Thetownend.com

Hooliganism
Swindon Town has had problems with Hooliganism since the 1970s, with the first known group being called the Swindon Town Aggro Boys (STAB).[57] In a home game against Wrexham in March 1978, STAB were responsible for pelting the opposing goalkeeper with carrots.
(wiklepedia)


 :D brilliant

Those were the days,along with the coppers getting their hats knocked off and then getting thrown around the town end.

I remember the 78 game vs Wxm well, they were going for the championship and brought loads of hooligans with them it was a bit lary that day!

Do you remeber the Carrots?

I dont remember carrots just coins, but I was only 12 and a bit scared at the time!

They forget to mention the carrots were tinned.

I think your memory has gone a bit. This was a midweek game and the lads in the Stratton Bank were Town not Wrexham. The lads who marched down outside the Arkells durring the 1st half were Town not Wrexham. Wrexham fans shit themselves that most left before the game even started or did so in the 1st half. The police were caught out and were useless. Their goalie was pelted by just about anything including golf balls ans lumps of concrete. The goal mouth by the TE was pretty well littered. 
Wrexham had no hoolies. For some reason or other Town were always very active v Wrexham even more so away from home. There was a particularly bad one on the LC in either 76 or 77.

I remember getting pelted by coins in the stratton bank by bournemouth fans, and i remember lobbing stuff but never carrots :) i think we should start a carrot revival.

A G, A G R, A G R O, AGROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I remember taking my soon to be missus to Reading for a game in 83..she was very young and innocent  :), and found it hard to understand why my fellow Swindon fans were chucking all their loose change at the Reading fans.

 

My brother in law was put in hospital at that game, he was a copper on the bank and got hit directly on the head by a brick...serves the fucker right.

As for carrots...well loads of teams call us carrot crunchers...so why not :)

Was anyone in the Town End against Leeds in the early 80s? I remember being in the North stand with my Dad and thinking that it looked great fun in there. I must of been about 5 or 6.

I was in the TownEnd in 87 in an FA cup 4th round game when there was about 4,000 Leeds fans in a 14,000 crowd when they were real nasty hooligans, big Dave Bamber scored early on but we got beat 2-1.

That was a nasty game and Leeds fans were pretty nasty too.

I clearly remember Millwall coming here in a midweek match they packed the Stratton Bank..can remember there drummer...and the took the Town End..i was heartbroken!...Remember Pompey trying to take it but Swindon held firm.
Also in our great win in 79  4-3 v Arsenal ther were some nasty fights all over the ground...and plenty more outside.

Thats the game i was on about, didnt realise it was 87.

Cracking atmosphere that day and not a bad game either a real old fashioned cup tie, we were a good hard working side that season.

I was in the Town End that day with a couple of mates, we were ok so maybe the trouble was away from us. Also my memory is not what it used to be!

In the late 70s lots of clubs had a crack. Sheff Weds and Sheff Utd tried and failed every time. City, Rovers and Scum stayed clear. Pompey always had a go. Millwall did one year. Spurs were successful. Arsenal got a good hiding althuogh I had a crowbar over my head that night. Stoke also got a good going over. Cardiff also got a good shoeing two years running.
Out of all of them the 2 I had real respect for were Pompey and Millwall.   

In the late 80's early 90's, lads had long left the TE and used to stand in the Shrivenham Road, up against the fence which separated the away fans..this was partly to do with the TE having fencing up to the roof, so you could see fuck all...this stuff was built in after Bodenham was felled by something lobbed from the TE v Scunthorpe.

Incidentally Bodenham is now a First Class Umpire at cricket.

I seem to remember the Leeds fans getting into the Stratton bank and 'running' the Town fans, as jj has said they had some really nasty lads in their away following at the time.

If I remember rightly we were all over them until Bamber scored, both of their goals were deflected
and they didn't deserve to win it. cracking atmosphere that night.

I too was sat in the NS that day with my Dad and my Uncle.

Was that the game we lost 4-0 and their fourth goal was scored whilst fighting was going on by the pitch and a few fans were on the pitch scrapping?

Nah it finished 2-2...think we were 2-0 up at half time, or early second half, and Trevor Senior scored a couple for them. 

I'd hazard a guess that the 7 or so years since we last played Reading would be the longest gap without a match in our history....war years not withstanding.

Beautiful.

Excuse me while I go off and have a good cry.  :cry:

Worst trouble I can remember inside the CG was v Leicester, it would have been early 70s I reckon.
As I remember it they had taken the Town End well before the start of the game, by 2pm maybe. There was the usual pushing and shoving and suddenly there were 500 or so of them chasing the Swindon lads. I climbed up onto one of the girders above the TE and watched them chase the Swindon lads right down the Shrivenham Rd and into the Bank. The last thing I saw was a bunch of Swindon lads scrambling up the gates at the far end to get OUT of the ground!

Do
Don't worry Spencer. A recession always guarantees a return of mass hooliganism. It's on its way.

I thought maybe someone may have mentioned the FA Cup game with daggenham,when some of the so called ICF came down and was in the Town End,half of the town end ran and was clambering up the old metal fence to get away,I ended up with a black eye and bruised cheek bone that night.

The worse thing about that, we got beat on the pitch too,I can't remember the score,although i think it may of been on penalties,memory is crap these days.   

  Probably hit me then, as i couldn't get in our end and had to stand v quietly with the plastics!

i've seen a fair bit of aggro at footy but i didn't start going until 1985 so missed the stuff mentioned so far.
anyway myself and a few mates waited with the known firm of the day when we were home to bristol city around 90-91.the town lads had waited in broad street and as we caught the bus out to west swindon and walked that way, we hung about too. all the city fans were in the town end and were let out late,i think it was a sunday match? as we looked up towards the top of the road a mob, and i mean a mob of hundreds of them turned the corner.we were by where motorists discount shop is and legged it as the mob rushed at us(the lone copper that was stood on the corner legged it too)down the back alleys we went, but a few of our boys stood and fought.we stopped running by the carfax street doctors and looked up the road and could see the mob disperse as coppers waided in.this resulted in mini battles of small gangs in and around the bus station,manny road etc.i evern witnessed two town mates fighting each other because one of them ran when chased by city.
was mental as fuck and i was glad to get on the bus.
got chased by oxford twice,once when they had gathered on the wyvern bridge,and once through their city centre(land of bo dropped his swindon scarf to trigger that i think?)
a few mobs had a go on the grass outside the shrivvy road and i got punched in the back of the head by a watford fan.all this was during my school teen years.we liked to be in and around the action but never got involved,we either ran or stood and watched.one mate hid under the htv van once:)

My mate got arrested that day - he was an Arsenal fan in the Stratton bank and when Arsenal scored there first he jumped tha barrier and ran on the pitch... As he got dragged off his packet of Fishermans Friends fell out of his pocket and Pat Jennings picked them up and started eating them - it was my mate's claim to fame for weeks after...