Football, And Fighting The Football Thugs Alliance
The Far-Right is attempting to return to Football. Fake ‘Anti-Terrorist’ rhetoric from the ‘Football Lads Alliance’ quickly became Anti-Muslim Hatred, unwavering Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) support and the kind of standard behavior you’d expect at an EDL ‘demonstration’ — drunken staggers, violence, fighting with police, the usual.
But these are the fans fighting it :
The Football Lads And Lasses Against Fascism (on Facebook and Twitter)
The ‘Thugs Alliance’ was founded after the London Bridge Attack. Yet what started as “a platform for ordinary, working-class football fans” quickly became ambushed by the Far Right.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) described as an Inciter of Terrorism by the head of the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Force, was very popular.
As was Frank Portinari .. an Irish UDA convicted terrorist and gun runner. (He’s a key player and organises the logistics and transport. Some say he’s effectively the Group Leader)
Islamophobic language became commonplace, and a growing welcome for speakers from the far-right, For Britain’s Anne Marie Waters, director of Make Britain Great Again, Luke Nash-Jones, and the usual others on the fringe of Modern British Fascism.
Not really a great look for a group supposedly against Terrorism.
The unease about the movement’s rightward shift has already led the Premier League and the UK Football Policing Unit to warn clubs about the presence of the FLA and the DFLA at matches, leading to bans of the organisations’ flags, which boast their respective crests, at stadiums.
Market trader Lee Stevens is one of the founders of Football Lads and Lasses Against Fascism (FLLAF), an organisation that has emerged in recent months to oppose groups such as the FLA. He stated …
The National Front and the British National Party did this [tried to infiltrate football] years ago. The English Defence League tried it recently, and now we have this new movement. Football has huge political potential, so it’s not surprising that such groups keep trying to do this.
As well as mobilising against their marches, we are going to counter them at our own clubs by leafleting, using sticker campaigns and ensuring that our voice is heard amongst fans, not just theirs.
The FLLAF has been inundated with requests by fans to set up club groups, from non-league teams like FC United of Manchester to Premier League giants like Everton and Liverpool.
We’ve had communication from across the football pyramid and from all over the country. And that tells me that people are concerned but also that they won’t take what’s happening lying down. We’ve been here before and beaten them back. I’m confident that collectively we’ll do the same again.
Football has long been a lucrative breeding ground for Hatred of all Kinds.
Originally published at www.farrightwatch.net.
