With the intense anxiety surrounding our fixture against Millwall, I was posed with the question as to what it would actually mean for our fans to thrash the Lions. I have come to the conclusion, that in the grand scheme of things, it means little more than an ordinary game.
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Whilst Millwall have not entered the top tier of English football for over two decades, the majority of West Ham’s recent history has either been spent there or vying to return there. Although I will be accused of being a biased West Ham fan, I think we can safely say that the Hammers are a far bigger club.
Modern history has seen us develop a more relevant rivalry with Tottenham Hotspur, a club which has been in the same division as us far more often and who we have had arguably more fracases with, the latest being the battle for the Olympic Stadium. When we beat Tottenham I am filled with an immense sense of pride and relish the next, inevitably, boastful encounter I will have with a Spurs fan; when we beat Millwall it is more a sense of relief.
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Whilst both clubs have had their own aims to focus on, West Ham’s being promotion and Millwall’s towards the other end of the table, eyes have certainly been drawn to this game, whether it is with eagerness or caution. The initial leg played at the Den resulted in a dull 0-0, but of course the main thing to report was an impressive lack of crowd violence. The rivalry between West Ham and Millwall has become so warped by popular culture and Danny Dyer’s everlasting list of football ‘firm’ films that the violence which was synonymous with 1980s hooliganism shamefully returned to the surface just three years ago. Strangely, the match between the sides at Upton Park in 2004 and even in the corresponding fixture earlier this season have passed by without incident. So what was different about the infamous meeting in 2009? Quite simply, being a League Cup match which was not included on the season ticket, much of the ground was not filled with genuine Hammers’ fans but with rowdy idiots who purchased tickets to the match with the sole intention of re-creating the violent rivalry which has been advertised through cinema in recent years. Although these topless yobs on the pitch may have had hammers imprinted on their skin, a real West Ham supporter would care more about our reputation and the negative repercussions the club could face rather than shattering a Millwall fan’s cheekbone. The fastest growing Hammers website is now on Facebook, click the link to be entered into our up and coming competitions http://www.facebook.com/pages/ForeverWestHamcom/200938616608282 Whilst the banter of healthy rivalry is integral to the character of football as a whole, seeing it resort to mindless violence undermines the whole purpose of the game which is, ultimately to entertain. Thanks to the outrageous scenes of the last meeting between the two clubs at Upton Park, alcohol is banned within a surrounding proximity of the Boleyn Ground and many parents have refused to take their children to the match, this affects the way in which a huge amount of people want to enjoy football.
The absurdity of wanting to injure, or even kill, another man on the basis of who he wants to win a game of football is almost incomprehensible when you look at it in that way. Many of these stupid thugs don’t even know why they are attacking the man opposite them; it is simply “because he supports Millwall!”
In truth the rivalry originates from when Thames Ironworks were placed on the opposite side of the River Thames to Millwall’s founding company and put in direct competition with them. It is easy to see why, when both companies decided to form football teams, it was always a fierce encounter.
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However a fiery competition on the pitch is completely different to hundreds of grown-men lobbing glass at each other over. I hope it does get heated on the pitch this Saturday as that is the best and most entertaining way to respect this historic rivalry, not by fighting other fans.
The main thing for real West Ham fans is that we pick ourselves up from a shocking 5-1 defeat to Ipswich in the week and remain on course to win the Championship. We are excited to see the new signings Ricardo Vaz Te, Ravel Morrison and Nicky Maynard add some much needed pace and flair to our football; we do not want to see pathetic old men or ignorant troublemakers trying to cling onto a shameful period of football’s past.
It would mean an enormous amount for Hammers’ fans to see an exciting and passionate game of football in which West Ham emerge victors, but not because of the regretful connotations of this fixture. It would mean so much because it would prove that the players actually care about West Ham United, a matter of debate with regards to Tuesday night, and would push us a step closer to returning to where we belong.
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richard..a great piece.well written.well said and 100% true.
Well put. This is just how I feel as a West Ham fan. Great post. Thank you.
gr8 post coyi!
West ham v Millwall will always be a game that will bring trouble and as the cup game that was played in the night time with pubs open all day you was asking for trouble this will never go away west ham and Millwall will always bring out the old school wanting to start trouble bring out what ban’s you want it won’t be stopped.
Millwall will always be our biggest game and rivals, I’m guessing your 25 or under and don’t understand the rivalry between the two clubs, the spuds like to think we consider them as our biggest rivals because they think they are a bigger club and you help towards that coyi
Yet again you imagine yourselves to rival Spurs. You do not. You never will.
Rivalling and being a rival to a club in football terms is completely different. Any Yidiot that says otherwise is just that – an idiot. Stop regurgitating nonsense and come up with you own fickle crap.
True
West Ham do not rival Spurs in any sense of the word.
Darb you must be kidding, Millwall is a blot on the landscape and a nothing game any more. How often are we in the same league and as a Hammer of 40 odd years I can honestly say that the Millwall game is a nuisance, nothing more, whereas I can’t stand the Spuds and that is one game I never miss.
I agree with Darb – this where it is at; the rivalry with Millwall is there always has been. Spurs are now light years away in terms of footballing. Don’t try and male into “dinosaurs” blah blah – you don’t know your history. We have to win this one.
I think a lot of articles written on these websites are from people who are under 25 and from Essex not the east end of London. To say Millwall are not our biggest rivals just shows you do not know your west ham history. This thing with Millwall goes back years, if you had older members of your family who actually worked in the docks you would understand. To say Millwall are not out biggest rivals goes with it, does not matter how we play football as long as we win. I may be a grumpy old man but I know that when I went to Upton Park when we played the right way Upton Park was full of noise, Upton Park was my Church. Now when I go the noise level is just not there. Maybe because the ground is now full of people like the one who wrote this article who do not understand West Ham.
Darb you are 100 per cent right
Totally agree with you chris the geezer who write this article ain’t from the eastend and ain’t fourth generation westham and I’m forty. He needs to get back over the arsenal. See ya on the terraces at peterbough away chris, I be wearing me 1980 cup final tit for tat I got down rathbone market
West Ham are shit. Manchester United are the best
Man u will be eclipsed by their noisy neighbours
Wish it were true – but the breaks being in different divisions actually just make it worse. If there’s 4/5 years between the games it just heightens the anti.
When we’ve played consecutively the become the norm. Then we don’t play each other for 3/4 years and everyone says ‘they ant our biggest rivals etc. Then we get all these films like Green street hyping it all up. Always kicks off.