Carol "Cass" Pennant (born 3 March 1958), is an English writer and former football hooligan.

Background

Pennant's mother emigrated from Jamaica while pregnant and he was born in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated i ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. Six weeks old, he was abandoned and was placed into a Dr. Barnardo's Home. As a

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

baby, Pennant was fostered by an elderly white family in

Slade Green Slade Green is an area of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies northeast of Bexleyheath, northwest of Dartford and south of Erith, and east-southeast of Charing Cross. Historically Slade Green was part of th ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: * Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality * ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film * Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record * "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014 * Greater Bank, an Austra ...

where he was the only black person, and where he states he was "bullied from day one" year after year, and beaten persistently - "Not just from rivals or other kids, the whole town. Imagine as a kid, you're picked out; people in vehicles shouting out at you, total strangers". Pennant had been christened Carol (a common masculine name in parts of the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

, unusual as a masculine name in the UK, but is the Irish equivalent for the name "Charles") by his biological mother, which was also a source of bullying for him, particularly at school. After he saw the boxer Muhammad Ali (then known by his birth name of Cassius Clay) beat

Henry Cooper Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 19341 May 2011) was a British heavyweight boxer, best remembered internationally for a 1963 fight in which he knocked down a young Cassius Clay before the fight was stopped because of a cut eye from Clay's punches. C ...

he adopted the name Cass. Pennant who stands 6'4 (193 c

was a member, and leader, of the

Inter City Firm The Inter City Firm (ICF) is an English football hooligan firm associated with West Ham United, which was mainly active in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. The name came from the use of InterCity trains to travel to away games. They were the sub ...

(ICF) associated with the English football club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

in the 1970s. Cass Pennant's story is remarkable given the level of racism that was prevalent during the 1970s, 1980s and early 90s in Britain. Cass managed to rise to the top and become one of the generals of the ICF despite being black. He was eventually sentenced to four years in prison in 1980, and was the first person to receive that long of sentence for football hooliganism. After a second time in prison he started running a night club security firm in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. While working at one such nightclub in South London he was shot three times. In 2002, Pennant appeared on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

documentary, ''Football's Fight Club'' about football hooliganism in the 1970s. He has been a consultant on television programmes such as '' The Real Football Factories'' and ''The Real Football Factories International''. He also worked as a consultant and played a cameo role as a riot police officer in the 2005 drama film about football hooliganism, '' Green Street''. In 2006, he had a documentary made about him, ''Cass Pennant - Enough Said'' (Gangster Videos) directed by Liam Galvin, and in 2008 a film was made based on Pennant's life story, ''

Cass Cass may refer to: People and fictional characters * Cass (surname), a list of people * Cass (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Big Cass, ring name of wrestler William Morrissey * Cass, in British band Skunk Anansie * Ca ...

'', starring Nonso Anozie as Pennant, and directed by Jon S. Baird. In 2010, he played a leading role in the movie ''

Killer Bitch ''Killer Bitch'' is a 2010 British action- horror film written and directed by Liam Galvin and produced by Yvette Rowland, Liam Galvin, and John Fleming. The film contains a real sex scene featuring Ben Dover which was filmed as hardcore porn but ...

''. He also wrote the foreword for Manchester United football hooligan Colin Blaney's book ''Undesirables'' and contributed a short piece about Manchester United's rivalry with West Ham

Bibliography

*Author **''Cass'' (2002) **''Casstastic: The Art of Glute Workouts'' (2002) **''Total Ass With Cass: Glutes Part 2'' (2002) **''Congratulations, You Have Just Met the ICF'' (2003) **''Top Boys: True Stories of Football's Hardest Men'' (2006) *Co-author **''Rolling with the 6.57 Crew: The True Story of Pompey's Legendary Football Fans'' (2004) **''Terrace Legends'' (2005) **''Good Afternoon, Gentlemen, the Name's Bill Gardner'' (2006) **''30 Years of Hurt: A History of England's Hooligan Army'' (2006) **''Want Some Aggro?'' (2007) **''The Story of

Barrington 'Zulu' Patterson Barrington may refer to: People * Barrington (name) * Barrington baronets, holders of a title in the baronetage of England * Viscount Barrington, a title in the peerage of Ireland Places Australia * Barrington, New South Wales * Barrington ...

, One of Britain's Deadliest Men'' (2013)

References

External links

Cass
The Cass Pennant movie review
a
The Hollywood News
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pennant, Cass English non-fiction writers English people of Jamaican descent Black British writers English criminals Former hooligans Skinhead People from Doncaster Living people 1958 births Association football supporters English male film actors Black British male actors 21st-century English writers English male non-fiction writers West Ham United F.C.