I’ve dealt in football memorabilia for some time now and it’s fascinating to read articles from yesteryear published in programmes, magazines and the like. Was it a more innocent age?
One recurring theme throughout the decades is that of hooliganism. The following is a reader’s letter published in the Football League Review of March 28th 1967.
JIM DALY WANTS TO KNOW. IS HE A SOCCER HOOLIGAN?
Says this 23 years old fitter from Leeds 9: “I must be. A couple of years ago I was fined £2 for causing a disturbance on a football ground. My name appeared in the papers.”
What was his offence?
Says Daly: “At an away match I ran on to the pitch before the start with three white balloons in my hand. All I wanted to do was plant them in the middle of the pitch as part of the pre-match build up. But I was stopped by the police, taken outside the ground as charged”.
And he stressed: “I did not resist being taken into the hands of the constables, I did not resist eviction and I did not use bad language. When I realised that a dim view had been taken of my running onto the pitch I did nothing about which anyone could take exception”.
Jim Daly admits now that he was wrong to let his high spirits get the better of him. He doesn’t argue that it was right that he should be charged and fined.
What he points out is this: “People might label me a soccer hooligan, but I’m not. How many other so-called hooligans are real hooligans?”
There is obviously a serious point that still stands forty years later. People are labelled as hooligans for less serious offences. This particular case just seems to highlight a more innocent age when the worst thing someone does when they are in high spirits is run onto a pitch carrying three white balloons.
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