Millwall brick

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Millwall brick
This is one way to wield a Millwall brick.
Type	Blunt hand-held weapon
Place of origin	England
Service history
Used by	Football hooligans and Martial artists
Specifications
Head type	Rolled, folded paper
Haft type	Rolled paper

A Millwall brick is an improvised weapon made of a manipulated newspaper.

The Millwall brick was allegedly used as a stealth weapon at football matches in England during the 1960s and 1970s. The weapon's popularity appears to have been due to the wide availability of innocently appearing newspapers, and due to the ease of its construction.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Football hooliganism 1.2 Martial arts 1.3 Other 2 Design 2.1 Variants 3 Cultural references 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Football hooliganism

In the late 1960s — in response to violence at football matches in England — police began confiscating any objects that could be used as weapons. These items included steel combs, pens, beermats, polo mints, shoelaces and even boots.^[1] However, fans were still permitted to bring in newspapers. Larger newspapers such as The Guardian or The Financial Times work best for a Millwall brick, and the police looked with suspicion at working class football fans who carried such newspapers. Because of their more innocent appearance, tabloid newspapers became the newspapers of choice for Millwall bricks.^[2][3] The book Spirit of '69: A Skinhead Bible describes the use of Millwall bricks by British football hooligans (not just skinheads) in the late 1960s:

Newspapers were rolled up tightly to form the so-called Millwall Brick and another trick was to make a knuckleduster out of pennies held in place by a wrapped around paper. You could hardly be pulled up for having a bit of loose change in your pocket and a Daily Mirror under your arm.^[4]

The book Skinhead says, "The Millwall brick, for example, was a newspaper folded again and again and squashed together to form a cosh."^[5] The Croydonian blog reports that the Millwall brick was the weapon of choice for football hooligans in the 1970s^[6]

[edit] Martial arts

In 1994, martial artist Robert Luis Rivera used principles from the Kampilan Kali martial arts style to devise a curriculum for his weapons class that included using a newspaper as a weapon.^[7] In Shotokan Karate, Shihan Craig Finch (6th Dan) has analyzed the Millwall brick as a weapon to teach better unarmed defense against attacks using the Millwall brick.^[8]

[edit] Other

In 1998, young men were reported to run alongside fierce fighting bulls intentionally let loose on the narrow streets of Pamplona, Spain with no other weapons than folded newspapers.^[9]

In June 2003, the British House of Commons began to treat folded newspapers as weapons, and prevented public visitors from bringing them in.^[10]

[edit] Design

A Millwall brick may include one or more newspaper sheets that may be particularly rolled and folded to create a handle (a haft) and a rounded head at the fold. The Millwall brick may become harder as more newspaper sheets are stacked. The newspaper sheets preferably may be broadsheet as the size of a broadsheet newspaper may make it easier to roll up the sheets lengthways. In addition, larger newspapers give a longer handle to increase the mechanical advantage.

As a first step, the newspaper sheets may be laid flat. Typically, the newspaper sheets will have four sides: two opposing long sides and two opposing short sides. With two hands placed on a short side, the newspaper sheet stack may be tightly rolled lengthways into a tube having a first end, a second end, and a middle. The first end and the second end of the tube may be brought towards and adjacent to each other so that the tube is folded in the middle to form a blunt end. The first end and second end may form a handle.

To use the Millwall brick, the handle may be grasped in either a left hand or a right hand. The Millwall brick may then be raised and the blunt end brought to bear as desired, similar to a shillelagh or waddy.

[edit] Variants

In an alternate version, the newspaper sheets are first wetted with a liquid such as beer or urine, to give the Millwall brick additional weight. In addition, the blunt end may be wrapped with a shoelace or leather to increase its effectiveness. Further, the first end and the second end may be taped together to form the handle and a string may be attached to the handle to form a Millwall brick handle with string. The string may be grabbed to enable a user to swing the Millwall brick for faster action, similar to a meteor hammer.

In another version, the first end may include a first interior side that may be adjacent to the second end. A pencil, pen, or large nail may be driven from the first interior side near the middle perpendicularly through the first end so that that head of the nail securely rests against the first interior side. The nail may be secured in place by bringing the first end and second end towards and adjacent to each other, effectively forming a crude nail bat.

[edit] Cultural references

• The term Millwall brick appeared in a 2001 Times column about the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which writer Mick Hume sarcastically proposed that airlines get rid of newspapers since "football hooligans used to fold them into something called a Millwall Brick."^[11]

• The Millwall brick was mentioned in a 2004 Spiked column about Britain's knife culture.^[12]
• An 2004 column in the New York Sports Express (NYSX) includes an expression of hope that Millwall F.C. would "upset Manchester United and put the infamous Millwall Brick inside the famous FA Cup."^[13]

• A skinhead reggae magazine series entitled Millwall Brick addressed topics such as as the film The Harder They Come, Motown Records and football.^[14]

• The 1994 CD Chello, by Irish pop/rock band Blink includes the song, "Millwall Brick Mix".^[15]

• In 1995, guitarists Doug Aldrich and his hard rock band Bad Moon Rising released an extended play CD entitled Millwall Brick.^[16]

• In June 2000, a band who named themselves the Millwall Bricks performed at Skank Skates, an indoor skate park in Springfield, Illinois, United States.^[17]

• The Millwall brick has been mentioned in football chants, such as:

Unknown title (West Ham supporters' chant)
Oh East London... is wonderful,
Oh East London is wonderful,
It's full of tits, fanny and West Ham,
oh East London is wonderful.
With his Treatment balaclava and his Millwall brick in hand,
blue and white scarf around his neck,
a nasty Millwall fan.
We steamed Millwall, but Millwall kept on coming,
There wasn't quite as many as there was a while ago.
We steamed once more and they started running,
Down New Cross through the Old Kent Road.
And they run through the bushes and they run through the fences and they run though the hedges where a rabbit wouldn't go.
We steamed Millwall and they kept on running,
down New Cross through the Old Kent Road.^[18]

[edit] See also

• Clubs
• Non-lethal force
• Personal weapons
• Self defense
• Street fighting

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Photos of Millwall brick incorporation into Shotokan Karate.