing seats, coins, and plastic bottles. There were conflicting reports about whether the initial missile-throwing was provoked by Hull supporters following chants directed at ex-West Ham player Jimmy Bullard by Millwall fans.
On 25 August 2009, Millwall played away at West Ham United in the Football League Cup, losing 3–1 after extra time. Clashes between Millwall and West Ham fans outside the ground resulted in one Millwall supporter being stabbed. During the game, hundreds of West Ham fans invaded the pitch on three occasions, temporarily suspending the match once. The police later stated that the large-scale violence was organised beforehand. Following the disorder, Millwall faced three charges from the FA but were cleared of all of them. West Ham faced four charges and were found guilty on two counts: violent, threatening, obscene, and provocative behaviour, and failing to prevent fans from entering the field of play. West Ham were fined £115,000, which Millwall viewed as an insult, as they staunchly defended their own fans and the club’s inability to prevent violence at a rival’s ground.
Former Millwall chairman Reg Burr once remarked, “Millwall are a convenient coat peg for football to hang its social ills on.” This sentiment was illustrated when convicted murderer Gavin Grant, who had played for eight different clubs but only four games for Millwall, was reported by the BBC under the headline, “Former Millwall striker Gavin Grant guilty of murder,” despite being signed to Bradford City at the time.
After a game against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in September 2010, manager Kenny Jackett commented that Millwall’s hooligan problems are often exaggerated by media sensationalism. He stated, “I see it as unjust. We are an easy club to criticise and in my time [at the club], the way we have been reported is unfair.” Examples include archive footage of past hooliganism being shown when disorder occurs at other grounds not involving Millwall. During a game against Huddersfield Town, The Observer reported that a Huddersfield fan threw a coin at a linesman, and some Millwall fans intervened and handed the culprit over to the police. However, the News of the World headline read, “Millwall Thugs Deck Linesman With Concrete.” This has led to a siege mentality among Millwall supporters, encapsulated by their famous terrace chant, “No one likes us, we don’t care,” sung in defiant defense of themselves and their team.
In April 2013, Millwall played Wigan Athletic in the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing 2–0. Towards the end of the match, violence broke out among Millwall fans, with individuals fighting amongst themselves and then against the police, resulting in 14 arrests, including two Wigan supporters.