London attackBrave Millwall fan saved many
The fans of Millwall Football Club, a soccer club located in Bermondsey, South East London, have long prided themselves on their refusal to duck a fight, celebrating their intimidating reputation with the chant: “No-one likes us, we don’t care.” Roy Larner, a 47-year old Millwall fan, was at the Black and Blue steakhouse on Saturday night when the three terrorists, wielding knives, burst into the restaurant shouting “Islam, Islam, this is for Allah.” Larner did not turn away to run, however. “I took a few steps towards them and said, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall’. So they started attacking me,” he told the Sun. Larner fought the three attackers with his bare hands, and bleeding profusely, followed them out of the restaurant, continuing to punch them. The police said that had it not been for the fact that Larner stood his ground and occupied the three attackers for a few minutes, the number of dead and injured would have been higher.
The fans of Millwall Football Club, a soccer club located in Bermondsey, South East London, have long prided themselves on their refusal to duck a fight, celebrating their intimidating reputation with the chant: “No-one likes us, we don’t care.”
Over the years, quite a few of these fans have been brought up on charges of hooliganism and violence for fights they instigated, or were drawn into, in the stands.
At times, however, this refusal to back down can be useful.
Roy Larner, a 47-year old Millwall fan, was at the Black and Blue steakhouse on Saturday night when the three terrorists, wielding knives, burst into the restaurant shouting “Islam, Islam, this is for Allah.”
Larner did not turn away to run, however.
“I shouted back at them. I thought, ‘I need to take the p**s out of these b******s’,” he told the Sun.
“I took a few steps towards them and said, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall’. So they started attacking me.”
Larner added: “I stood in front of them trying to fight them off. Everyone else ran to the back.
“I was on my own against all three of them, that’s why I got hurt so much.
“It was just me, trying to grab them with my bare hands and hold on. I was swinging.
“I got stabbed and sliced eight times. They got me in my head, chest and both hands. There was blood everywhere.
“They were saying, ‘Islam, Islam!’. I said again, ‘F*** you, I’m Millwall!’
“Luckily, none of the blows were straight at me or I’d be dead.”
The police said that had it not been for the fact that Larner stood his ground and occupied the three attackers for a few minutes, the number of dead and injured would have been higher.
After being stabbed eight times, the attackers turned to stab other people who were coming out of area bars, but Larner, bleeding profusely, followed them, continuing to punch them with his bare hands forcing them to try and repel him rather than attack more people.
“It wasn’t until I was in a police car,” said Larner, “That I realized I was in a bad way. I’d been sliced up all over.”
“I didn’t think of my safety at the time,” he added. “I’d had four or five pints — nothing major.
“I can handle myself. But I was out with an old person and it was out of order.”
A petition has been launched for him to be awarded the George Cross medal for his bravery.
The best comment on Larner’s actions came from Piers Morgan, a fan of London club Arsenal, located in the more genteel Islington neighborhood in north London (before the club moved in 2006 to the Emirate Stadium, they played, for more than a 100 years, at the Highbury Stadium which, among football fans, was known as the “Highbury Library”). On Good Morning Britain, Morgan told viewers: “Millwall fans get a very bad rap, a lot of it very deserved, but there are times when you really want a lot of Millwall fans, and that was one of them.”
