Blades Business Crew (BBC) is a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
hooligan firm
Hooligan firms (also known as football firms) are groups that participate in football hooliganism in European countries. For groups in Latin America, see barra brava and torcida organizada.
Belgium
* Club Brugge – East Side
* RSC Anderle ...
linked to the English football club,
Sheffield United F.C
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of Football in England, English footbal ...
.
Name
The term 'Blades' is taken from the football club's nickname, ''"The Blades"'',
Background
A notable former member of the Blades Business Crew is former
Housemartins
The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christiani ...
and
Beautiful South
The Beautiful South were an English pop rock group formed in 1988 by Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, two former members of the Hull group the Housemartins, both of whom performed lead and backing vocals. Other members staying throughout the ...
front man
Paul Heaton
Paul David Heaton (born 9 May 1962) is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer and main lyricist of the Housemartins, who had commercial success in the UK and other European countries between 1985 and 1988, releasing several singl ...
. In March 1998, a member of the firm was imprisoned for knocking out the linesman during a Division One game against
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
.
Though now not as active as they were in the 1980s and 1990s, the Crew have been the subject of numerous incidents of fan trouble in recent years. Following the
Battle of Bramall Lane in 2002, in which a
Division One fixture against
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...
was abandoned due to having only six players left on the pitch, fans of the two clubs were involved in fighting outside the ground. During United's 5-3 Division One victory over
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...
in 2003, there were numerous incidents of coin-throwing and violence between supporters, and four Cardiff fans were injured. In May 2011, Blades hooligans threw missiles at visiting
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...
fans at
Sheffield station
Sheffield station (formerly Pond Street and later Sheffield Midland) is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England; it is the busiest station in South Yorkshire, and the second busiest in Yorkshire & the Humber, after Leed ...
following the clubs' relegation from the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this sys ...
. Three men were later convicted with
affray
In many legal jurisdictions related to English common law, affray is a public order offence consisting of the fighting of one or more persons in a public place to the terror (in ) of ordinary people. Depending on their actions, and the laws ...
. In March 2012, four members of the firm attacked a group of teenage
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has dive ...
fans after the
League One League One or League 1 may refer to:
Association football
* EFL League One, the third tier of football in England.
* China League One, the second tier of football in China
* K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea
* Lao League 1
* Lea ...
clash at
Griffin Park
Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...
.
Recent members include Kev Kharas of the London band
Real Lies, who claimed to have been "completely intoxicated by the organisation" after meeting a member on a National Express coach, and speaking to him on and off for a quarter of an hour.
In popular culture
The book, ''Blades Business Crew: The Inside Story of a Football Hooligan Gang'', published in 2002, was written by a member of the firm, Steve Cowens, who had been associated with them since the early 1980s. As well as informing readers about the activities of the Blades Business Crew, he also told stories of numerous other football firms, including those of smaller and less well known clubs.
References
Further reading
* Heaton, Paul; Cowens Steve (2001). ''Blades Business Crew: The Inside Story of a Football Hooligan Gang'', Milo Books,
External links
*
{{Football firms
1983 establishments in England
Organizations established in 1983
Sheffield United F.C.
British football hooligan firms
Gangs in England