MIKE – CLUB BRUGGE

This weeks interview for our Awayday Radio Terrace Casuals series we spoke to Mike Devrome from Belgium side, Club Brugge.

A personal overview;

I was a lad with BHO, Brugge’s Hools Organisation, which dissolved in 1990. And then the BCF, Bruges Casual Firm which dissolved after the Galatasaray game in 2002.

These days the firm is known as the East-Side just like they was in the 80s, In between the BHO and BCF era I was independent and travelled with different firms, and did the same in the post BHO period.

The last 2 years I have cooperated in international books from the Balkan to Spain and Italy to Britain and plenty of countries in between. Its 3 volumes.

Hi Mike, What was your first memory of trouble at a football match?

In 88 I travelled with a bunch of other young lads to our archrival Anderlecht. There we got chased by a group of their older casuals. When a bunch off older Bruges lads arrived, then we chased them. But it really started for me in 89. I started to go with a new and game and changing firm the BHO (Bruges Hools Organisation). Instead of the train, we travelled by car, the kappa tracksuits ended up in the closet. Now it was el charro, diesel, chevignon, chippie… And every away game we had an off if it was not with the locals, then it was an ambush or with another firm we contacted.

Who are your main rivals?

The main rival is and was Antwerp. During my time when I was a casual, our archrival was Antwerp. There firm ACC Antwerp Casual Crew was top. They were well organised completed with a couple of real nutters. During ’89 ’00 we were able to change the table and become Belgium’s #1. But after we were raided and sentenced. they took there leading role back straight away until 2001 when we were again the main firm with the BCF.

In 2003 BCF was dissolved after the Galatasaray riots, then it was for BCS from Anderlecht to fill up the void at the top.

But now back to the ’90s, and Antwerp. To be honest, I don’t know where to start. Almost every game with them there was a big off. In 93’4 they were in our end, before the game, We were still at our pub. The rumour was that they would show up there. We only had a dozen lads that were in our end and they took a good beating. As we had to run to the ground we arrived there disorganised and failed to kick them out. Big respect for that. I think it was in ’95 that we decided to go by car to have a go at their pubs. Our numbers were low because lots of our lads had a family reunion that day. I don’t call them casuals for that reason. After we parked our cars and we headed to their pub they almost encircled us. Yes, we had to run as they came from the left, right and of course in front of us. they were huge that day. The next year we went back with cars, but then from a better tactical point, but that ended in a standoff. as the local plod was better organised that day. Still, one ACC managed to take a pistol from one cop. In one midweek game at theirs, nothing was organised, so we decided to go with our small local division (3 cars). The game was already busy when we arrived there. during the game all was quiet, also after the game, nobody was waiting for us, this was the first time over there that I recall this happening. As we were walking back to our cars, my brother got fed up with walking around between the Antwerp fans/casuals and started fighting against a few off their casuals and we got the upper-hand, suddenly I was pulled from behind and thrown onto the floor, I avoided the incoming sneakers. I got up to have a go at him, it was my mate he thought I was Antwerp LOL. in no time the street was cleared by the fighting and their lad’s runoff. Now we were alone in the street. as I was alone some newly arrived ACC took me, and started banging my head against a van, one of my mates came to my rescue and got a slapping and lost a few teeth. I was unhurt, thanks to Cliff for his help. The police arrived and put us aside, luckily for us as their main firm just showed up. That is what I call a result with 7 or 8 lads around their ground. We were a tight group in the late 90s here in Ostende.

Who have you come unstuck against?

In Europe wet met AS Roma in 2006, one of the few Italian groups that are always up for it. We spent the afternoon getting drunk in a pub not far from the club store in the centre. where we bought tickets for €10 when we headed to the ground some of us tried the smash the shop, but it had quality windows. The strange thing was that we hardly had an escort considering we were 200 strong. A few seasons before I visited their summer friendly against Boca Juniors. So I knew the way to the ground and their ‘Curva sud’. As we came out of the metro we started slapping every Ultra lookalike to let them know we were coming and also to take the upper hand from the start, left and right people were fighting and across the bridge it continued which now included the guys from the scarf stands, some of them had a baseball bat with them but still we had the advantage, but things didn’t look so promising once we crossed the bridge as 150 Bruges lads went left instead of right towards the Curva Sud. But at the square with the classical statues their Ultras showed up armed with sticks and flare guns, they charged towards our dispersed firm and our lads that were not fast enough got a proper kicking, it was every man for himself running over cars, a few times we held our ground but once the numbers changed too much in their favour we had to go, I and a mate hid in the tennis courts, Must say the view we had of their Firm was impressive. In the ground we met the other lads, lots with black eyes and bruises but no one was stabbed, not their habit. there was also the classical taunting at the segregation with of course only the polizia on our side of the windows. later on, dozens of our lads had to go to court, and was the cause of the UEFA fine for our club and as you can guess Roma didn’t get a fine. After the game all was calm and at the airport we met a few of the lads that were with us at the beginning, one was still in shock and said he would never go again with us, good I thought, maybe he could do some knitting with his wife next time, we also had 3 Hammarby lads with us that were also there for the derby the following weekend, and they had some friendship with one of the Roma ultra groups, they were invited by them for a meal in a restaurant as it’s their way of welcoming friends, their capo said that they were impressed by our attempt to get at the ‘Curva Sud’, according to him we were at the same level as Hajduk Split and Atalanta Bergamo, respect to them for their honesty.

Who else did you have a big battle with?

Too many battles in those days to mention mate, it’s a fucking book on its own.

Bremen semi UEFA in 91, we smashed it all that day, for some reason the local plod thought we were an easy to handle bunch. soon as we arrived we had it with every German that we didn’t like the look of and there were a lot of them, with the 7000 we had there that day, during the game, there was an exchange of flares and sadly one German scarfer almost lost his life. at the end of the game as we were eliminated we invaded their end on top of us and you can already imagine how it went off after the game, complete mayhem, fighting and vandalism everywhere, every German was fair game to us, even the cops that were controlling the traffic got a physical correction.

Name 5 firms you rate and why?

Of course, I can put our friends from the Hague, Lille and Hammarby in that list, first-class firms, but you should also rate your enemies. A few firms that jump to the top of my mind are, Antwerp, as you could have guessed, also Ajax, although I despise them, they always turned up, like when we played them in Europa League, we were there at the Leidseplein in the afternoon and at 4 pm they showed up, miraculously they easily sneaked through the police cordon at their pubs, it was a short but hard clash, instead of going straight into us, they launched a barrage off missiles at us, from a small side street, most of them were also armed with bars and chains, but the police intervened quite fast and they escaped by the backdoor of a cinema, we were then all rounded up and some had to go to court later in the day because of the trouble, at the ground their lads had easy pickings against our scarfers.

I’ve also personally attended Atalanta, Verona and Catanzaro and rate them.

Atalanta for their urban warfare in their local derby against Brescia, the biggest off that I have ever participated in.

Verona and Catanzaro because we kicked the polizia out of the Fiorentina end during a promotion game against Perugia. Now, you will wonder what about Fiorentina, they were a shadow of their 80s ancestors that day.

 

Firms you don’t rate?

One of the biggest disappointments was FC Twente in 89, we owned their place when we played there, before during and after. It was my first away trip to Europe and also my first arrest abroad. luckily the officers didn’t see everything I did but after a brief verbal warning in the police station, I was free to go. At the return game, there was only one coachload off them and they all behaved like schoolboys.

Juventus, because they are first-grade chickens.

The biggest twats were the Spanish groups we met, especially Barcelona when they come up against our firm they run away like rabbits, but against our scarfers, they then had a go, or when armed against a much smaller group.

Galatasaray couldn’t even make a stand against us, even fully armed and carrying knives and flares.

In that list, you can also add Beerschot, in the early 90s when Ostend was playing them in the 2nd division they were friends with us (Bruges) but for some reason, they didn’t grasp that we were Bruges from Ostend, in those days as there was no opponent in the 2nd division, they had a nasty habit of taking on the local scarfers which they did at our place. of course, we couldn’t tolerate this in our hometown and fought back to their surprise.

 

What clobber do you wear down the match?

We called ourselves casuals, but when it came to brands it wasn’t so focussed like in England, from the late 80s it started with kappa tracksuits and then during the 90s we had Zino & Judy leather jackets which were very popular in the days of the all-weekend house, dance clubs, later on, Ralph Lauren, Ben Sherman, Armani, Burberry and of course Stone Island after the terrible Green street movies.

What was your music scene on your awayday?

The music is something personal, not something scene related. Music doesn’t make you a nutter as a casual. Here also lots of lads ended up in the house scene where clubs were open from Thursday night till Monday night, so you could be partying almost 24/7, the downside was that some lads, couldn’t resist the chemicals and was their downfall, a disease that is very common in a lot of firms. But you could also encounter lads at metal gigs, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Metallica etc. My choice of music goes from classical music, Beethoven, Tchaikovski to trash Hardcore metal.

 

Favourite tune?

My all-time tune is, ‘You Can’t Bring Me Down’ by Suicidal Tendencies.

 

And lastly, tell us what you enjoyed about being a football casual?

For me being a casual was a way of life, even if it meant that it had a big impact on your professional life or relationships. My team, colours and firm was everything in those days, what was the other option? a boring factory job? listening to your wife whining? also the feeling of being somebody that mattered and made a difference. the irony is that I’m now enjoying my family and all the things that come with it, things that I despised in my casual days, the adrenaline rush I get now is from intense sporting workouts like boxing.

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us at Awayday Radio Mike.