sport news West Ham fans are hit by new wave of Dutch hooligans... but where were police ... trends now
It was a man against boys at the top of the concrete steps leading to the seats where West Ham’s VIP guests sat in a state of fear at AZ Alkmaar’s stadium on Thursday night.
A group of Dutch youths, all in dark coats with hoods up, some wearing balaclavas, smashed down a metal fence and flooded up the touchline, some waving their arms in the air before scaling the staircase to confront the visiting contingent. That is where they encountered a burly Londoner of considerable proportions who swatted the boys away like flies, directing punches and kicks at them as they clung on to his T-shirt and ducked.
That particular defender of West Ham territory was overshadowed by another — Chris Knoll, a 58-year-old father-of-four who is recovering from hip replacement therapy, who also repelled the Dutch youths. The striking part of both scenes of battle was the age of the pumped-up individuals these British men were up against. Most of the Dutch hooligans looked 15 or 16. None seemed a day older than 18. After a few punches were inflicted on them, many turned on their heels and fled.
In the Netherlands, there was an air of deep despair on Friday at the latest manifestation of what is now an all-too-familiar new generation of hooligans. The AZ group is one of many to have appeared in Dutch football post-Covid — motivated by nothing more than the thrill of being part of a counter-culture after the frustrations of lockdown. They pose far less of a threat than the violent gangs which were the scourge of the Dutch game in the ‘80s and ‘90s, though that did nothing to make the sight of the black hooded army less terrifying for the West Ham contingent.
West Ham fan Chris Knoll helped defend West Ham supporters from AZ Alkmaar attackers
'Knollsy' could be seen holding off Dutch hooligans at the top of a set of stairs as they attempted to flood into the seating of the family stand
Knollsy could be seen after the confrontation smiling and in fine fettle despite his torn shirt
Knoll was concerned for family members of the West Ham team and officials, as he fought them off. Looking on in astonishment a few feet away were the former West Ham players Anton Ferdinand and Marlon Harewood, inside the stadium to watch one of biggest games in their former club’s history. A number of West Ham players, including Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma, clambered over hoardings in an attempt to intervene. Among those sitting in the targeted section was the 87-year-old father of West Ham manager, David Moyes.
Questions must be asked about the pathetic levels of security as teenagers brought down that flimsy fence in the corner of the stadium and made their run on the stand. Video footage reveals a half- dozen or so stewards, whose presence was meaningless. One steward gestures to the others to stand back to protect themselves, moments before the hooligans bring the fence down and barge through. West Ham fans described an absence of police and a ten-minute wait for officers to arrive after the Dutch horde marched in.
There are also questions for UEFA, according to Professor Clifford Stott, one of the authors of the independent report into security failings at last season’s Champions League final, given that threats of violence from the Alkmaar fans had been circulating on social media throughout Thursday afternoon.
Disorder was actually a threat days before the match. In the first leg at the London Stadium, which West Ham won 2-1 last week, several AZ fans wore Millwall tops in a juvenile attempt to taunt the home fans. AZ manager Pascal Jansen declared after the London game that his family had to be moved from behind the dugouts at the stadium as they were threatened by West Ham fans. Talk on social media of reprisals began almost immediately.
But the Dutch authorities see the events of Thursday as part of a more substantial problem for the country, with few clubs apparently immune to this new lunatic fringe that has become a part of the country’s game. AZ, in the north of Holland, has traditionally been one of the least prone to violence. ‘Nothing ever happens there. We’re flabbergasted to see it being affected by these problems,’ said one Dutch footballer observer on Friday.
He was praised after helping to fend off several hooded AZ Alkmaar attackers on Thursday
The country is desperate to deal with this post-pandemic phenomenon, given the way hooliganism was such a scourge on the Dutch sporting reputation for so long. It arrived in Holland in 1974, when Spurs fans clashed with Feyenoord fans during a European final in Rotterdam, injuring more than 200 people on a day that the local Dagblad paper later dubbed ‘the day Dutch football lost its innocence’.
Nearly 20 years later, the utter mayhem was still going on. An iron bar hit the Austria Vienna
