The Real Football Factories International

Infobox Television
show_name = The Real Football Factories International
genre = Documentary
runtime = 60 minutes (inc. commercials)
starring = Danny Dyer
narrated = Danny Dyer
country = UK
location = Various
language = English
network = Bravo
num_episodes = 8

"The Real Football Factories International" is a documentary style programme about football hooliganism across the world. "The Real Football Factories" was the first series, where presenter and actor Danny Dyer travelled the UK, meeting some of the more notorious football firms. In this spin-off series, Dyer goes international, meeting firms from across the globe. Dyer played the main character of Tommy Johnson, a main member of a fictional Chelsea firm in the 2004 film "The Football Factory.

In 'The Real Football Factories International', Dyer visits Turkey, Argentina, Italy, Croatia and Serbia, The Netherlands, Brazil, Poland and Russia.

In late 2007, The Score in Canada started to broadcast these episodes along with "The Real Football Factories." But with an altered soundtrack due to copyright issues.

Episode guide

*flagicon|Turkey Turkey
*flagicon|Argentina Argentina
*flagicon|Italy Italy
*flagicon|Croatia flagicon|Serbia Croatia and Serbia
*flagicon|Netherlands Holland
*flagicon|Brazil Brazil
*flagicon|Poland Poland
*flagicon|Russia Russia

Episode 1: Turkey

In the first episode, Dyer goes to Turkey, one of the more notorious countries for football violence, due to the passion of their supporters. The episode is shot mainly in Istanbul, where the countries two biggest clubs and fierce rivals are Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray. Dyer meets two members of Fenerbahçe's firm, "KFY (Kill For You)" and learns of one of their supporters, nicknamed "Rambo", who once broke into Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen Stadium with a Fenerbahçe flag and a kebab knife. He then meets Alpaslan, the leader of Galatasarays UltrAslan Ultras group. Dyer speaks with them about their hatred of Fenerbahçe; and also their hatred of English fans, which had been exposed in 2000 when two Leeds United fans were fatally stabbed in Istanbul at a UEFA Cup semi-final match against Galatasaray.

Dyer then meets up with a few more of Fenerbahçe's KFY, before they take him to the Fenerbahçe vs Galatasaray derby match at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. Fenerbahçe win the game 2-1 and Galatasaray fans tear apart the away section of the ground. Dyer then goes to experience lower division football in Turkey in İzmir, and meets the firms of the two main teams in the city. First he meets the Göztepe A.Ş. team and travels with their 'Yali' firm to an away game. He then meets their arch-rivals Karşıyaka S.K., whose firm are run by godfather type figures, who bring the players and management over to the fans after the game to celebrate with them.

Episode 2: Argentina

In Argentina, Dyer travels mainly around the capital city, Buenos Aires, meeting firms from all across the city and province. Buenos Aires has the most football clubs in one city in the world. Rivalry and violence between fans is never far away. First is the Club Atlético Independiente vs Racing Club de Avellaneda derby, in the port town of Avellaneda in Buenos Aires Province. Dyer is taken to the Popular, a stand said to be so crazy, that even the Police will allegedly not enter it. Ten minutes into the game, the stand is jumping so much that the Independiente firm member Dyer is with takes them out of the Popular and into a safer stand. Independiente take a 2-0 lead, and the Racing Club fans take matters into their own hands. The game is abandoned due to crowd trouble in the away section. We then meet members of Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield's firm, who take Dyer onto the pitch of their stadium and around the trophy room, something that Dyer would never get back home in his home country of England. Finally he meets Rafa Di Zeo, the leader of the La Doce firm from Boca Juniors. Dyer learns that firms are an integral part of the clubs in Argentina, and that it is very different from justify the pre-arranged violence between sets of supporters in the English game.

Episode 3: Italy

Italy has a reputation for football violence, in part due to the Ultras culture. Dyer firstly travels to Turin, and meets the "Drughi" Ultras from Juventus. The "Drughi" are named after the Droogs in the cult film A Clockwork Orange. Dyer speaks with members of the "Drughi" about the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, and is told of Juventus fans hatred of all English football fans.

Dyer then briefly travels to Bergamo in Lombardy, and meets a top member of Atalanta B.C.'s "Curva Nord" Ultras. Dyer then goes to Rome and attends the biggest derby in Italian football, the Derby della Capitale, between S.S. Lazio and A.S. Roma. The two teams share the Stadio Olimpico, with Lazio fans using the "Curva Nord" as their home stand, and Roma fans using the "Curva Sud" as their home stand. In the first half, Dyer stands in the "Curva Sud" with Roma's ultras, where before kick off, Roma legend Marco Delvecchio comes and greets the fans in the stand. At half time Danny goes round to the other side of the stadium to experience the derby from the "Curva Nord" with Lazio's "Irriducibili" ultras. Lazio end up winning the match 3-0, sparking wild celebrations in the "Curva Nord".

Episode 4: Croatia and Serbia

In his trip to the Balkans, Dyer visits both Croatia and Serbia who fought one of the bloodiest civil wars in recent European history. A war which some believe began with the riot between fans of (Croatian club) Dinamo Zagreb and (Serbian club) Red Star Belgrade in May 1990. In Croatia he attends the biggest match in their footballing calendar, Hajduk Split vs Dinamo Zagreb in Split. He then sets off on a road formerly known as the "Road of Brotherhood and Unity" into Serbia, where he meets Partizan Belgrade’s hardcore Grobari (the Grave Diggers) ultras. Exclusive access is seen of a Grobari party, which involves food, drink, drugs, karaoke, and guns. One of the songs featured in this episode is AC/DC's Back in Black when showing highlights of the Grobari party.

Episode 5: The Netherlands

The Dutch are famous for their tolerant culture and liberal attitude to sex and drugs. Dyer begins his journey in Amsterdam where he takes in the cosmopolitan life of the capital. But Danny soon learns that Holland has a dark underbelly as he starts his journey into its fierce and secretive hooligan culture. Whilst in Amsterdam he has a secret meeting with the F -Side Firm of AFC Ajax. He learns about Ajax’s long standing rivalry with Feyenoord hooligans from Rotterdam which has seen bombings and even murder. He then travels to Rotterdam where he experiences, De Klassieker (The Classic) derby, Feyenoord against Ajax - the biggest game in Holland. We see how drugs and weapons have fueled their rivalries which have seen the firms battle around the football ground and even at clubs and raves.

Dyer then travels to The Hague to find out how the rivalries have intensified with arson attacks and the difficulties the police have in controlling the spread of hooliganism. His final destination is Utrecht where he finds out about the hooligans' power and influence within clubs. He meets the Utrecht firm who have a base within the football club. It becomes apparent that many of the firms are deeply embedded in the clubs and violence has become a part of Dutch culture.

Episode 6: Brazil

Brazil is considered to be one of the most violent societies in the world; a society with a high murder rate. Brazilian football is rife with passion and brutality. In Rio de Janeiro Dyer visits the Raça Rubro Negra a Torcida group from Flamengo. He learns that in Brazil the firms are waging war, with guns and shootings commonplace. In Porto Alegre he meets two more torcida groups: Geral do Grêmio of Grêmio and Camisa 12 of Sport Club Internacional and he attends a game between the two clubs. In São Paulo he meets the torcida group, Mancha Verde (Green Stain) of Palmeiras who he travels with to Rio de Janeiro. During the trip gun violence is experienced first hand as they come under fire from a rival group from Botafogo.

Episode 7: Poland

During this film Dyer visits Poland, a country which has been saddled with the yoke of oppression throughout its history. To begin his journey, he heads to Gdańsk where he meets the Lechia's supporters "Chuligani Wolnego Miasta" - firm who helped topple the communist regime. He then travels on to Kraków to sample "The Holy War" (pol. "Święta Wojna") - the Kraków derby between Wisła and Cracovia. At first he meets one of Cracovia's hooligans group - "Anty Wisła", later he could talk with "Sharks" (main of Wisła's hool's). October 28 2006 Danny could experience what that mean The Holy War. On stadium it has come for fight Cracovia's hooligans against police. In the 18 months leading up the derby, eight fans have died due to football violence in Kraków, a city also ominously known, in hooligan circles, as "The City of Knives". Dyer wanted to talk with main two groups of Polish ultras - Legia's "Nieznani Sprawcy" and Lech's "LPU", but they were not wanted to meet with television. Danny leaves Poland reflecting on a country whose football violence problem appears to be stuck in a 1980s time warp.

Episode 8: Russia

In Russia, Dyer visits Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Whilst in Moscow it quickly becomes apparent that it is a city which is out of the ordinary. Moscow has its own rules, and beneath its exterior it becomes apparent that anything goes. He meets Vasilli the Killer the leader of Spartak Moscows Gladiators firm. Whilst in Russia his fame from the film, "Football Factory" precedes him when outside a game he is mobbed. He learns that the CSKA Moscow and Spartak firms went to watch the film together in the same cinema, and to celebrate they took to the streets for a fight afterwards. He also meets a female hooligan, a unique experience on his travels around the world.

External links

* [http://www.bravo.co.uk/factories/ Official site]
* [http://www.football.virginmedia.com/page/Dannydire/?WT.mc_id=bbvm&vmsrc=bbdd Danny Dyer Parody]