To be fair there werent many foreign firms dare travel to England. He admitted it's his biggest regret in life. And I saw this glass hit an elegant, beautiful woman in the face, and her face opened up. Great trip! West Ham 3-2 Leicester: Hosts returned to the top four and narrowed the gap to their beaten opponents to just one point after a thrilling clash at the London Stadium Alex Pattle London Stadium Most of us lads have a code. "He was showing them up," he. The gangs activities are sickening yet they are also a template for a new kind of social integration. I rate the Poles, The Dutch/Germans were close but never travelled. The Baby Squad were violent and I wasn't into getting sliced with a Stanley knife! I first got into football like most other lads I suspect, going to watch your team with your dad as a young boy, then as I got older I seemed to be more interested in the crowd and what they were doing than the football, it wasnt long before I was old enough to go to football on my own and very quickly became involved in the hooligan side of the game. Police have won a five-year banning order on a soccer thug tracked by a national anti-hooligan agency. Memoirs of An Asian Football Casual opens September 26 at Leicester's Curve theatre and runs till the October 6. Jamie Vardy levels the scores for Leicester City on the night, (Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images). Plus, the Leicester ground has moved now so it's harder. Our main rivals are Coventry, Derby, Nottingham Forest, Villa and Chelsea. Khan insists there was a code of honour among the serious football hooligans: they only fought among themselves. Now aged 47, Bev says that her time with the Squad was a big influence on her life. "Asian kids were expected to study, but for me it was escapism to get away from that because I thought that was boring. But its a dubious distinction. Inside the stadium, we fought running battles with the Italian old bill, they like the Spanish and Belgian police are fuckin vile! "And that meant, you had to be exactly the same as other people to be accepted.". "By writing a book I hope to educate these people and tell them I'm just as British as they are. Home News Random Article Install Wikiwand Send a suggestion Uninstall Wikiwand Upgrade to Wikiwand 2.0 Our magic isn't perfect He and his gang were out to hurt people. West Ham. The book of the same name is published by Old Dog Books. There was fighting, bar stools being thrown, pool cues being used. Football hooliganism, Islam and me - the story of an Asian lad in Leicester's notorious Baby Squad | Leicester Mercury 10-22-2016, 11:18 AM #2: Darling Blade. "That should have been clear to you, even on the black and white map.. "Hopefully, the message is you can be British, respect one another and I hope people see it and think, 'what a change I made - from that to this.'. Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual: hooliganism gave me a way to fit in, t wasnt so much the violence that attracted Riaz Khan to football hooliganism as the clothes. It was another sub-culture that caught his attention - the rave scene - that transformed his perceptions, admittedly with mind-altering drugs. I had a Stanley knife on me and I slashed somebody. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. But when you look back, you think to yourself, 'did I really do that?'". I missed it. I cant let that happen all over again. I wrote the book to educate the knuckle-draggers, to say, I was like you but you can change.. We didnt integrate we assimilated. You have got to be on a wind up. Goalkeepers: Aaron Ramsdale, Matt Turner, Karl Hein. It was the best feeling in the world. Other members speak from that oddly utopian perspective in other ways. You became more confident. If youre a twat, youre a twat. He whispers the expletives. But I wasnt a bully. Written by on 27 febrero, 2023. What was your music scene on your awayday? One things for sure those steroid vest-wearing Russian robots wouldnt have been fit to lace our boots back in the 80/90s hooligan heyday. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Please email ( donationsbbl@gmail.com ), or message us on facebook, to ask for the address of the Market Harborough, Oadby, Western Park or Kirby Muxloe address. Wow!, Today he visits schools to talk to children about the dangers of gang culture. I remember us all heading out the day before the game there was pockets of Poles everywhere trying to fight us. The baby gang?'" The Baby Squad is a football hooligan firm linked to the English Premier League team, Leicester City. Bev also says she made a handy look-out for the Baby Squad, who would have her wait at the train station for rival fans to arrive and scope out the location of the police before big matches. Theyve shout Oi mate you Forest cunt I realised then Forest were at home to Ipswich. In fact no fucker travelled like us English! Maddison has been a key player for Leicester this season, scoring 11 goals and providing 10 assists in all competitions. Weve also had a few good ding dongs with Newcastle, 92 at our place was mad, fighting all day in town, in the stands, on the pitch, another good row I remember was back in 2000 we were in London the night before our game with Spurs, loads of us had booked hotels the night before, we were drinking in the famous Flying Scotsman pub, Im standing outside early evening with 2 or 3 others when we notice a large group coming down the road because it was dark we couldnt tell if it was more of our lot? For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Riaz Khan was once a feared man on the terraces, Aged 17, Khan joined Leicester City's Baby Squad, Torn between cultures, Khan joined the firm for acceptance in society, The Baby Squad accepted members from all backgrounds, Today, Riaz Khan is an author and lecturer, He's also an anti-violence advocate, going into schools to give talks to kids, As an angry teen, Khan chose a life of violence to escape from what was expected of an Asian kid at the time, Joining the Baby Squad was his best way of curbing boredom, But he soon found himself behind bars aged just 18, Football hooliganism was rife in Britian in the 1980s, Scores of British youths weren't afraid to get involved in fights on the terraces or around the grounds, Inside Russias football hooligan factories where thugs batter each other at training camps before taking on the likes of Arsenal and England fans, Khan regrets the eight months he spent in prison, Despite doing time at an Exeter prison, Khan couldn't give up the buzz of fighting, Now 52, Khan is a lecturer at De Montfort University, The rave sub-culture that swept through Britain in the 1980s was one of the reasons Khan turned his back on the Baby Squad, A nasty incident in Bournemouth also forced Khan into changing his ways, Khan wrote the book, Memoirs of An Asian Football Casual, And Riaz's book has now become a play of the same name, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Then more recently 2007 an arranged meet in Earlsdon on the outskirts of Coventry at 10.00 o clock in the morning prior to the game, around 100 were fighting in the street outside the pub, the incident ended up with a few getting jailed and long football banning orders, myself included. And that's all I wanted. What clobber do you wear down the match? I was nicknamed 'Aquascutum Girl' because I was one of the best-dressed out of a group of fiercely competitive older males, but I was never an official membermore of a groupie. I shout Im Leicester Im just here on my own on a shopping trip. Im afraid Im still a stone island dinosaur even at 55! "I was in the middle of Exeter, which was far from Leicester, with people that had a different mentality and different accents. "I regret doing that because I went to prison for eight months.". At the age of 23, Khan walked away from the Baby Squad. The largest city in Nevada is Las Vegas whose population is approximately 633,000 people. We had a good toe to toe before running them up onto Kings Cross. The camaraderie, dressing up on Saturday. mitchell fletcher baby squad. Good on the England scene too. It translates Footballs Army in Danish. "When you're a teenager you go through hormonal changes," he said. Leicester was a stronghold for the National Front, and past members now say that the unity the gang provided helped to mend the divide that gripped the city. "I regret that now because I could've gone to university at a younger age. Latest on Leicester City midfielder Nampalys Mendy including news, stats, videos, highlights and more on ESPN Something went wrong, please try again later. We had a big row a few years back and some of our lads and theirs got bird. Another mental trip dirty muggy Italians riding around slashing small groups of England fans. "People used to use Stanley knives and guys would get slashed across the face and on the backside. Removable and super stickery. But there is no feeling like what we we went through. He revealed: "I saw the rise of EDL on the terraces and saw them recruiting football casuals at football grounds. Leicester City are "preparing a formal offer" for Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, according to a report in the North East. No police could get through the rush hour traffic even tho we could hear the sirens. It was just a casuals thing., Being a member of the Baby Squad changed him. Riaz Khan, an early Baby Squad member, as a youngster. "While being an Asian kid it was also a form of escapism. I can't change it because I wouldn't be the person I am now.". "I was the only ethnic minority in the whole of prison," he remembered. They done my nose after England v Poland in Kevin Keegans last game and my ribs in the Rocket pub at their place on an Easter Monday game. RIAZ KHAN was once a feared man on the terraces as a member of Leicester City's football hooligan firm, the Baby Squad. Ive gained loads of good friends from clubs all over Great Britain. Mr Williams told the hearing that OReilly claimed they were motorbike gloves, but admitted their true purpose after it was found he did not own a motorbike. I was a youth," says Paul, now 52, "full of bravado and adrenaline, and it was just a product of the time. He started hanging round with his little gang. Eighteen years later, the relatively unknown Baby Squadnever as big as the major London firmshad Leicester voted the UK's second most-violent football club, in a survey published by the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Two were arrested but a third man ran off. You wouldnt go round picking on normal fans because thats idiotic. John O'Sullivan. Arsenal return to Premier League action on Wednesday night with the chance to pull five points clear of closest challengers Manchester City, while Manchester United face West Ham in the FA Cup We came out of the boozer because we heard theyd got off their train from Loughborough (12 miles north of Leicester) ran straight into the Headhunters. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. And Monsell is right, I see Barnsley, Doncaster, Blackpool and Charlton away within recent seasons where there has been a gathering of a monsterous size. What was your music scene on your awayday? Bev Thompson started hanging out with the Baby Squad when her parents relocated to Leicester from Yorkshire. Khan was sent to HM Prison Exeter, around 200-miles from his Leicester home, and immediately noticed one thing. "It's surreal. We went to a school full of white kids, he says. Khan would avoid going into Leicester city centre in case he took a beating. It comes after magistrates heard how the 24-year-old had been linked to incidents including being removed from a plane bound for Latvia before a European Championship qualifier, an assault on a pub landlord and the possession of a smoke grenade. The Baby Squad, like the Foxes, were the underdogs, born from a mob of casuals who lived for three things: football, fashion, and "absolutely having it at the weekend," as one ex-memberwho didn't want to be identifiedsaid. Magistrate Tuula Hastings told Anstiss: We are sure the location where you were seen was within the restricted zone. It changed him. Gets the blood pumping. They did not intend to kill people, he says, just cut them. Enoch Powells rivers of blood speech was still reverberating, black footballers had bananas chucked at them, the National Front was on the rise and Margaret Thatcher had warned that Britain could be swamped by people with a different culture. Im featured in a Danish football hooligans book called Fodboldhaeren by Peter Groland. One of the youths in the group was found to have a smoke grenade and Class A drugs. Smelling good, having a laugh Hareet Deol and Jay Varsani in rehearsal for the Curve show. Won rows, lost rows. SunSport sat down with Khan to discuss his past, present and future. Deals and Offers. Generally sit in the West Stand now as it's about the only place they will turn a blind eye if you are banned. And a crew of Leicester supporters known as the Baby Squad hooligan firm are clashing with Derby fans before an away game. Next thing theyre crossing the road and come charging after me. Years under the radar have turned the gang into the stuff of urban legend. Claim a 5 year guarantee. My first real memory that stuck in my mind was 1985/86 season Ron Atkinsons mighty Red Devils were in town (Leicester) I was 16/17 years old at the time, There was a massive buzz around that day, Utd and Liverpool were the big biggest clubs in English football and both teams took huge followings around the country and today were playing host to Utds Red army! My Dad was a colourful character, I was a 'ghetto princess', the Head of the Baby Squad - knew my roots. By Back in those days, City was known as yo-yo club flitting between Division 1-2. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. He said: "When I was at school as a young kid I was torn between cultures. Explaining his reasons for joining the Baby Squad, Khan puts it down to teenage kicks and escaping from reality. Chelsea 89, they brought 10000 + to Filbert Street same day as Hillsborough. 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Slashed somebody utopian perspective in other ways Bev says that her time with the Squad was a code of among! People used to use Stanley knives and guys would get slashed across the face and on the night (! Description here but the site won & # x27 ; t allow.!

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