An interesting article from TAL fanzine from 1995.
EYE WITNESS IN BRUM
The pre-season friendly match against Birmingham City (Blues) was marred by the antics of the Blues fans and other supporters of Midlands clubs and their fascist mates who think that the Irish, and they see Celtic fans as very definitely Irish, are easy meat.
It's ironic that this violence should occur in Birmingham where a recent survey found that one in three of the city's population were either Irish or of Irish descent. It therefore follows that Birmingham has three Celtic supporters clubs and many members make regular trips to see the Bhoys. TAL also has huge support within these clubs with a good number of fanzines being sold to the local Celts.
Rumours began to circulate in the weeks before the match that Brum's 'Irish Quarter' in Digbeth was going to be attacked by an alliance of the Blues 'firm' and fascists from the BNP and CIS. Their intended targets would be the Irish pubs in the area and the Celtic fans who would be drinking there.
None of us wanted to see Celtic fans turned over by this mob so we let TAL, Anti-Fascist Action, Red Action and the Celtic Soccer Crew know about the possibilities. An Alliance was formed for the day in order to defend the Digbeth area and our supporters, should it be necessary. Lots of fans had been drinking in Digbeth the previous evening and the locals were well pleased with their friendly behaviour. On the Saturday it was much the same with people enjoying the usual amounts of beer and craic. We had no intention of going looking for trouble but if the rumours were true, we weren't going to sit back and see our supporters battered.
The other thing that is important is that it isn't just the Celtic fans that such attacks are aimed at. Football fans can bounce back from just about anything. The attack would also serve the purpose of intimidating Birmingham's whole Irish community. The Irish in Brum have had to put up with a lot of shit since the pub bombings and have only just begun to come out of their ghettoes again so we were not going to lie down and let this scum walk all over us.
At about 10am, a couple of hundred 'lads' turned the corner. Something told us that they were not interested in sampling the Guinness! They charged us but, much to their surprise and horror, the Celtic fans only hesitated. Our supporters quickly grouped up and counter charged the Blues fans resulting in them being slapped all over the place, which spread a great buzz among the Celts.
Another mob tried to attack us from a side street but, again, they were ran. They then decided to seek refuge behind the lines of police who had quickly appeared and our attackers showed their true colours by Sieg Heiling us and singing their favourite ditty of the moment, "No Surrender to the IRA". All this after being chased off and then hiding behind the cops - what was that about "No Surrender'? The Celtic Casuals answered this with a chant of "BNP - wank, wank, wank!"
This went some way towards letting the black lads from the Birmingham 'Zulus' know that our fight was not against them but against the fascists and loyalists whose intentions are to smash the Irish. Many Celtic fans were surprised to see black guys fighting on the same side as the nazis - why be so shocked that the Zulus should fall for the same anti-Irish crap that is absorbed by most England fans? They weren't giving nazi salutes like the others but they were up for the row and therefore suffered the same fate as their fair weather friends. It's disappointing but hopefully the Zulus will have learned to choose their friends more carefully in future. I remember well in the early eighties how Villa NF supporters used to put stickers around the Holte End saying, "Villa shits on Black Zulus". Yet, against Celtic, the Zulus were prepared to fight on the same side as the Villa fascists!
Some of our own fans were slagging the Celtic Casuals saying that they were only there looking for trouble. We would like to make it clear that these lads were well disciplined throughout the day and, but for them, it would have been a massacre. Instead, Celtic fans fought back and won. And it wasn't just casuals that fought - there were loads of guys wearing the hoops and scarves who steamed into the fascists. We are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the casuals who have shown by their recent actions that they are proud to defend the anti-fascist stance of the Celtic supporters. They are republicans and they hate the fascists. They also believe, like us, that the sort of direct action which took place in Birmingham is the best way to stop the fascists.
It's important that all of our supporters recognise that whilst they may not share our militant sentiments, you don't stand and point out people to the police when they have just saved you from having your throat cut! The days of the anti-casual/hooligan chants are long gone. These guys are anti-fascists and should be applauded for their actions in Birmingham.
