Hibs thugs boast of violence on internet

The site contains graphic descriptions of football violence and also the words of a song about slashing rival fans with a Stanley knife.

The launch of the site follows growing police fears about the rebirth of football "casual" gangs, which were a major problem in the 1980s and 90s.

The group behind the site uses the name Capital City Service (CCS) - the notorious Hibs gang that wreaked havoc in the 1980s and 1990s.

True fans of the Easter Road club today hit out at the website, while Hibs officials warned it could tarnish the reputation of Scottish football.

A spokesman for the Hibs Supporters Association said: "Websites like this do the club no favours and could bring it into disrepute. If these guys want to follow the club they should be able to do so without bringing violence into it.

"As far as we were aware, this thing was dying out years ago and everybody hoped it was gone for good. As the Hibs Supporters Association, we want nothing to do with this site."

An estimated 30 to 40 hard-core casual thugs are again following Hibs and have adopted the CCS title. On the website, recent discussions have included graphic reports of violence before Hibs matches.

Bizarrely, there has also been widespread discussion about the design of a new badge for members of the CCS to wear, with thugs asked to decide what colour and patterns they want to use.

Describing football violence at the west side of Gorgie before the January 2 derby, one thug writes: "Hibs came along from Stratfords bar. There was a stand-off followed by about ten seconds of punches and kicks.

"In between, Hibs lobbed bottles and tumblers before the police arrived very very hyped, looking for aggro themselves."

The site also invites thugs to tell stories about previous violent clashes.

One man tells how fans terrorised members of the public by smashing bus windows as they rampaged through Princes Street after one game. He boasts: "The first game I went to was Hibs v Aberdeen where me and my mate were with a mob at the top of Easter Road.

"There were about 50 of us and Aberdeen were coming up Easter Road and there was a good 150 of them. I was s**tting myself but we steamed into them.

" There was fighting in Wellington Place before we started smashing bus windows on Princes Street. After that I was hooked."

Another casual gleefully retells how Hibs fans clashed with rival fans during a pre-season friendly in London in the 1990s saying: "They were taking punches but stood their ground.

" The biggest plant pot in London was shoved through the pub window, cars were getting smashed and one was overturned. Hibs were everywhere. It was chaos."

The most bizarre posting urges fans to sing a song to the tune of the Hokey Cokey, but with the words: "You put yer Stanley in, Stanley out, in out, in out, shake it all about. You do the Hibee Shuffle and you turn around, That’s what it’s all about."

Hibs officials today refused to condemn the site - instead urging fans to ignore it.

A club spokesman said: "We believe it is ill-advised to give these people any of the publicity they are seeking through establishing a website which promotes behaviour which does nothing but tarnish the reputation of our sport."

A police spokesman said officers had received no complaints about the CCS website. However, one police insider said: "Unless there is evidence that something criminal is happening, we can’t do anything about sites like this."

The website operator refuses to divulge his identity on the website, so could not be contacted for a comment. However, the site has a disclaimer saying it is not intended to promote or glorify violence. No-one from the website’s service provider could be contacted for comment.