Chapter 120: Provocation Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"There was a kid named Gavin! He used to like Nottingham Forest! And now he's lying on the ground, his trampled face was all smashed up! All smashed up! Get lost and go home! All you Nottingham b*stards, that dead boy is your example!! Oh, oh, oh, oh! Gavin, Gavin! All smashed up! Yea, yea, yea, yea! Gavin, Gavin! All smashed up!"
Tang En turned his head around and stared at the Millwall fans. They were singing it all together. They were either waving their fists or pointing their middle fingers. With their mouths wide open, their sharp teeth were revealed, as if they were fierce-looking wild beasts. Wrong, they were not wild beasts, they were worse than beasts.
Tang En stood beneath the viewing platforms with his back to the field and gave a death stare to a few Millwall fans that were still making faces at him. His lips were bitten pale, his face ashen-colored, his neck stiff, and his entire body trembling.
Walker, who was beside Tang En, noticed his abnormalities. Walker, of course, knew what those fans were singing about, and he was also very angry. But when he saw Tony's look, it was as though he wanted to rush up and fight those fans!
"Tony, Tony… Calm down!" Walker pulled back Twain, but to no avail.
All of the players on the substitutes' bench heard the song by the fans, which used "Gavin" in its lyrics. They also stood up and stared at those fans. The song was extremely loud, and it could be heard throughout the entire stadium.
Hearing the ear-piercing song, Brosnan stood on the reporters' seat and clenched his fists rightly. He had never imagined he would encounter such a despicable thing while reporting a football match! In order to provoke Nottingham Forest, the fans of the opposing team actually shamelessly used the name of the small Nottingham Forest fan who had passed away, in the lyrics of an insulting song!
They had already achieved their objective. It appeared that Nottingham Forest had indeed been affected by the song coming from the viewing platform. After hearing the song, Michael Dawson and Andy Reid became exceptionally angry. However, they could only take it out on the Millwall players, which in turn gave the Millwall fans a reason to sing the song even more loudly.
There were already signs of the match losing control.
Tang En still stood below the viewing platform with his back to the field, and the group of fans noticed him. Seeing that he did not look pleased, they continued to sing the song even more loudly.
They were smugly taunting each and every person on Nottingham Forest.
Suddenly, the silent Tang En punched the awning above the technical area. Crash! Following that, the plastic baffle shattered into countless pieces, falling onto the seats!
"Tony!" Walker and the other people from the managerial team were shocked. They thought that Twain would rush onto the viewing platform after that, and quickly hugged him, dragging him backwards.
The fans near the technical area saw this scene, and were momentarily dumbfounded. However, they soon recovered from their shock, and scolded Twain, "Who doesn't know how to shatter a few pieces of plastic board? Come up and hit us if you got the guts!"
"Nottingham b*stards!"
"Idiots! Cowards! Trash! You and your team are all trash!"
Tang En's punch not only drew the outburst from the fans, it also attracted the attention of the fourth official, as well as the camera.
"Mr. Twain." The fourth official walked to Tang En, and said to him with a stern face, "Intentionally destroying the stadium's facilities is a punishable offense."
"Do as you wish!" Tang En turned his head around and stared at the fourth official as he said fiercely, "Are you intending to ban me from the field? How much is the Football Association intending to fine me? If I am punishable for my offense, then these people…" He broke free of Walker, and roared as he pointed to the gloating Millwall fans on the viewing platform, "These people! They should all go to goddamned hell! Can't you hear what they were singing? Can't you hear?!"
Walker also stood out and protested, "We are here to play in the match, and not for those b*stards to insult our dead fans! We are lodging an official protest right now."
Of course, the fourth official had heard the singing on the viewing platform. As such, he was currently speechless after being asked by Tang En. After standing there dumbfounded for a while, the fourth official finally replied, "Alright, I will write all of these inside the match records. I believe the Football Association will conduct investigations regarding everything that has happened during this match. But I hope all of you can remain calm. After all, the match is still going on."
Tang En tidied up his shirt before saying to the fourth official, "I am very calm, very very…goddamned calm!"
After which, he turned around and shouted at the players on the field who had been distracted by these happenings on the side of the field. "What are you standing there in a daze for?! We are still trailing, so you guys better buck up! Shut the mouths of those b*stards on the viewing platform!"
Tang En's voice was so loud that even the television broadcast managed to record it, especially that line "those b*stards on the viewing platform!"
The fourth official looked at Twain. Tang En also stared back at him with an unfriendly look, and said domineeringly, "What's the matter? Mr. Referee, are you also going to interfere with the things that I'm shouting when I'm giving instructions to my players?"
Hearing him say this, the fourth official turned around and returned to his original position.
Right when everyone thought that the match was about to return back to normal, an even greater accident happened on the viewing platforms.
※※※
Ever since the Millwall fans started singing the song which insulted the innocent young football fan, Gavin, who was killed in a football hooligans' brawl the previous season, the Nottingham Forest fans at the southern viewing platform became increasingly agitated. However, the Millwall fans near the southern viewing platforms continued to rub salt into the wound and provoke them.
"Your team is just like that small brat, vulnerable and fragile! Trampled and smashed up by us! Trash! Scram and eat sh*t!"
"Oh oh oh oh! Gavin Gavin! All smashed up! Yeah yeah yeah yeah! Forest Forest! All smashed up!"
With the team they were supporting currently trailing behind as well as being provoked by the Millwall fans seated opposite them, the red-eyed Forest fans collectively rushed toward the barrier formed by the police, and were quickly chased away by the police. At the same time, the Millwall fans who had been itching for a fight for a long time also took advantage of the chaos and rushed toward the viewing platform of the Nottingham Forest fans. Faced with such an attack from both sides, the defense line formed by the police was in danger!
"Darn it! Son of a gun, let me teach them a lesson!" The Forest fans roared as they collided into the human wall.
"Dang! Comrades, let those Nottingham bumpkins know our fearsomeness! For Millwall! For the lions — ! Screw their entire family!" The Millwall fans began to tear out the seats, before throwing them at the group of Forest fans while swearing loudly.
"You will pay the price for whatever you have just done! B*stards!" The Forest fans were also unwilling to be outdone, and retaliated by tearing out seats and throwing them back at the Millwall fans.
"The ones who should know their place should be you idiots! Take a look at whose territory this place is!"
"I couldn't care less! You southern b*stard!"
Bam bam!
Crash! White and blue plastic seats flew back and forth across their heads. The viewing platform, when viewed from below, was in an utter mess.
Under the aggressive pushing by the two parties, the fully-equipped riot police were about to cave in. Seeing that they were unable to deal with the situation, they requested support through the walkie-talkie on their shoulders. "This is the fifth viewing platform! The fans are rioting! Requesting back up! I repeat, this is the fifth viewing platform… Darn it. You, back off!"
Seeing the crowd gushing forth, the riot police which was requesting assistance frantically waved their batons, in a futile attempt to break up the red-eyed fans from both sides.
In the end, it was no longer a fight between the Nottingham Forest fans and the Millwall fans. Instead, it evolved into a three-way chaotic fight between the Forest fans, Millwall fans, and the riot police!
The match was practically paused, with everyone's attention drawn toward the fight in the vicinity of the southern viewing platform.
Motson had stopped commentating immediately after hearing the Millwall fans' singing. That was because he completely did not know how to commentate on that kind of match and those kind of fans. Only now, upon seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, did he furiously say in the broadcast, "This is simply the disgrace of English football! football violence had left us for many years, and that devil is now back again!"
More and more riot police in their bright yellow vests and transparent helmets ran toward the fifth viewing platform, holding their shields and batons in their hands.
Although the Millwall fans quite some distance away from the fight were unable to directly participate in it, these passionate fans continued to sing the song on their own viewing platforms, cheering on their comrades who were fighting at the forefront. It was considered an away match not only for the Nottingham team players on the field, but also for the Nottingham Forest fans.
There were signs of the conflict expanding, with some of the people from both parties even throwing the seats onto the field!
Seeing such a situation unfold, the head referee could only blow the whistle to pause the match. This was already not an issue of the match. He had to wait for the stadium to regain order, before he could allow the match to resume. If the situation continued to worsen, then he could only terminate the match. As for the results of the match… the Football Association should most likely choose another date for a rematch after investigation. In addition, in order to prevent another fan rioting incident, the rematch would be held at a neutral venue, with a limited number of fans from both teams able to watch the game live at the stadium.
Perhaps there would be some people who thought that such a result would be something that Tang En and Nottingham Forest hoped to see. That was because with the match postponed to another day, the 0:1 score would cease to exist, and they would not be down by one ball.
However, Tang En did not think of it this way.
The players on the field stood on the field stunned as they watched the shocking scene unfold on the viewing platform. Even the Millwall players did not seem to have expected that their fans would be so fanatic. Luckily… English football fans were unlike their Italian counterparts who liked to wave flames while watching the matches. Otherwise, the viewing platform would definitely be burning and filled with smoke.
Tang En hugged his chest and stood at the side of the field, with Walker positioned beside him. They looked at the riot unfolding on the viewing platform expressionlessly. The match that day… was really "wonderful"!