Venue: The Den
Local Kick-off Time: Sep 19, 2026 12.30pm
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In a 2009 League Cup tie, supporters of West Ham United and Millwall began hurling bottles and bricks at each other outside Upton Park before kickoff. During the match, fans repeatedly invaded the pitch, forcing play to be temporarily halted on multiple occasions. Following the final whistle, waves of supporters stormed the field to clash directly, resulting in numerous injuries on both sides before riot police finally intervened to disperse the crowd and quell the riot.
Millwall vs. West Ham United — England’s Most Violent “Dockers Derby”
The earliest roots of football violence between the two sides date back more than a century to the foundation of both clubs. At the time, the two sides were known respectively as Millwall Athletic and Thames Ironworks. Because the primary fan bases of both teams consisted of dockers working along the River Thames, they frequently competed against each other for scarce jobs and daily livelihoods. Lacking an outlet under the harsh exploitation of industrial employers, football became the ultimate release valve for both sets of supporters. The very first competitive meeting between the two clubs took place in the FA Cup in 1899, with Millwall emerging victorious with a 2-1 win over West Ham.
Between 1899 and 1915, in a span of just 16 years, the two sides clashed 60 times. These frequent encounters only deepened the bitter animosity between two already hostile fanbases. When the sides met in the Western League in 1906, an on-pitch altercation between players led to two Millwall players being sent off. Tensions on the terraces reached a boiling point and erupted as supporters engaged in fierce fistfights, marking the earliest recorded clash between the two clubs.
British football hooliganism reached its peak during the 1970s and 1980s, and West Ham and Millwall were naturally at the very center of it. In 1972, a testimonial match was staged to honor Harry Cripps, a player who had represented both West Ham United and Millwall. The supporters, however, showed no mutual respect, engaging in brutal, bloody brawls both inside and outside the ground. Four years later, Millwall supporter Ian Pratt fell from a train and died during a violent brawl with West Ham fans. West Ham hooligans subsequently chanted: “West Ham boys, we've got brains, we threw Millwall under trains.”
During a 1978 encounter between the two sides, Millwall supporters distributed mass leaflets inscribed with the words: "A West Ham fan must die to avenge him." Once clashes inevitably erupted, London's Metropolitan Police deployed massive forces to restore order, arresting over 70 hooligans and confiscating numerous weapons. Yet this did nothing to deter Millwall hooligans seeking vengeance: in 1986, a 19-year-old West Ham supporter was stabbed to death near a tube station by a mob of Millwall fans.
Clashes between the two sets of supporters were not limited to derby matchdays. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while England played Paraguay, roughly 100 West Ham and Millwall supporters clashed violently at Canada Square in London's Docklands, leaving 16 injured. Ever since the 2009 riots, whenever West Ham and Millwall cross paths, the Metropolitan Police deploy maximum security operations, creating a state of high alert akin to counter-terrorism drills.
Even when strict police surveillance curtailed overt violent brawls, Millwall fans found other ways to taunt their rivals. On May 15, 2011, West Ham United were relegated from the Premier League after succumbing to a 3-2 defeat against Wigan Athletic. In the 70th minute, just as Wigan equalized to make it 2-2, an airplane circled above the stadium trailing a banner that read: "Avram Grant - Millwall Legend." Grant was West Ham's manager at the time, and he was sacked immediately following the match.
The Notorious Millwall Bushwackers
Millwall’s fearsome reputation extends far beyond their rivalry with West Ham. Originally known as F-Troop before rebranding into the dreaded Bushwackers, the firm alienated almost every club in English football. Decades of mayhem saw supporters beat an opposing goalkeeper unconscious in the 1920s, assault match officials in 1950, attack their own fans in 1978, and instigate the catastrophic 1985 Kenilworth Road riot at Luton, which left over 100 people injured. From clashes with Arsenal, Derby County, and Liverpool to a 2002 riot against Birmingham City that injured 47 police officers, the club became synonymous with unrest.
"No One Likes Us, We Don't Care"
Neither police crackdowns, club fines, nor threats of disbandment could deter their extreme supporters. Millwall’s identity is immortalized by their terrace anthem: "No one likes us, we don't care." Embracing their outcast status, negative media portrayals—from the 1977 BBC Panorama documentary to the feature film Green Street—only hardened their defiance. To supporters, standing with their club meant total disregard for outside judgment.
This stubborn defiance was starkly embodied during the 2017 London Bridge terrorist attack. When three knife-wielding attackers stormed a pub, 47-year-old Millwall fan Roy Larner stood his ground, shouting back: "Fuck you, I’m Millwall!" Taking eight stab wounds while fighting all three men barehanded, Larner bought vital time for patrons to escape before police neutralized the attackers. Though critically wounded, his stand crystallized the unyielding, backs-against-the-wall ethos shared by generations of Millwall supporters.
Match Preview
Millwall have recorded one win, no draws, and four defeats from their last five matches across all competitions. Their most recent result was a 3-1 home loss to Blackburn Rovers in the Championship, and they also suffered a 5-1 defeat to Southampton earlier in the run. The Lions' only bright spot was a 4-0 win over Bolton Wanderers. They have scored eight goals and conceded 14 across those five matches, with four consecutive defeats representing a troubling stretch of form.
West Ham have won four and drawn one of their last five matches. Their most recent outing was the 6-0 victory over Wrexham, and they also beat Bolton Wanderers 2-3 away from home and Derby County 3-0 in that run. The Hammers drew 1-1 with Watford in their only dropped points. West Ham have scored 16 goals and conceded four across those five matches, with four straight wins in their last four outings.
