Synopsis
Birmingham's Zulu Army occupy a unique place in the annals of terrace violence: a mixed-race gang. Yet it could have been so different. Birmingham was a club split by racial discord in the 1970s, until a shadowy hooligan group called the Apex united black and white on the terraces. The Zulus then appeared against a backdrop of Two-Tone and the casual area, their name first chanted at Manchester City in 1982. Soon they were both feared for their ferocity and admired and emulated for their style. Journalist Caroline Gall was granted unprecedented access to the gang and spent a year interviewing Zulu leaders and footsoldiers. She examines their rivalry with neighbours Aston Villa and how clashes with other firms such the ICF and the Soul Crew saw them become one of the top five mobs in the country. She uncovers their role in some of the worst football-related riots of modern times and looks in-depth at Operation Red Card, the successful police operation against them. Gall also traces their involvement in the rave scene, the emergence of offshoot gangs such as the Brew Crew and the Junior Business Boys, and chronicles some off their major confrontations of recent years, with the likes of Stoke City, Millwall, Cardiff, Hull, Portsmouth, Liverpool and Wolves, culminating in the infamous Battle of Rockly Lane against Aston Villa in 2002. Extensive newspaper, magazine and fanzine coverage guaranteed; TV, radio and local newspaper interviews; website promotion.