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NARRATED BY STEVE JONES |
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Hooligans - The Video (Stanley Video) 'Go away you cunts' announces Steve. 'Hello slags, Steve Jones here.' From this moment on you get the feeling that Steve is going to stamp his own personality on the video, which he proceeds to do. Steve, dressed in a St George's outfit complete with chain-mail, narrates the story of soccer hooliganism from its origins in South America through the 1960s when it began to emerge in Britain, right up to the present day and its impact in Europe and around the globe. Stanley Video must have trawled film archives in every corner of the soccer world. Police surveillance footage of the 1970s sits alongside more familiar television pictures from Europe and Britain in the Eighties, Nineties and 2000, as well as some obscure moments such as a fracas at the World Youth Cup Finals in Australia in 1981! The video's most poignant moment arrives with the unforgettable images of the Heysel Stadium European Cup final disaster. A truly dark day in soccer's history. Steve's latter-day acting work won't have harmed his confidence in taking on this job. His delivery is clear while at the same time being undeniably pure Steve Jones. Oh yes, he spends the last half of the video sitting on a toilet. Undeniably pure Steve Jones! Perhaps the most unintentionally humorous moment comes in the form of flare-wearing hooligans mixing it in the 1970s. No wonder punk rock happened. Review by Phil Singleton What the Observer said... Soccer thugs get cash for video nasties Britain powerless to halt US hooligan film Jason Burke, Denis Campbell and Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Sunday May 21, 2000 British hooligans are being offered substantial cash rewards for footage of their violent exploits by film-makers in California who are planning to release a compilation of 'hardcore soccer violence' in time for next month's European championships. Authorities are concerned that the film, which is to include footage of attacks on police and innocent bystanders as well as pitched battles between rival gangs, will incite hooligans to further exploits. Lord Bassam, the Home Office Minister responsible for Euro 2000, last night condemned the film as 'a perverse and appalling reaction to something that brings shame to the national game and misery to those that get caught up in it.' He pledged that ministers and the police would investigate the possibility of banning the video, called Hooligan - No one likes us and we don't care. Police say that the cash offer will encourage thugs. 'This means that if you go out and have a ruck and film it, you get paid. It's basically an incitement to fight', said one senior policeman involved in monitoring hooligans. Ken Chapman, a former Metropolitan Police chief superintendent who is now Millwall's security adviser, said he was saddened that 'people want to glorify hooliganism and make a profit from it.' He said: 'The timing of it is obviously in bad taste, after Copenhagen and with Euro 2000 coming up. Sadly, though, there will be a market for this sort of thing.' They expect Steve Jones, a former member of the Sex Pistols, to narrate a commentary for the film which the advertising describes as 'no interviews, just action-packed.' Last week an Observer journalist posing as a hooligan e-mailed Stanley Video offering amateur footage of last week's fighting in Copenhagen. A swift response asked: 'What have you got and how much do you want for it?' The Observer, in collaboration with the Europe-wide soccer news website onefootball.com has now traced the man responsible for producing the film. He is Leslie Thompson, an English electrical contractor based in West Hollywood. Thompson originally came from Newcastle, and moved to the Los Angeles area about 20 years ago. He has a home in West Hollywood and keeps a sailing boat at Marina del Rey, near Venice Beach. Confronted at the postal box service on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles which he uses as his business address, Thompson said: 'Obviously we're trying to make some money so it is a bit sensationalist.' He claimed that the film did not endorse hooliganism, but 'we are showing that it's often not the fans' fault,' he said. 'Often the foreign police don't go about controlling it correctly and go over the top. The quality of policing is often not what it should be. We're just showing it more from the fans' point of view.' Thompson said that he had received footage from all over the world. 'The video will feature hooligans of all nationalities and include some pitched battles between German and Belgian and German and Dutch fans,' he said. As well as the Steve Jones voiceover, Thompson said the video would feature a thumping dance music soundtrack 'to heighten the atmosphere'. Asked if he anticipated criticism in Britain, Thompson said the film was 'definitely not glorifying hooliganism.' Steve Jones's agent in Los Angeles did not respond to calls about her client's role in the video. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000 |
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