Feud between two clubs 200 miles apart as ‘lockdown’ youths fuel violence

TWO Football League clubs have formed an unlikely bitter feud stretching back 50 years – despite being 200 miles apart.

Geography is the usually the predominant cause of a rivalry, with hatred instilled within fans from a young age.

Based hundreds of miles apart, Sunderland and Coventry City had an indifferent opinion of each other for much of their respective existences.

But the two Football League clubs have maintained a deep hatred for each other since the final day of the 1976/77 season.

The teams were not playing against each other, but were vying for safety in the top-flight of English football.

As is customary on the final day, the games had been scheduled to kick off at the same time.

But owing to traffic congestion outside Coventry’s Highfield Stadium, then director Jimmy Hill delayed the start of his club’s game by 15 minutes to allow fans of the home side time to make into the ground.

Sunderland ultimately lost to Everton 2-0 on the day, with the result being broadcast mid-game for all to hear at Coventry.

Coventry’s encounter with Bristol City subsequently petered out into a 2-2 draw with both sides knowing a point was enough to keep them up – and so little effort was made to score.

It meant Sunderland were relegated out of the top-flight and would remain in the second division for three years.

Fifty years later, the rivalry between the clubs remains just as intense.

New Channel 4 documentary Football Cops follows police as they work to prevent outbreaks of violence at matches across England.

The series opener on Monday night showed Dedicated Football Officers (DFOs) fighting an uphill battle while patrolling Coventry and Sunderland fans during the 2022/23 season.

But many leading the chaos weren’t born when the infamous incident occurred.

Instead, police found themselves breaking up a group of youths brawling in a car park in close proximity to the ground.

It comes as an expert warned a “lockdown generation” of youngsters are fuelling a return of hooliganism across Britain.

Geoff Pearson, professor of law at the University of Manchester, has suggested older family members would usually set boundaries for acceptable behaviour when attending games.

But he said boys stuck in lockdown had missed out on this step and are now rushing to stadiums together.

He told MailOnline: “If you think of how fan communities work when you don’t have lockdowns, young fans go with family members, who at points will make interventions and draw the line about what is acceptable. 

“During lockdown these young fans were set at home. So you had a sudden rush of young, new fans rushing into stadiums at the same time.”

Ahead of the fixture, DFOs had positioned themselves around local pubs to prevent away fans from entering.

One officer told the show that away fans outnumbering home supporters in a pub is seen as “a big thing”.

Cops also followed a group of 70 youths as they chanted expletive-filled songs before the match.

Once inside the stadium, DFOs spotted a fan with a blue flare, who then sprinted onto the pitch waving it around.

The man was subsequently arrested and handed a four-year football banning order.

But the violence continued after the game as Sunderland fans became enraged and knocked down a barrier as they were taunted by Coventry supporters.

It comes as football-related arrests have reached their highest level for nine years.

The latest data shows there were 2,264 football-related arrests across the 2022/23 season.

There was also the highest number of new football banning orders for a decade, with 682 issued.

The majority of banning orders were handed to men aged between 18 and 34, figures show.