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Inside violent 'Football Factory' hooligan firms infiltrated by daring undercover agents

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Chelsea's Headhunters claim to be one of the original football hooligan firms in England. Their roots can be traced back to the 1960s and 70s when hooliganism was in its infancy and they were known as the 'Chelsea Shed Boys.' However, they rose to notoriety in the 1980s and 1990s when violence at football was an all-too-often occurrence.

The group are said to be the inspiration for the hooligan firm in the hit Nick Love film The Football Factory. In 1986 they became the subject of the first high-profile police operation against hooligans to hit the headlines - codenamed 'Operation Own Goal.'It saw plain-clothes officers spend months gathering intelligence on them before seven fans were arrested, with five subsequently being jailed.

However a number of charges were also thrown out. Prosecutors said rival fans were seriously wounded and left unconscious with 'calling cards' which said 'You have been nominated and dealt with by the Chelsea Headhunters.'However, it was shortly before the turn of the Millennium that they fell victim to a more high-profile sting, thanks to the award-winning documentary maker Donal Macintyre, dubbed "the man with the most dangerous job in television."He posed as a drug dealer wanting to become involved in football violence and went undercover with the firm for 18 months, secretly filming what he saw using hidden cameras.

In order to convince them he was a genuine fan, he even got a Chelsea tattoo (passing out in the process) and moved into the flat next door to one member of the gang.The results of his investigation were then aired in the first episode of his series Macintyre Undercover, broadcast in 1999.

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