Football hooligans: Fans of FC Lokomotive Leipzig clashing with fans of SG Dynamo Schwerin before a match in the 1990 FDGB-Pokal tournament
28 January 2021
A hooligan is a ruffian, a street tough. The word arose in London in the 1890s as the name of a gang, Hooligan’s Boys or Hooligan’s Gang. It’s not known if there was a man named Hooligan at the head of the gang or if the name was chosen arbitrarily. The name Hooligan was commonly used in 1890s music-hall songs as a generic name for an Irish person, and there was a series of comics in British newspapers of the day featuring the adventures of the Hooligan family. The street gang’s name may have been inspired by these uses.
The earliest reference to this Hooligan gang that I’ve found is from the Sheffield Evening Telegraph and Star of 24 April 1894:
THE HOOLIGAN BOYS
REMARKABLE ALLEGATIONSAt the Southwark Police Court yesterday Charles Clarke, a powerful lad of 19, described as a general dealer, who refused his address, was charged upon a warrant with violently assaulting Police-constable 51 M and Constable Chappell, employed by Mrs. Poole, the managing director of the South London Palace of Varieties, London Road.—It appeared from the evidence that on Saturday night, the 14th inst., a disturbance was created in the hall by a gang headed by the prisoner, who were throwing bottles and glasses about the gallery. Upon Chappell speaking to them the prisoner seized a broom and struck him (Chappell) a violent blow with it, felling him to the ground, where he lay in an unconscious condition. The prisoner and his companions then kicked him violently about the body. When Police-constable 51 M went to Chappell’s assistance he was also “set upon,” thrown to the ground, and kicked about the head and body. The officer, owing to this treatment, was on the sick-list for a week.—Police-constable 51 M said the prisoner was the “king of a gang of youths known as the Hooligan Boys,” who paid to a secretary 2d. per week towards settling fines inflicted upon the members of the gang for assaults upon the police. They were fined by the secretary 2d. if they were found without a belt or a stick.—Accused was remanded to give the police an opportunity to arrest some of the prisoner’s companions.
And there is this from the Nottingham Evening Post of 7 August 1894 describing a different incident:
THE HOOLIGAN GANG
For disorderly conduct and an assault on the police, a labourer, named Harry Whettham, was yesterday sent to gaol by Mr. Slade, at the Southwark Police-court, for 14 days. The prisoner was said to be a prominent member of the “Hooligan Gang.” whose disorderly conduct has frequently engaged police attention, and he was described by the magistrate as a young ruffian.
By 1898, hooligan was being used as a generic term for such a ruffian. From the London Daily News of 26 July 1898:
There was another stabbing case in Lambeth on Saturday night, or, to be accurate, at seven o’clock, that is, broad daylight. We are not surprised that South London groans under the Terrorists, and cries aloud for protection from the lawless gangs of roughs which the police force is hopelessly inadequate to cope with. We vote millions a minute for new ships, and grudge a few hundreds for policing the overcrowded Alsastias across the water, whose foul courts and alleys would disgrace even a Chinese city. It is no wonder, indeed, that Hooligan gangs are bred in these vile, miasmatic byways, but it is surely time that active steps are taken to stamp them out.
(Alsatia, not to be confused with Alsace in France, was the name for an area within the Whitefriars district of London that was a legal sanctuary for debtors and criminals prior to 1697, The term continues to be used to refer to places that are beyond the reach of the law.)
And hooliganism appears a few months later. From the Dundee, Scotland Evening Telegraph of 3 October 1898:
HOOLIGANISM
In various quarters of the country there have been outbreaks of a ruffianism which is expressly described as Hooliganism. The Hooligan may be man or woman, boy or girl. Their distinguishing characteristic is misconduct, ranging from rudeness and roughness to blackguardism of the most pronounced kind.
Sources:
The Daily News (London), 26 July 1898, 5. Gale Primary Sources.
“The Hooligan Boys.” Sheffield Evening Telegraph and Star (Sheffield, England), 24 April 1894, 2. Gale Primary Sources.
“The Hooligan Gang.” Nottingham Evening Post (Nottingham, England), 7 August 1894, 2. Gale Primary Sources.
“Hooliganism.” Evening Telegraph (Dundee, Scotland), 3 October 1898, 2. Gale Primary Sources.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. hooligan, n.; third edition, September 2012, s.v. Alsatia, n.
Photo credit: Wolfreid Paetzold, 14 April 1990, Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0414-009, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.