Birmingham Zulus
Encyclopedia
The Birmingham Zulus are a football hooligan
firm associated with English
football club, Birmingham City
. The Zulus first appeared in the late 1970s to early 1980s and the name came from a chant of "Zulu, Zulu" which was aimed at Manchester City fans in 1982. They are one of the most violent and feared firms in England.
The Zulus have many members from different ethnic backgrounds (in stark contrast to most other hooligan firms which emerged around the same time and contained followers of far-right organisations including the National Front
), Their main rivals are the fans of fellow West Midlands club, Aston Villa F.C.
and there have been a number violent clashes before, during and after the Birmingham derby
between the two clubs. The Zulus maintain that they are defending their city from invading firms.
In May 1989, 20 Birmingham fans were arrested and five police officers injured when fans invaded the pitch at a match against Crystal Palace
at Selhurst Park
. It took seven mounted police officers
to clear hundreds of Birmingham fans off the pitch. The referee took the players off the pitch for 26 minutes as baton wielding police failed to separate rival fans in one stand.
Following disturbances before and after a match in April 1999 between Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers
the Zulus were the focus of a successful police operation against them, Operation Red Card. In February 2001, nine football fans were charged (seven with public order offences, one with drug possession and one with criminal damage) after Birmingham City and Cardiff City
fans clashed in Cardiff
before the Worthington Cup
final between Birmingham City and Liverpool F.C.
on Saturday 24 February. Sixteen people were arrested as fights broke out in Cardiff, with one person assaulted and nine people taken to hospital with minor injuries. St. Mary's Street in Cardiff city centre was closed for two hours and the Philharmonic pub smashed up as rival fans rioted. Three other pubs close by were also forced to close. The local police raised fears that Cardiff City hooligans would seek confrontations with the Zulus, and that the two firms had been using the Internet
to arrange fights.
During thw play off semi-final at Millwall
in May 2002, violence erupted after the game. Sergeant Russell Lamb of the Metropolitan Police Service, a veteran of the May Day and Poll Tax riots, described this as the worst violence he had ever experienced.
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.
Fourteen Birmingham hooligans received banning orders in 2006 following violent clashes on 27 March 2004 in North London. In February 2006 police were attacked as fighting broke out in Stoke-on-Trent
after an FA Cup match between Stoke City and Birmingham City. The trouble in the Britannia Stadium
started when a group of about 200 Birmingham fans tore down fencing separating them from Stoke fans. As fans left the ground, the police faced what a senior police officer described as "extreme violence" from both Birmingham and Stoke fans. In November 2006 a planned launch of the book Villains about the various Aston Villa hooligan firms, which included details of clashes with the 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 members of 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".
In September 2007 five Birmingham hooligans were jailed for up to eight months and one given a suspended sentence
for their part in violence at a match in which a steward lost the sight in one eye. The previous month, Birmingham City fans had started ripping up seats in the away end and throwing them as well as coins and a lump of concrete during a match against Cardiff City at Ninian Park
in Cardiff. One missile hit a steward in the face causing him to lose the sight in his left eye. In a statement to the court, the steward said, "They paid no regard to the terrified men, women and children around them." Other stewards were also hit and families with children fled the ground as the violence broke out. One Birmingham City fan was struck on the head with a £2 coin. He said, "The behaviour of our fans was appalling."
They are known to clash in particular with Millwall
,Stoke City, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Cardiff City and West Ham
.
. The match shown in the film is supposedly between West Ham United F.C.
and Birmingham City with a fight after the match between the Zulus and the Green Street Elite (GSE), the name used in the film for the Inter City Firm
(ICF). The Zulus were also featured in a minor role in the 1988 film, The Firm
. The Zulus have also been featured in the documentary series The Real Football Factories
on Bravo.
Football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
firm associated with English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
football club, Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
. The Zulus first appeared in the late 1970s to early 1980s and the name came from a chant of "Zulu, Zulu" which was aimed at Manchester City fans in 1982. They are one of the most violent and feared firms in England.
The Zulus have many members from different ethnic backgrounds (in stark contrast to most other hooligan firms which emerged around the same time and contained followers of far-right organisations including the National Front
National Front
The name National Front is used by a number of political parties and coalitions.* Albania — National Front * Belarus — Partyja BPF* Belgium — National Front * Botswana — Botswana National Front...
), Their main rivals are the fans of fellow West Midlands club, Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
and there have been a number violent clashes before, during and after the Birmingham derby
Birmingham derby
In English football, the Second City derby is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Birmingham, England – Aston Villa and Birmingham City....
between the two clubs. The Zulus maintain that they are defending their city from invading firms.
History
In October 1987, police arrested 36 suspected Birmingham City hooligans in an undercover operation in which they uncovered knives, coshes and diaries and photo albums boasting of violent attacks on police officers and supporters of rival clubs.In May 1989, 20 Birmingham fans were arrested and five police officers injured when fans invaded the pitch at a match against Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
at Selhurst Park
Selhurst Park
Selhurst Park is an English football stadium located in the London suburb of South Norwood in the Borough of Croydon. It is the current home ground of Crystal Palace Football Club. Its present capacity is 26,309.-History:...
. It took seven mounted police officers
Mounted police
Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. They continue to serve in remote areas and in metropolitan areas where their day-to-day function may be picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and...
to clear hundreds of Birmingham fans off the pitch. The referee took the players off the pitch for 26 minutes as baton wielding police failed to separate rival fans in one stand.
Following disturbances before and after a match in April 1999 between Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
the Zulus were the focus of a successful police operation against them, Operation Red Card. In February 2001, nine football fans were charged (seven with public order offences, one with drug possession and one with criminal damage) after Birmingham City and Cardiff City
Cardiff city
Cardiff City may refer to:* Cardiff city centre* Cardiff City Council* Cardiff City F.C.* Cardiff City L.F.C.* Cardiff City Stadium...
fans clashed in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
before the Worthington Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
final between Birmingham City and Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
on Saturday 24 February. Sixteen people were arrested as fights broke out in Cardiff, with one person assaulted and nine people taken to hospital with minor injuries. St. Mary's Street in Cardiff city centre was closed for two hours and the Philharmonic pub smashed up as rival fans rioted. Three other pubs close by were also forced to close. The local police raised fears that Cardiff City hooligans would seek confrontations with the Zulus, and that the two firms had been using the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
to arrange fights.
During thw play off semi-final at Millwall
Millwall
Millwall is an area in London, on the western side of the Isle of Dogs, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the south of the developments at West India Docks, including Canary Wharf.-History:...
in May 2002, violence erupted after the game. Sergeant Russell Lamb of the Metropolitan Police Service, a veteran of the May Day and Poll Tax riots, described this as the worst violence he had ever experienced.
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
Aston
Aston is an area of the City of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Lying to the north-east of the Birmingham city centre, Aston constitutes an electoral ward within the council constituency of Ladywood.-History:...
before the game between Aston Villa and Birmingham City in September 2002.
Fourteen Birmingham hooligans received banning orders in 2006 following violent clashes on 27 March 2004 in North London. In February 2006 police were attacked as fighting broke out in Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
after an FA Cup match between Stoke City and Birmingham City. The trouble in the Britannia Stadium
Britannia Stadium
The Britannia Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England and the home of Premier League club Stoke City Football Club. With space for 27,598 spectators . The name is taken from the sponsors of the Stadium the Britannia Co-operative Bank...
started when a group of about 200 Birmingham fans tore down fencing separating them from Stoke fans. As fans left the ground, the police faced what a senior police officer described as "extreme violence" from both Birmingham and Stoke fans. In November 2006 a planned launch of the book Villains about the various Aston Villa hooligan firms, which included details of clashes with the Zulus, which was due to be held at Sensations Club in the Balsall Heath
Balsall Heath
Balsall Heath is a working class, inner-city area of Birmingham, England. It is home to a diverse cultural mix of people and the location of the Balti Triangle.-History:...
area of Birmingham, had to be cancelled due to threats that members of 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".
In September 2007 five Birmingham hooligans were jailed for up to eight months and one given a suspended sentence
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
for their part in violence at a match in which a steward lost the sight in one eye. The previous month, Birmingham City fans had started ripping up seats in the away end and throwing them as well as coins and a lump of concrete during a match against Cardiff City at Ninian Park
Ninian Park
Ninian Park was a football stadium in Leckwith, Cardiff, Wales. Until 2009, it was the home ground of Cardiff City F.C., who compete in the English Football League Championship...
in Cardiff. One missile hit a steward in the face causing him to lose the sight in his left eye. In a statement to the court, the steward said, "They paid no regard to the terrified men, women and children around them." Other stewards were also hit and families with children fled the ground as the violence broke out. One Birmingham City fan was struck on the head with a £2 coin. He said, "The behaviour of our fans was appalling."
They are known to clash in particular with Millwall
Millwall
Millwall is an area in London, on the western side of the Isle of Dogs, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the south of the developments at West India Docks, including Canary Wharf.-History:...
,Stoke City, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Cardiff City and West Ham
West Ham
West Ham is in the London Borough of Newham in London, England. In the west it is a post-industrial neighbourhood abutting the site of the London Olympic Park and in the east it is mostly residential, consisting of Victorian terraced housing interspersed with higher density post-War social housing...
.
In popular culture
The Zulus have also seen offshoot gangs created such as the Brew Crew and the Junior Business Boys They have featured in the 2005 film Green StreetGreen Street
Green Street is a 2005 British/American independent drama film about football hooliganism in England. It was directed by Lexi Alexander and stars Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam. In the United States and Australia, the film is called Green Street Hooligans, while in the United Kingdom it has the...
. The match shown in the film is supposedly between West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
and Birmingham City with a fight after the match between the Zulus and the Green Street Elite (GSE), the name used in the film for the Inter City Firm
Inter City Firm
The Inter City Firm is an English football hooligan firm mainly active in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, associated with West Ham United. The name came from the use of InterCity trains used to travel to away games...
(ICF). The Zulus were also featured in a minor role in the 1988 film, The Firm
The Firm (1988 film)
The Firm is a 1989 British drama film directed by Alan Clarke and written by Al Ashton for the BBC, starring Gary Oldman as Clive 'Bex' or 'Bexy' Bissel. The film is based on the activities of the Inter City Firm, football firm of West Ham United during the 1970s and 1980s although in the film the...
. The Zulus have also been featured in the documentary series The Real Football Factories
The Real Football Factories
The Real Football Factories is a documentary series shown on the Bravo TV channel in the UK and created by Zig Zag Productions. The show looks at the in-depth life of football hooligans and hooligan firms. Interviews are conducted with past and present hooligans.The presenter of the show, Danny...
on Bravo.