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A ''Millwall brick'' or ''bat'' is an improvised weapon made of a manipulated
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
, used as a small club. It was named after supporters of Millwall F.C., who have a reputation for
football hooliganism Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviors perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism typically involves ...
. The Millwall brick was allegedly used as a stealth weapon at
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 ...
matches in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
during the 1960s and 1970s. The weapon's popularity appears to have been due to the wide availability of newspapers, the difficulty in restricting newspapers being brought into football grounds, and the ease of its construction.


History

In the late 1960s – in response to
football hooliganism Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviors perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism typically involves ...
at matches in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
– police began confiscating any objects that could be used as weapons. These items included steel combs, pens, beermats, horse brasses,
Polo mints Polo is a brand of breath mint whose defining feature is the hole in the middle. The peppermint flavoured Polo was first manufactured in the United Kingdom in 1948, by employee John Bargewell at the Rowntree's Factory, York, and a range of flav ...
,
shoelaces Shoelaces, also called shoestrings (US English) or bootlaces (UK English), are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots, and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both e ...
and boots. However, fans were still permitted to bring in newspapers. Larger broadsheet newspapers work best for a Millwall brick, and the police looked with suspicion at
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
football fans who carried such newspapers. Because of their more innocent appearance, tabloid newspapers became the preferred choice for Millwall bricks. The book ''Spirit of '69: A Skinhead Bible'' describes the use of Millwall bricks by British football hooligans in the late 1960s: "Newspapers were rolled up tightly to form the so-called Millwall Brick and another trick was to make a knuckleduster out of pennies held in place by a wrapped around paper. You could hardly be pulled up for having a bit of loose change in your pocket and a ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
'' under your arm." The book ''Skinhead'' says, "The Millwall brick, for example, was a newspaper folded again and again and squashed together to form a cosh." In 1978 the weapon gained wider recognition when the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
'' ran a story on its use by Chelsea FC hooligans in the then notorious Shed End of Stamford Bridge. An editorial in a 1978
Brentford FC Brentford Football Club is a professional association football club based in Brentford, England. The team competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Nicknamed "The Bees", the club was found ...
matchday programme, bemoaning the impact of football hooliganism on the game, noted that Stoke City FC "had banned young supporters carrying newspapers into the Victoria Ground after fighting on the terraces during which the Millwall Brick was seen in action".


Design

A Millwall brick is constructed from several newspaper sheets stacked and tightly rolled lengthwise. The resulting tube is then bent in half to create a handle (a haft) and a rounded head at the fold.


Cultural references

*The term "Millwall brick" appeared in a 2001 '' Times'' column about the
September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, in which writer Mick Hume sarcastically proposed that airlines get rid of newspapers since "football hooligans used to fold them into something called a Millwall Brick." *The Millwall brick was mentioned in a 2004 '' Spiked'' column about Britain's "knife culture". *A 2004 column in the '' New York Sports Express'' (NYSX) includes an expression of hope that Millwall F.C. would "upset Manchester United and put the infamous Millwall Brick inside the famous FA Cup." *A skinhead
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...
series, ''Millwall Brick'', addressed topics such as the film '' The Harder They Come'',
Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
and
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 ...
. *The 1994 CD ''Chello'', by Irish pop/rock band Blink includes the song, "Millwall Brick Mix". *In 1995, guitarists
Doug Aldrich Doug Aldrich (born February 19, 1963) is an American hard rock guitarist. He founded the band Burning Rain with Keith St. John in 1998 and has played with Whitesnake, Dio, Lion, Hurricane, House of Lords, Bad Moon Rising and Revolution Saints ...
and his hard rock band Bad Moon Rising released an
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
CD entitled ''Millwall Brick''. *In the film '' The Bourne Supremacy'', Jason Bourne (
Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...
) fashioned a similar weapon out of a magazine. *In the TV show '' Lilyhammer'' (season 2, episode 1), Duncan Hammer ( Paul Kaye) produced a Millwall Brick out of the Norwegian tabloid newspaper ''VG'', some coins and his own urine while ranting about how he he characterand his fellow football hooligans invented it to circumvent the police's weapon prohibition on football matches back in England. *On an episode of ''The Modern Rogue'', Brian Brushwood and his friend Jason Murphy created a Millwall brick using the basic principles of the weapon. Afterwards, the two created a more effective and deadlier version of it by rolling the newspaper into an even tighter roll, wrapped it in packing tape, folding the roll, and then inserting a flat stone into the gap in the fold before taping it a final time, effectively making the Millwall Brick into a crude
tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Native Americans in the United States, Indian peoples and nations of North America, traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. Etymology The name comes from Powhatan langu ...
.


See also

* Millwall Bushwackers *
Clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...
* Personal weapons *
Self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of Force (law), ...
*
Street fighting Street fighting or street combat is hand-to-hand combat in public places between individuals or groups of people. The venue is usually a public place (e.g., a street), and the fight sometimes results in serious injury or even death. Some street ...
* Ultras * Association football culture *
Football hooliganism Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviors perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism typically involves ...


References

{{reflist, 2 Clubs (weapon) Improvised weapons Millwall F.C. Newspapers