Did you go to the match in the 60s 70s upto the mid 80s?
The world was a different place back then, you didn't have to be a hooligan to get caught up in trouble. And with the shipyards, steel and mining industries still going strong younguns tended to be more rough round the edges than these days, fighting occurred in most pubs in the east Durham pit villages back then and wasn't frowned upon like it is now. That's not to say it's right it's just the way the world was.
When we grew up as teenagers in the seventies you could not go to the next village youth club without getting a slap. Made for interesting nights out. As a few more have said it was a way of life. Just cast your mind back to those days, did you see any young uns cheeking older lads, there was no child help line you work youself you faced the consequences and rightly so. Back then if you acted the twat at school you got a blackboard eraser round your lug. They were different times.