Hooliganism rearing its ugly head will hurt World Cup bid
Ugly clashes between two London clubs will tarnish the image of English football just as the FA gears up its bid for the 2018 World Cup.
Hooliganism has hardly been considered an issue during the early stages of the 2018 campaign, which will be decided next year.
Even if the FA plays down the consequences of the violence for their bid, the scenes from last night are bound to be seized on by other potential hosts such as America, Russia and Spain.
It is in the backbiting nature of bidding that saw rival cities for the 2012 Olympics question how crime-hotspot Rio could really hope to meet the security demands of the Games.
Although a Premier League ground, West Ham's Upton Park was not in contention to become a 2018 host venue, though it could have been used as a training facility for one of the visiting nations.
More immediately, tough penalties could be handed out as a result of last night's trouble, with culprits facing life bans and the clubs being hit in the pocket, possibly by being forced to play matches behind closed doors.
The West Ham versus Millwall fixture has a history of violence. There were 70 arrests and many injuries when the clubs met at Upton Park in October 1978. A dozen years later, there was full-scale rioting when the sides met at Millwall. In March 2004 there were more than 1,000 riot police - one for every 13 fans - on duty at Millwall's New Den and there was further trouble at the same ground later in the year.
The two clubs were founded out of ironworks' sides and were rivals as they fought to sign local players.
A workers' strike in the Twenties called by West Ham supporters was not backed by Millwall and was a source of rivalry for years. Hooliganism between the clubs has been the subject of two films - Green Street and The Football Factory.
In the Eighties hooliganism was the scourge of football. However serious crowd trouble has declined thanks to reforms ordered after a 1989 report by Lord Taylor - including all-seat stadiums. Banning orders on troublemakers has kept violence away from grounds along with other measures such as CCTV.
