Not exactly a fan of "Hoolie porn". No one should have to go to a football match with the prospect of getting beaten up because some idiot was "up for it" or "wanted a buzz". Neither should the club these imbeciles claim to support have to suffer the consequences that their moronic actions bring. "A bit of a laugh innit" doesn't quite cut the mustard when a supporter who just went along to see his team play spends the night in casualty or on a mortuary slab. No doubt those defending the hooligans will say "but they only target other firms". I was watching a documentary on Martin McGuiness on BBC4 the other night and he was coming out with the same "we don't kill civilians" nonsense. Different circumstances but same old garbage. Wednesday night arrived and we went through to Morton. It was mental. Their boys were waiting for us on the High Street and we chased them down to the station. A few of our boys got into the away end but plod threw them out. I’m afraid that this is not an isolated incident. I am an agency social worker and have come across other agency and local authority social workers who have blatantly lied to avoid having to do the stressful work, or to simply get home on time. I know of one member of staff who registered that she had seen a child who was subject to a child protection plan, when in reality, all she had done was driven past the house and seen the child in the window! She was dismissed.

Inspired, some Aberdeen fans took up the mantle and were soon scouring the country for hard-to-find, or just plain expensive, items of clothing. Like the Liverpool casuals they also had their own European shopping excursions to look forward to - in the 1983 European Cup-Winners' Cup competition, Aberdeen disposed of the mighty Bayern Munich and then beat the even mightier Real Madrid in the final in Gothenburg. West Ham were dressed in the early casual gear e.g. Slazenger jumpers and cardigans and adidas Stan Smith. In the tragedy's aftermath football cleaned up its image. As police and authorities clamped down, the writing was on the wall for the terrace culture that had spawned the casuals. Even the terraces themselves went, swept away by a report into the Hillsborough disaster which recommended the introduction of all-seater stadia. A Top Boy' in the Aberdeen Soccer Casuals, Jay spent just 60 days behind bars but it was long enough to change his life. I'm hoping some of you might be able to satiate this curiosity. To any aberdonians who were around in the early-mid 80's (or who are in the know on the subject) here are a few things that pique my curiosity:Another member of staff lied about having made visits to the family, because it was a 4.30pm visit and “out of her way”. She told me personally that she wasn’t going to do the visit as it would make her late home. She too was dismissed.

In reply to Paul Atkinson: mob dynamics aside I think it is fundamentally wrong to ascribe it all to gang mentality and courage in numbers - the physical courage and indifference to personal risk of injury is a real phenomenon and possessed only by a minority - the available outlets in our society are restricted to joining the forces or getting in to hooliganism. I suspect in a different age many of these guys could have been decorated at Arnheim or have stood solid in the front of a square as a squadron of cuirassiers thundered towards them. I don't admire the violence and, despite having grown up in a very violent town and had my fair share of bovva as a teenager (punk in town full of mods) I cannot now identify at all with the desire or even ability to inflict pain and injury on another human being. Some of these people are intelligent and articulate and would argue that they are particpating in an extreme sport with other willing participants and should be left alone to do so without causing any problems for the rest of society. I haven't sorted out the rights and wrongs of it in my own mind, hence the request for edifying books on the subject

For a period of time these people did their level best to spoil the enjoyment of going to watch football which ultimately culminated in bodies being pulled out for loved ones to bury thanks to the stupidity of the pondlife who wanted to carry out another sordid agenda. It added that the social worker did not take opportunities to retract her false statement, and she demonstrated no insight into her actions. I’ve had to show him the level I’m at. Going on 5Ks with him and showing him I’m at the level to get into clubs. So when we were leaving, I went outside and we had a few words. Everything seemed alright, but obviously I didn’t know too much about the Scottish leagues and the standards. The movement began in the late 1970s, ostensibly when Liverpool fans followed their team to Europe and were exposed to fashions not widely available in Britain.

In reply to the various others who have commented on martial arts etc. Mob or crowd mentality is, in any situation, very different to that of the individual. A lot of it has to do with their hormonal response to stimulus. People in a crowd will inveriably do things that are totaly out of character. Look at the various riots that have taken place as well as football hooliganism. All people need is the right stimulation and a cause, coupled with the anonimity of the crowd and they will do some very violent and dangerous things. You will also see that one or two "hot heads" in a group can stir up a violent reaction more easily in a larger group than a smaller one. Why do they do it? because they become addicted to the chemicals and the feelings that their bodies produce when in this "exciting" situation. Same reason we get a buzz out of climbing. Nor-adrenalin and testosterone are probably the most powerfull drugs you can get for free..... As with every youth movement before and since, it was the clothes that marked the casuals out. "It wasn't even being covered by the fashion magazines, " says Peter Hooton, the former frontman of indie group The Farm, who was editing an influential football fanzine called The End in Liverpool as the 1980s began. Jay confessed to being drawn in by the "excitement" of the violence. He said: "There is the general excitement of any kind of violence. If you get violence in Aussie rules football even a granny will go 'Wow'. At home, we go out together, we eat together – we’re close – so he just said if I wanted to move up it wasn’t an issue and it would make sure I could focus on football and giving myself the best opportunities.Was there not a period of running trainers too? I wasn’t a casual, but I liked the grey Adidas running show with the 3 yellow stripes. Couldn’t afford them like, but they were smart... But that wasn't the end of the casuals' influence. Lured into nightclubs by the house music explosion, the casuals were transformed from rowing hooligans into loved-up ravers by a new drug, ecstasy. Went to the Mod disco at night and pulled some wee bird. Top day - and we've got Morton away in the Cup midweek! Bands like Manchester's Happy Mondays, former casuals to a man, took the fashion style that had developed on the terraces and put it into the nightclubs where it became the dominant look.

He still follows the Dons, but Jay, who is divorced, has a nine-year-old son who he would discourage from having anything to do with football violence. What I like about Green Street Hooligans 2: Stand Your Ground, is that pretty much everyone looks like a Mexicano Gang Member, straight outta Compton. And I DO remember that casuals at that time all looked like they came from South Side L.A, with the shaved heads and the prison muscles... that's what makes Green Street Hooligans 2: Stand Your Ground the go-to account of what I personally believe the casual movement was like. Exactly that. Londoner Imbert-Thomas explained he was at Aberdeen’s training ground for Emmanuel-Thomas’ medical and Huntly gaffer Hale happened to be close by. Today's football hooligans use mobile phones and the internet to co-ordinate their violence. In the Eighties the Casuals relied on "a very active grapevine". He said: "We'd bump into rival fans in the street or train stations. It was hand-to-hand combat, but sometimes bottles were thrown." The publication of Rivers's book, compiled from the notes and diaries he kept at the time, supposedly marks the 25th anniversary of the gang's foundation in 1980, though that in itself is a hazy concept.Also curious about footwear and trainers. I know nike was big in aberdeen...what about Adidas?? How did the trainer fanaticism compare to, say, Liverpool?