Green Street Hooligans

I just saw this movie today. Man, was it wild. If violent movies disturb you then don’t watch this (it's very, very violent). It’s basically about a guy (the one who plays Frodo in Lord of the Rings) that gets kicked out of Harvard and goes to England to visit his sister and gets wrapped up with this gang of hooligans who are basically associated with a local “football” team. Wow! It’s basically the European version of “Fight Club”.

Now, I’ve played rugby throughout my college career and so I must admit I have been in a few scraps in my time. (Ironically, I've never gone looking for them but, unfortunately, I have always found myself in them.) I’ve also been to England a few times and know that people definitely have a different view of drinking and fighting – they seem to go hand in hand.

It took me back to a time when I was visiting with a friend of mine who was from there. We were staying with her sister in south London and was at the pub one night tossing back as many beers as we could possibly get into our system before the bar closed – which, is 11:00 pm by London standards. We were in a heated pool game (called "Snooker" over there) with two twin guys. My friend, M and I had money on the game and kept beating the twins all night long.

When they made the last call we downed our beers, played the last game, collected our money and left. We were staying at her sister’s place nearby so it was a short walk of about 3 blocks. As we turned a corner the twins came out of nowhere and demanded their money back. I was speechless. We had won fair and square. Most people at that moment would have dropped the money and ran but (stupidly, I might add) my old rugby instinct kicked in and I got right in their face. I really didn’t think they would fight a girl. I was wrong. The guy tackled me to the ground. Just then he was thrown off me and the next thing I knew both guys were laying on the ground and B (the sister’s boyfriend) was helping me up. I later found out that B had been in a gang in S. Africa and knew how to fight – obviously. I don't know what we would have done if M's sister hadn't sent him down to the pub to find us and walk us home.

That wasn’t the only run- in with violence while I was across the big pond. A few nights later M and I had missed the last train out of Soho and was walking around London trying to flag a Black Cab (Just so you know: only hire Black Cabs when you are in London. Any other cab will take you nowhere and take all your money) when this street woman approached me asking for a “fag”. M and I were sharing our last one so we said no. Just then the woman lunged at M and tried to pull her earrings right out of her ears. Me I had my hands full with my camera and backpack but quickly dropped them and grabbed the woman and threw her off my friend. The woman ended up taking off with my $300 camera.

The moral to this story is this – people have different standards of drinking in England and aren’t afraid of any kind of violence what-so-ever. My advice – if you find yourself on the streets of London after dark make sure you are with a group of people. Do not walk alone or with two. Leave the pub before the last call! Try not to carry too many things –you look like a tourist then and people will try to take advantage of that. And, if you are faced with something - carry some cash in a separate clip in your pocket - drop it and run like hell!

Hmm, maybe I should remember all this when I got to Paris! My sister cannot even tie her shoe without breaking a nail so if we’re faced with anything we’re screwed.