VILLA HARDCORE

 

   

Aston Villa Hardcore is a notorious football hooligan firm associated with the English Premier League club Aston Villa, based in Birmingham. According to vaailable literature this firm have been active since the early 1990s, and have been involved in some high-profile hooligan fights in Europe. Again according to my research the firm still exists today, but, like all hooligan firms, they have been marginalised. The Hardcore have clashed on a number of occasions with city and fierce rivals, the Birmingham Zulus, associated with Aston Villa's fiercest rivals Birmingham City.

Fifteen people were arrested in October 2002 in a series of dawn raids in connection with serious disorders committed in the Rocky Lane area of Aston before the game between Aston Villa and Birmingham City in September 2002, in what was described as the "Battle of Rocky Lane". In 2004 one member, Steven Fowler, a Category C hooligan, was jailed for six months for his part in the fight in 2002. In 2005 he received a twelve month jail sentence and was banned from attending football matches for ten years, for his part in an organised brawl between the Villa Hardcore and Chelsea Headhunters at King's Cross in London on 27 March 2004, while five other Villa fans were also jailed.

In November 2006 a planned launch of the book Villains about the various Aston Villa hooligan firms, which included details of clashes with the Birmingham Zulus, which was due to be held at Sensations Club in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham, had to be cancelled due to threats that the Zulus would turn up and cause trouble at the event. The Zulus were said to have taken exception to the launch of the book and the presence of rivals on what they considered "their territory".

 

 

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