West Ham United Fan Single-Handedly Stopped AZ Alkmaar Ultras From Attacking the Hammers Fans
- last year
A pair of British football fans have earned widespread praise for their valiant efforts to defend the family of West Ham players from harm by fighting off a gang of Dutch hooligans last night.
West Ham's successful Europa Conference League semi-final clash with AK Alkmaar descended into utter chaos at the final whistle when a group of violent Alkmaar fans, wearing hoods and clad all in black, tried to force their way into the away side's hospitality area.
But a pair of heroic Hammers fans stood their ground atop two stairwells leading up to the stands, going blow-for-blow with the oncoming horde and ultimately stopping them from reaching the players' loved ones.
Incredible footage and photos of the scene showed two fairly elderly supporters refusing to budge, soaking up the punishment dealt out by the Alkmaar ultras and forcing them back down the stairs.
One of the brave fans, nicknamed 'Knollsy', received huge plaudits on social media when one of his friends let slip he'd recently undergone a hip replacement but still rose to the defense of one West Ham player's girlfriend.
Knollsy's friend wrote: 'A bit of context, we were sitting behind Thilo Kerher's girlfriend. Knollsy was worried about her and walked to the top of the stairwell, fending off the storming Alkmaar fans.
'He's a lovely bloke and did what he felt was right at the time. He stopped those fans.'
One impressed social media user likened Knollsy's feat to the Battle of Stamford Bridge - where a legendary Norse axeman held off an entire Saxon army, killing 40, as he blocked a narrow bridge in 1066.
He said: 'Buy that man a beer. It's like a scene from the Battle of Stamford Bridge - one dude holding back the horde.'
Others compared him to the character Hodor from Game of Thrones and the Spartans in the film 300, where the famed warriors stopped an invading army 100 times their size.
There have been calls for him to receive free tickets to the Europa Conference League final, and some fans have already begun paying their tributes to Knollsy with artwork, posting paintings and drawings of his battle on social media.
A second fan wearing a green shirt pulled off a similarly miraculous defense of his idols' families, pushing and shoving at the hooded hooligans surging up the stairs toward him.
He stood immovable, swinging punches and forcing thug after thug to retreat down the stairwell.
West Ham's successful Europa Conference League semi-final clash with AK Alkmaar descended into utter chaos at the final whistle when a group of violent Alkmaar fans, wearing hoods and clad all in black, tried to force their way into the away side's hospitality area.
But a pair of heroic Hammers fans stood their ground atop two stairwells leading up to the stands, going blow-for-blow with the oncoming horde and ultimately stopping them from reaching the players' loved ones.
Incredible footage and photos of the scene showed two fairly elderly supporters refusing to budge, soaking up the punishment dealt out by the Alkmaar ultras and forcing them back down the stairs.
One of the brave fans, nicknamed 'Knollsy', received huge plaudits on social media when one of his friends let slip he'd recently undergone a hip replacement but still rose to the defense of one West Ham player's girlfriend.
Knollsy's friend wrote: 'A bit of context, we were sitting behind Thilo Kerher's girlfriend. Knollsy was worried about her and walked to the top of the stairwell, fending off the storming Alkmaar fans.
'He's a lovely bloke and did what he felt was right at the time. He stopped those fans.'
One impressed social media user likened Knollsy's feat to the Battle of Stamford Bridge - where a legendary Norse axeman held off an entire Saxon army, killing 40, as he blocked a narrow bridge in 1066.
He said: 'Buy that man a beer. It's like a scene from the Battle of Stamford Bridge - one dude holding back the horde.'
Others compared him to the character Hodor from Game of Thrones and the Spartans in the film 300, where the famed warriors stopped an invading army 100 times their size.
There have been calls for him to receive free tickets to the Europa Conference League final, and some fans have already begun paying their tributes to Knollsy with artwork, posting paintings and drawings of his battle on social media.
A second fan wearing a green shirt pulled off a similarly miraculous defense of his idols' families, pushing and shoving at the hooded hooligans surging up the stairs toward him.
He stood immovable, swinging punches and forcing thug after thug to retreat down the stairwell.