Suicide Squad (hooligan firm)

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The Suicide Squad is a football hooligan firm linked to the English Football League team, Burnley F.C.^[1]

1 History
2 See also
3 Notes
4 Further reading

[edit] History

In November 2002, Burnley police and the football club jointly established Operation Fixture, a scheme aimed at tackling football hooliganism in and around the clubs stadium, Turf Moor with more bans, more arrests and quicker convictions. The scheme also aimed to target racists, with the example of a Burnley fan having given a Nazi salute during a Worthington Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur F.C..^[2]

On 7 December 2002 a 17 year old Nottingham Forest F.C. fan was killed when Burnley fans attacked Nottingham Forest fans in Burnley town centre. Two days later a 19 year old Burnley fan, Andrew McNee, a member of the so called Suicide Youth Squad^[3] was arrested and charged with murder.^[4] In July 2003, McNee was sentenced to seven years in youth custody after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was also banned from football matches for ten years. When passing sentence, the trial judge commented that the attack had happened, "for absolutely no reason, other than he supported a different football team and had the temerity to visit a public house the defendant and others believed he should have kept away from"; adding that football hooliganism was a "scourge on the sport" and said the courts should make it clear that anyone involved in violence would face harsh sentences.^[5] McNee was released from prison in 2006. Within weeks though he was fined £200 after pleading guilty to breaching his ten year football banning order. On 22 July 2006 police caught him outside Turf Moor when Burnley were playing Bolton Wanderers F.C.^[6], Burnleys first home game since McNee had been released from prison. ^[3],

In July 2007, one of the founding members of the Suicide Squad, Andrew Porter, who wrote a book about his exploits with the firm was coming to the end of a three year ban from attending both England and domestic matches. However, Burnley police applied for a fresh banning order with the start of the new season only weeks away under Operation Fixture which had been introduced in 2002.^[7]

The Suicide Squad featured in the television documentary series The Real Football Factories which was first shown on the Bravo Television channel.^{[citation needed]}