The Millwall Bushwackers occupy a distinctive place in the history of English football hooliganism. Emerging from the intimidating terrace culture of the old Den, their name became associated with organised violence during the 1970s and 1980s. The Bushwackers were never an official supporters’ organisation, and the term should not be applied to Millwall’s entire fan base. Like most English firms, they operated as a loose network rather than a group with public membership, formal leadership and permanently displayed banners.
Before the Bushwackers
Crowd disorder followed Millwall long before the modern firm appeared. A Western League match against West Ham United at Upton Park on 17 September 1906 produced fighting among spectators after two Millwall players were sent off.
The two clubs drew support from dockside communities in east and south London. Competition between workers, local identity and football created a rivalry that eventually became one of the most bitter in the English game. The old Den was repeatedly punished for crowd disturbances. It was closed in 1920 after Newport County goalkeeper Tommy Fern was struck by missiles, entered the crowd and was knocked unconscious. Further closures and disciplinary action followed incidents during the 1930s and 1940s.
One of the strangest episodes occurred at Griffin Park on 6 November 1965. During Millwall’s 2–1 victory over Brentford, a dummy hand grenade was thrown from the visiting section and landed near goalkeeper Chic Brodie. After inspecting it, Brodie threw it into his goal, where it was later collected by police. The incident was harmless in isolation, but fighting also occurred inside and outside the ground. It helped strengthen the image of Millwall as a club permanently surrounded by trouble.
From F-Troop to the Bushwackers
During the 1970s, a more organised hooligan element developed around Millwall under the name F-Troop. Its members became known for travelling in numbers and defending the reputation of the old Den as one of England’s most hostile away grounds.
The Bushwackers name became prominent during the following period. The relationship between the two identities was not a clean dissolution followed by the foundation of an entirely new group. Instead, the Bushwackers represented a generational development within the same wider Millwall hooligan culture. In 1977, Millwall invited the BBC programme Panorama to examine claims that the club’s reputation had been exaggerated. The resulting documentary had the opposite effect, presenting violence as deeply rooted around the club and examining the presence of National Front politics among sections of the support.
Only months later, serious disorder occurred during an FA Cup quarter-final against Ipswich Town on 11 March 1978. Ipswich won 6–1, while fighting spread from the terraces onto the pitch and left dozens injured. Some of the violence involved Millwall hooligans attacking other home supporters. Ipswich manager Bobby Robson reacted angrily, making his infamous remark that police should have used flamethrowers against those responsible.
Kenilworth Road 1985
The defining incident associated with Millwall’s hooligan reputation came at Kenilworth Road on 13 March 1985. Luton Town defeated Millwall 1–0 in an FA Cup quarter-final watched by an official crowd of 17,470.
The match was not properly controlled through an all-ticket system, allowing people without tickets and hooligans connected with several clubs to reach the stadium. Fighting began before kick-off, while overcrowding in the visiting section forced police to open gates and allow people onto the edge of the pitch. Repeated pitch invasions, fighting and missile-throwing followed. Luton goalkeeper Les Sealey was struck by an object, seats were torn out and thrown, and police officers fought running battles with hooligans on the pitch and in the surrounding streets. Forty-seven people were taken to hospital and 31 were arrested. Several of those detained were identified as followers of Chelsea and West Ham rather than Millwall, demonstrating that the disorder was not caused exclusively by one club’s supporters.
The riot became one of the defining television images of English football’s crisis during the 1980s. Luton responded by banning visiting supporters for four seasons and introducing a compulsory membership-card system at Kenilworth Road. Millwall were initially fined £7,500 after an FA inquiry concluded that the club had not taken every reasonable precaution. The penalty was later removed on appeal, but the reputational damage was permanent.
Highbury and the New Den
In January 1988, 41 Millwall supporters were arrested after clashes around an FA Cup defeat to Arsenal at Highbury. The confrontation became known in the media as the Battle of Highbury and reinforced the reputation of both F-Troop and the Bushwackers. Millwall left the old Den in 1993 and moved to a modern all-seater stadium nearby. The change of ground was intended to provide a safer environment, but it did not immediately end serious disorder. At the conclusion of the new stadium’s first season, Millwall faced Derby County in the 1994 First Division play-off semi-final. The match was stopped twice because of pitch invasions, while fighting broke out in sections of the crowd after Millwall’s promotion hopes ended.
The 2002 riot
One of the worst outbreaks occurred after Millwall were eliminated by Birmingham City in the First Division play-offs on 2 May 2002. Violence continued for approximately 90 minutes around the New Den, with police attacked using bricks, bottles and fireworks. Forty-seven police officers were injured, nine of whom required hospital treatment. Of the 34 police horses deployed, 26 suffered injuries, with one horse nearly dying after being frightened by an explosive device. The Metropolitan Police considered suing Millwall for the cost of the operation and the injuries suffered by officers. Chairman Theo Paphitis argued that the club could not be held legally responsible for every individual who attached himself to Millwall, particularly when much of the violence occurred outside the stadium.
Paphitis nevertheless introduced a membership scheme that required supporters to register before purchasing tickets. The club also donated to a charity assisting injured police officers, after which the Metropolitan Police abandoned its proposed legal action. Although the original scheme was later relaxed, special restrictions continued to affect certain high-risk away fixtures. Voucher exchanges, reduced allocations and early kick-offs became familiar features of Millwall travel.
The West Ham rivalry
Millwall’s rivalry with West Ham has always carried the greatest potential for disorder. Its modern origins are connected to the clubs’ neighbouring dockland communities, although later generations turned it into a confrontation between two internationally recognised hooligan reputations.
The rivalry returned to national attention when West Ham hosted Millwall in the League Cup on 25 August 2009. The allocation for visiting supporters had been reduced from 3,000 tickets to 1,500, increasing tension before the match. Fighting occurred outside Upton Park and approximately 20 people were injured. A Millwall supporter was stabbed in front of his teenage sons, while West Ham supporters entered the pitch three times during their team’s 3–1 extra-time victory.
Police believed that a significant part of the violence had been arranged in advance. The Football Association charged both clubs, but Millwall were ultimately cleared of all three accusations against them. West Ham were found guilty of failing to prevent pitch invasions and failing to control violent, threatening and provocative behaviour. The club was fined £115,000.
Later disorder
A 2004 League Cup match between Millwall and Liverpool was overshadowed by chants mocking the Hillsborough disaster, which claimed 97 lives. Liverpool supporters attempted to move towards the section from which the chants originated, leading to fighting, damaged seats and confrontations with police. In April 2013, violence broke out inside the Millwall section during the FA Cup semi-final defeat to Wigan Athletic at Wembley. Supporters fought among themselves and later confronted police. Fourteen people were arrested on the day, with further arrests following an examination of stadium footage.
Disorder returned to Wembley after Millwall’s 2016 League One play-off final against Barnsley. Millwall condemned those responsible and promised lifetime bans for identified offenders. Before an FA Cup match against Everton in January 2019, dozens of rival supporters fought near the Den. An Everton supporter suffered life-changing injuries after being slashed across the face, while the Metropolitan Police described the scenes as some of the most shocking football violence seen in Britain for years.
“No one likes us, we don’t care”
Millwall supporters have long argued that the club receives disproportionate media attention. Incidents involving individuals are frequently attributed to the entire fan base, while the Bushwackers name is sometimes used even when no organised firm involvement has been established. That perception helped shape the famous terrace chant No one likes us, we don’t care. It expresses the siege mentality that developed from decades of hostility between Millwall, the authorities, rival supporters and sections of the media.
The Bushwackers name remains recognised in English hooligan culture, but its present structure and membership cannot be reliably measured. Modern policing, CCTV, football banning orders and changes to stadium access have made the openly organised firms of the 1970s and 1980s far less visible. Millwall’s hooligan history is real and includes incidents that caused serious injuries to supporters, police officers and bystanders. At the same time, that history must be separated from the wider fan base and from the community work carried out by the club and its supporters in south-east London.