PORTSMOUTH AND ITS HOOLIGANS...

Portsmouth is a naval town with a proud working class tradition. Many of the hooligans were drawn from estates such as Paulsgrove, which was to take people who had lost their homes during WWII.

The name of the Portsmouth firm was derived from the train that the lads took to many away games. If you caught the 6.57 from Portsmouth to Waterloo, you could get a connection to any town or city with a Football League club and be there by 1 pm. Naturally, the 6.57 train had been used by the hooligans, long before the name was adopted in the 80's. 

Hooliganism arrived to the seaside town long before the appearence of the 6.57 Crew. We have to go back to 1966. It spread with the visits of Northern teams. At that time the home fans were disorganised but would fight anyone who wanted to take their end. The first crew to emerge were the Southsea Boys. Came 1969 and the skinhead fashion took off in the town. Lasted only 3 years and was replaced by the suedehads and the smoothies. The hooligan element never disappeared. In the second half of the 70's Pompey fans were making headlines with increasing frequency. As the hooligan minority grew in confidence, their wariness of other firms diminished. Prior to uniting under the 6.57 banner, they often described themselves as the most disorganised firm ever to exist. Despite having massive numbers they would often split up and drink in separate pubs, dissipating their forces. 

With the 6.57 Crew cooexisted the Air Ballon gang which was named after the pub they drank in. They were involved in everything from football to thieving to the local drug trade. On matchdays, smaller gangs came from Eastney, Somers Town, Cosham and Paulsgrove and joined forces with the 6.57 Crew. Not the police and not the rivals, but rave music killed off the Crew. Nearly everyone got into it and of those who did not, many stopped going to football because it never was the same anymore....