I think it was a dark time for football - Boxer & Everton fan Tony Bellew explores hooliganism in BBC podcast

BBC Radio 5 Live’s six-part podcast, Gangster Presents: Hooligans, delves into the rise and fall of hooliganism and the socioeconomic factors that led to its peak. It also explores the cultural impact it had on society, and how the police, Government and football clubs worked hard to put the fire out.

Presented by Tony Bellew, the series uncovers the turbulent history of the movement, from the fights to fashion, and its lasting impact on communities across the UK over the past six decades.

Speaking about the podcast, the 42-year-old said: “Back then, there were no rules. There were also weapons. It was mayhem. In my opinion, it was a dark time, it was when football was in a really, really bad place.

“The terraces were chaos, there was violence in the streets, there was violence in city centres, at train stations, at grounds. Nobody was safe, things could escalate at any moment.

“What people misunderstand about hooliganism is that it was born out of frustration. What I’ve learnt through doing this podcast is that these people were doctors, they were solicitors, they came from all different walks of life, and they go to these matches and have fights with other fans to escape their day-to-day lives.”

The podcast features not only members of the notorious ‘firms’ but also victims, the families of those lost to the violence, and undercover police officers who risked their lives infiltrating some of England’s most dangerous football gangs.

Made forty years on from the tragic Heysel Stadium disaster, the podcast highlights a time when English football fans garnered a worldwide reputation for violence in and outside football grounds across Europe. So much so it became known as 'the English disease.'

It features some of the key players in some of British football's most notorious firms, their origins, and the havoc they caused around the country.

From Manchester United’s massive Red Army to the infamous Chelsea Headhunters, via the notorious West Ham Inner City Firm and Birmingham City’s Zulu Warriors, Gangster Presents hears from those who lived for the trouble – the men, and women, whose Saturdays weren’t complete without a brutal punch-up.

The Gangster Presents: Hooligans boxset launches on BBC Sounds on Friday, March 7.