Millwall fans who were observed brawling at Wembley Stadium say criticism of them is unfair as they were merely observing a minute’s violence in honour of Margaret Thatcher.
“We knew from an article in the Evening Harold that the players had planned their own tribute with lunging two-footed tackles and elbows in the face” said life-long Millwall fan Dave Edwards.
“So us fans decided that despite our divided political beliefs, we needed to show Thatcher some respect in the only way we knew how – by 60 seconds of prolonged kicking and punching. Some of us were so respectful we kept brawling for over 10 minutes.”
Edwards said allegations of “mindless violence” were well wide of the mark. “I thought long and hard about were exactly to punch the Wigan fans – I reckon a blow to those Northern hearts is what Maggie would have wanted.
Police sources were critical of Wigan fans for snubbing Thatcher during the minute’s violence.
“They were too busy singing ‘we’re on our way to Wembley’, seemingly oblivious to the fact they were already at Wembley” said the source. “They needed to stop watching the game for a minute and do the decent thing and hurl some bottles or something.”
Edwards said the experience had really opened up the Millwall fans eyes to the endless possibilities of “tribute violence”.
“When Nelson Mandela pops his clogs, I think a minimum of an hour’s violence is needed to mark the great man, and when the Queen shuffles off we could be rioting for a week, she means that much to us.”