A former Tottenham Hotspur hooligan revealed the most “underrated” firm he came up against – saying their fans once knocked him out and left him hospitalised.
Convicted gun smuggler and one-time leader of the London Ulster Defence Association, Frank Portinari, opened up about his days fighting on the terraces. And he mentioned one rival in particular when he was asked about the toughest. Frank, who followed Spurs throughout Britain and Europe, said: “If I focus on London, I am honest enough to say this now that the late 60s, early 70s, I don’t think people give them credit, Arsenal had a naughty mob of fellas.
“And it changed because I remember when Tottenham eclipsed Arsenal so to speak and we would regularly go their end of the ground and take the p*** to be honest. And then they had their day again in the 80s and 90s.”
However, he said Arsenal fans were responsible for giving him one of his most dangerous moments at a football match, and it happened inside a White Hart Lane toilet.
“I’ve been very fortunate, I've only ever been concussed once,” Frank, who has penned a book called Loyalist Paramilitary Gunrunner, began. “And that was because I took a liberty.
“I went to the toilets after being where I shouldn’t have been and people saw me go to the toilets and that was at Tottenham and we played Arsenal.”
The North London Derby was at White Hart Lane and according to Frank, opposing fans clashed outside Spurs’ old stadium.
Frank, who thought he was being “smart”, pretended to be with the Arsenal fans to get into the away section, and faked being hurt by a Spurs supporter when a policeman asked whether he was ok.
However, speaking about what happened next on the Criminal Connection podcast, he said: “I went to the toilet and of course these Arsenal fellas saw me do it and I woke up in a cubicle. One minute I’m in the urinal and the next minute I’m in the cubicle.
“I joke about it now but I genuinely went like that (checks his ears) I had my f***ing ears in case one of them took it as a trophy you know.”
Frank was assisted by medics and he was taken to North Middlesex University Hospital. However, after waiting two hours to be seen, he decided to get a cab back home without being treated.
Despite giving credit to bitter rivals Arsenal, and revealing that Millwall away on Boxing Day in 1977 is where he witnessed the “worst violence” he had ever seen, he said one other firm stood out as the best.
He said: “But I suppose for consistency, I am honest enough to say, probably West Ham. I think West Ham because what they are always attributed with is being organised and they did seem to always be organised."
Frank added: “We have had our times with West Ham but consistently over the years, I will probably have to credit West Ham.”