Man stabbed as rival football fans riot

A MAN was stabbed and violent battles broke out between rival football fans in “large-scale” crowd trouble last night.

Hundreds of fans were involved in the disorder which police said was caused by people without tickets to the West Ham versus Millwall game who had planned to start trouble.

Officers made two arrests, one for disorder and the second for breach of a banning order.

Police said the stabbing, in Priory Road close to the stadium, was connected to the fighting. The 44-year-old victim is said to be in a stable condition in hospital.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said officers rushed to the scene outside Upton Park, in east London. “There was large-scale trouble involving hundreds of fans,” he added.

On the Millwall Independent Supporters Association website, fans discussed the reports. One fan, calling himself Uwe, said: “Already this is turning into the biggest s*** storm for a while. Hopefully it won’t f*** the club too much.

“Met have made their own bed by not giving us the tickets and then saying trouble was caused by ‘ticketless supporters’.”

In the ground itself, as West Ham took the lead in extra time, 50 or 60 fans ran on the pitch. The players were forced off the field for a short time. After the final whistle, hundreds more fans invaded the pitch. Police and stewards battled to remove them from the pitch.

Outside John Whittingham, 35, a caretaker who lives near the ground, said: “There were lots of scuffles and fights before the game. I saw a couple of people with bloody faces. There was lots of shouting and a lot of bottles were thrown. People were throwing bricks but I haven’t got a clue where they were finding them.

“Some people were trying to rip bollards off the pavement. There were also some small fires lighted.”

Builder Peter Simpson, 35, from Southend, Essex, said: “It was kicking off all over the place and the police didn’t seem to be able to stop it,” he said. “There were quite a few people injured. It was quite nasty.”

As the game finished, a helicopter buzzed overhead and 200 officers in riot gear as well as police on horseback lined the streets to try to keep the fans apart.