West Ham became an 'international brand' thanks to 'Hooligans'

• The West Ham club, which will challenge OL this Thursday (9 p.m.) in the Europa League, is clearly not as well known in France as some of its London rivals like Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham.

• A film released in the mid-2000s,

  Hooligans

  , nevertheless helped to make known at home and around the world this club in the eastern districts, perceived in London as “ultra-popular”.

• 20 Minutes

  is interested in the influence that this feature film with American star Elijah Wood has had, and still has, 17 years after its release.

From our special correspondent in London,

Did Frodo Baggins change the history of West Ham United?

One might wonder, as the American comedian Elijah Wood made an impression by appearing in the film

(

in VO) in 2005, only two years after completing the

which raised to the rank of Hollywood star.

When the film arrived in English cinemas on September 9, 2005 (nine months before its arrival in France), David Bellion had just joined West Ham on loan.

“Honestly, when

came out, it didn't talk about it more than that at the club, assures the former Manchester United striker.

As a cinephile, I saw it and I know how quickly it became cult throughout England, like the

artistic universe carried by Guy Ritchie and Vinnie Jones [ex-poet in the middle of the "Crazy Gang" from Wimbledon before starring in

,

...].

There were no more debates than that in our locker room around this work.

»

The 'most entrenched in London' rivalry between West Ham and Milwall

Why did German director Lexi Alexander set her sights on West Ham supporters?

"Because the rivalry between the hooligans of West Ham and those of Milwall is the one that is most rooted in London, it's obvious," says Leo Gregory, one of the main roles in the film.

A volcanic animosity of which the former Ivorian international Guy Demel had a glimpse during his four seasons in the East London club (from 2011 to 2015).

“One day, we had the bad idea to go with three teammates to Dubai wearing West Ham tracksuits.

Milwall supporters took the same flight as us and believe me, they made us feel the tensions and the rivalry between the two clubs.

»

Shortly after landing in "the most popular club in London" according to him, Guy Demel got wind of the untenable 2009 edition of this West Ham-Milwall, which gave rise to multiple overflows and an invasion of the field, in the middle of a Cup match played at Upton Park.

Violent sequences very close to the fiction seen in

, which had staged an FA Cup draw between the two historical rivals.

Over $4 million at the worldwide box office

“When I landed in the locker room, Mark Noble [544 matches with the Hammers for seventeen years], who is now nicknamed Mr West Ham, asked me if I had seen the film

, continues Guy Demel.

He echoed to me well Milwall and the episodes of hooliganism between the two camps.

These are omnipresent in the film released in 2005, in pubs and around Upton Park, so much so that one wonders how the project was able to go to the end, with sequences shot at the stadium during matches of the hammers.

“The owners and managers of West Ham were aware that a football film with Elijah Wood was in preparation around their club, but it stopped there, specifies Leo Gregory.

They didn't know he would be so violent.

For the whole film team, the surprise was to find that

generated more than 4 million dollars at the worldwide box office.

“We never imagined such global success,” says Leo Gregory.

17 years later, many people still consider

a cult film.

Recently, I still received hundreds of messages from fans living in Indonesia.

We made West Ham an international brand, and this without wanting it.

»

“With this film, West Ham financed my season following the Spurs”

The interpreter of the barred role of Bovver knows what he is talking about, since he has always been a fierce supporter… of Tottenham.

“With this film, West Ham financed my season to follow the Spurs, he smiles.

The funniest thing is when Hammers pounce on me seeing me around their stadium for a derby.

They yell "Bovver, Bovver" and ask me for an autograph.

I still sign THFC [Tottenham Hotspur Football Club], they are shocked and I love it.

»

This funny guy, who now collaborates with the brand of

clothes Weekend Offender, was at the time the guarantee "hools" of the film.

Lexi Alexander had also asked him to live for a month in Los Angeles with Charlie Hunnam (the brilliant Pete in the film) “to immerse him in the world of hooligans and its codes”.

But that's not all, several hooligans attached to the West Ham ICF (renamed GSE in the film) participated in certain sequences of the shooting.

'Incredible aesthetics and vocals' at Hammers games

And fiction has sometimes been overtaken by reality in East London.

“We had to interrupt a shoot once because of

with real hooligans from Milwall, recalls Leo Gregory.

Even I took a right to the head.

A fear that David Bellion never felt during his short stint with the Hammers, from September to December 2005.

 “In the 2000s, I knew that there was a branch of supporters who still considered themselves hooligans at West Ham, but like almost everywhere in England.

This is London's ultra-popular club.

The crowd was very close to us in Upton Park but I was never afraid of the fans there.

At West Ham, I mostly remember amazing aesthetics and chants at home.

»

Among them the inevitable

, the club's pre-match anthem, which every football fan who saw

shouted out of the pub with his friends after a few too many pints.

At the stadium, the heady air is accompanied by huge bubble machines installed at the edge of the field.

"I'm forever blowing bubbles" launched in the middle of a wedding

“Seeing all these bubbles fly away in the sky always made us feel that we were going to experience a festive afternoon in Upton Park, evokes Guy Demel.

It's taken up by the whole stadium, by the coach, and this great fervor inevitably galvanizes you.

This festive dimension of the bubbles gives all these people a crazy emotion: it is as if they were linked for life, that they were only one man for this club”.

Electric.

https://t.co/vU8ldQqei1 pic.twitter.com/ub35GSumiy

— West Ham United (@WestHam) March 28, 2022

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This song even accompanied a wedding in Besançon in August 2020. Fallen under the spell of the Hammers in 1999 one evening of victory in Intertoto in Metz at the time of Ferdinand, Lampard and Joe Cole, Romain Parreaux (33) "crossed a level” in his passion after seeing

in the cinema.

His skyblog then relays the news of the unknown London club, without a trophy for 42 years, until the organization of two or three trips per season to Upton Park, and the creation in 2011 of West Ham France, a group of around thirty of active supporters officially recognized by the club.

“The club has always kept its distance from the film”

“Every time I hear this song at the stadium, I have tears in my eyes, even if it lost a little of its charm with the departure for the London Stadium, says Romain Parreaux.

She's a part of my life, and she transcends everyone from kids to ultra-tough guys with shaved heads.

Finally, 17 years later, what link remains between the film and West Ham United, which therefore moved in 2016 to the Olympic stadium in London?

Not far from there on Wednesday evening, at The Carpenter's arms pub, Jermaine, Matt and Joe, three 20-year-old Hammers fans, laugh by confiding that they saw him "when he was 5 years old".

All while laughing at the hat-trick inflicted by Karim Benzema on Chelsea.

They consider that "

is part of the history of the club".

A thwarted story, according to Leo Gregory: “The club has always kept its distance from the film.

Imagine, it is impossible for him to promote violence like this.

Afterwards, even if we are obviously no longer in the 1980s, there are still

and informal rankings of the best hooligan clubs in London.

.

" Not better.

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