West Brom-Wolves trouble had a '1970-80s hooligan vibe'
- Published
Pat Nevin, writing for the BBC Football Extra newsletter:
A more upsetting memory from the old days was triggered by pictures of fans fighting at West Brom following Wolves’ second goal, then pouring out on to the pitch and then blood pouring from a fan’s head wound. It had a very 1970/80s hooligan vibe about it, totally incongruous with what we are used to in the modern game.
It was headline news on all UK TV stations and people were genuinely shocked, which in an odd way made me feel quite good. Those sorts of scenes were so common back then, that they barely registered most of the time, but now any sort of violent incident is rightly splashed across all media outlets. We have come a long way.
Just like the grotesque racist chanting back then it was accepted by many as part of the fan experience. Now these outrages are rarer, totally unacceptable and shocking to see. It was not an overreaction in the media, it was simply the correct reaction you should expect from a civilised society.
