Lexi Alexander was the writer and director of Green Street Hooligans. Dougie Brimson was a former hooligan who helped develop the story and screenplay for the movie. Lexi Alexander was five years old when she attended her first football match. She was from Germany, where she supported a small local team. In her statement about the film, Alexander explains the nature of the matches. As a child, she would attend the games and sit in the F-stand (family stand) with her brother. This area has comfortable seating and is the safe place to watch, opposed to the D-stands, which stand for damage. This area is invitation only and it is where the hooligans would stand to watch the games. Alexander describes them as, “some kind of dangerous animal species” (Alexander) because they are fenced in cages.
Ten years after attending her first match, Alexander became involved with martial arts. After earning a black belt, she began to teach karate. Most of the boys in her class were members of the notorious Mannheim firm, City Boys. Eventually, they invited her to watch a game with them in the D-stand. Before she knew it, Alexander actually became a member of the firm, and the boys didn’t have to worry about her during riots due to her background in martial arts. She states that, “For three years, my life was my football firm. We had a pub that was our pub and on any given day of the week, you would find a member of the City Boys in there” (Alexander). On match days, the members of her firm would meet at the pub no matter what. She claims that regardless of the violence that surrounded her, the firm was like her family.
Alexander, Lexi.
A Statement from Lexi Alexander. Green Street Hooligans. Warner Brothers Entertainment: 2006.
After watching Green Street Hooligans, I truly realized how intense the violence was within soccer firms. Having three uncles in London, and a Father who grew up there, I grew up hearing stories of hooligans and firms but never really understood the violence that comes along with them. My uncle got stuck in the middle of a firm fight on the streets of London right after a soccer match. He was hit in the face with a beer bottle, and to this day has a scar the shape of a circle conveying the scarce outline of a beer bottle. This really opens my eyes to the violence that takes place within these firms. What is most surprising about this violence is that these people are almost obliged to fight because they are so close to their firms. It's almost as if these people are fighting for their family or even their hometown, when there really is no apparent reason to fight at all. These firms are very similar to gangs prevalent within the bigger cities in the United States.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Tara does a great job of exemplifying the violence and the reality behind these soccer firms, and using Green Street Hooligans in order to back her reasoning up. This blog perpetuates what is going on in the hooligan world today, and all that it entails.