No one likes them, they don’t care. That’s the message Millwall fans like to parade, a nod to the fact that – thanks to historic associations with hooliganism, racism and the far right – theirs is the football club with perhaps the worst reputation in the country. A siege mentality has long since descended on Bermondsey, their patch of south London. Fans wear the “Nobody likes us, we don’t care” slogan on T-shirts, badges and scarves. They even dress their kids in bobble hats that proudly proclaim it.
Harry Lawson’s art film Millwall on the Screen, currently showing at Chemist Gallery in Lewisham, utilises three screens to tell a more nuanced story of the community around the club. Each one flickers on and off with lingering shots of modern-day fans, anecdotes about the local area and old footage debating Millwall’s “image problem”. The multiple screens give the viewer the feeling of heading to a game, where ticket queues, police horses and noisy fans all vie for your attention. It also keeps you on your toes.
