From the 1980s to 2001, fans developed a look that came to epitomise an era when football still belonged to the masses.

That look, the brands, the labels, the faces, the grounds, the stands and the streets around the stadiums were of an age rife with football casual culture, when the lifestyle on the terraces was a far cry from today’s Premier League and the luxury of the multi million pound super stadia.

The pictures and anecdotes come from the cult book ‘A Casual Look: A Photodiary of Football Fans, 1980s to 2001’ by Lorne Brown and Nick Harvey. Combined, they give a brutally honest insight into life on and off the terraces.

It was an era of football that became as famous for the Casual look adopted by the fans on the terraces, along with their often hostile exploits, rather than what was actually happening with the football on the pitch. 

The pictures predominately focus on the supporters of Brighton and Hove Albion for the 20 years or so from the early 80s, but the candid photos also capture life on the terraces in games from Millwall and Cardiff City.

These were the Football Casuals. And the look they manufactured heralded a time when fashion really mattered to both sets of fans massing at the turnstiles.

Life then was a far cry from the football that’s on offer for a modern day supporter, where fans are catered for in high-end stadiums, or in the comfort of their own home, spoon fed on a diet of round the clock live televised football.

But the game has been through a major shift since the 70s and 80s when football was mainly the preoccupation of the working class.

Football was both their escape and their fashion outlet, and it fuelled an era when teenage, fashion conscious football fans packed the terraces. 

This new breed were Football Casuals, treading a path that progressed through fandom and fashion and often ended in violence. 

Over time the Casual look became more synonymous with young males in general, forging a link between football, fashion and music. From Skinheads to Mods, Paul Weller’s Jam then The Style Council provided the soundtrack to this new wave sweeping the terraces, a musical backbeat taken up by the likes of Oasis and Blur. 

This mix created a subsection of football culture, typified by outbreaks of hooliganism and the wearing of expensive designer clothing and sportswear, including brands like Stone Island, CP Company, Lacoste, Pringle, Sergio Tacchini, Fila, Hackett, Ellesse, Napapijri and Fred Perry, often in order to avoid the attention of police and to intimidate rivals. 

It was a new subculture, the creation of tribes of football fans who did not wear club colours, making it easier to infiltrate rival groups and get into the pubs where opposing supporters gathered.

Liverpool fans were the trend setters, in their Peter Storm jackets, straight-leg jeans and Adidas trainers. They had seen it all on their excursions throughout Europe and brought the trend home with them, along with the spoils of victory. They are considered to be the first football fans from Britain to wear European fashions, which they picked up during their first triumphant European Cup runs of the 70s and 80s.

What was happening on the terraces grabbed the attention of Lorne Brown, co author of the book. Disinterested in what was happening on the pitch when he finally went to his first game, he found himself transfixed by the supporters.

“I don’t remember much of the game or the final score,” he said. “I was more interested in watching the fans. That is how it started. 

“I started going to games frequently after that, not always going to the match itself.

“I liked the scene, the people, the clothes and the excitement surrounding it.”

Explained his fellow author Nick Harvey: “The casual look took over the scene in the early 1980s. The skinheads made easy targets for the police and soon became history with the casuals taking over the terraces.

“The casual fashion gave police a hard time in the early days to pick out the rival fans. Dressed like young conservatives who were only too happy to have it with the opposing team’s firm. Since the Casual look, only those who want to know are involved. The Stone Island label today is an ID tag to spot potential lads.”

Harvey described how it worked, the lack of club colours, and scarves, the unofficial means of travel to away games. Supporters would arrive “unannounced”, he said, “on early trains or by hiring coaches and minibuses.”

Fans had to be inventive in finding just the right look. Said Harvey: “In the original days you would go to London or into the gentleman’s outfitters, sports shops or golf shops. “Breaking into golf club shops for Pringle jumpers was quite common, or stealing clothes from shops including extra labels like Kickers shoe tags, Stone Island badges and sports jacket zippers. 

“Shops resorted to removing any labels that could be removed and stored them by the till.

“The hunt for the label down south was mainly a trip to London to shops like, Harrods ‘Way In’,  Lillywhites sports shop, The Scotch House, Woodhouse, Reiss, Quincy, Supreme Fashions, Nick Nack and Stuarts. In Liverpool you had Wade Smith and MC Sports and Manchester you had Hurleys.

“Once you made your purchase you hoped you would not see your top on the terraces worn by someone else.”

Brown had started taking his camera with him to games.

“I’d always taken pictures of my friends, “he said, “so saw little difference in taking shots of my days out at football.

“Looking back on them now, I see the photos more as a document of my youth and a record of fans, friends and places I have been over the years.

“You can see for yourself how things have changed, the clothes, the haircuts, the police, even the stadiums.

“Some of it looks very dated now but through the photos any memories are as fresh as the day they happened.”