Blades Business Crew is a football hooligan firm  linked to the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Football League club, Sheffield United F.C.

Sheffield United F.C.

Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.They were the first sporting team to use the name 'United' and are nicknamed 'The Blades', thanks to Sheffield's worldwide reputation for steel production...

Background

A notable former member of the Blades Business Crew is former Housemartins

The Housemartins

The Housemartins were an English indie pop band that was active in the 1980s. Many of the Housemartins' lyrics were a mixture of Marxist politics and Christianity, reflecting singer Paul Heaton's beliefs at the time .-Formation:The band was formed in late 1983 by Paul Heaton and...

 and Beautiful South

The Beautiful South

The Beautiful South were an English alternative rock group formed at the end of the 1980s by two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. The duo were initially joined by Sean Welch , Dave Stead and Dave Rotheray , all of whom stayed with the group throughout...

 front man, Paul Heaton

Paul Heaton

Paul David Heaton is an English singer-songwriter. He was a member of The Housemartins, who disbanded in 1988, and a member of The Beautiful South, who disbanded in 2007. He is currently pursuing a solo career....

.

In March 1998, a member of the firm was imprisoned for knocking out the linesman during a Division One game against Portsmouth

Portsmouth F.C.

Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...

.

In popular culture

The book, Blades Business Crew: The Inside Story of a Football Hooligan Gang, was published in 2002, written by the firm's leader 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.

See also

• Casuals
  Casuals
  The casual subculture is a subsection of association football culture that is typified by football hooliganism and the wearing of expensive European designer clothing. The subculture originated in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s when many hooligans started wearing designer labels and...
  
  
• Football hooliganism
  Football hooliganism
  Football hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
  
  
• Hooliganism
  Hooliganism
  Hooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs....
  
  
• Leeds United Service Crew
  Leeds United Service Crew
  The Leeds United Service Crew are a football hooligan firm linked to the English Football League team, Leeds United A.F.C. The Service Crew were formed in 1974, and named after the ordinary public service trains that the hooligans would travel on to away matches, rather than the, heavily policed,...
  
  
• List of hooligan firms
• Millwall Bushwackers
  Millwall Bushwackers
  The Millwall Bushwackers are a hooligan firm associated with Millwall F.C..-Background:The original firm associated with Millwall was known as F-Troop....
  
  
• The Muckers
  The Muckers
  The Muckers are a football hooligan firm linked to the football club Blackpool F.C. They take their name from the word mucker, a colloquialism meaning good friend....
  
  

Further reading

• Heaton, Paul; Cowens Steve (2001). Blades Business Crew: The Inside Story of a Football Hooligan Gang, Milo Books, ISBN 978-0953084784