[2][3] The Den, home of Millwall, had been the scene of a riot seven years earlier, when during another FA Cup sixth-round match against Ipswich Town, Millwall-aligned hooligans had injured dozens of their own club's supporters.

Luton had beaten their arch-rivals Watford in the previous round without incident, while Millwall had upset the odds with a 2–0 home victory over top-flight Leicester City.

[5] A disproportionately large away following, twice the size of Millwall's average home gate, arrived on the day of the game, and by 5.00 p.m. pubs and newsagents around the town were having windows smashed as the police struggled to cope.

Ten minutes later, officers of the Bedfordshire Police were helpless as hundreds of visitors scaled the fences in front of the stand to rush down the pitch towards Luton's supporters in the packed Oak Road End.

A hail of bottles, cans, nails and coins saw the home supporters fleeing up the terraces, but their numbers, still growing as fans entered the stand, meant that there was little they could do to avoid the missiles.

A message appeared on the stadium's electronic scoreboard, stating that the match would not start until they returned to their allocated area, but this was ignored; an appeal from Graham over the ground's loudspeaker also had no effect.

The arrival of police dogs helped to clear the pitch; the match began on time, with many watching from atop the Bobbers Stand after climbing the floodlight pylons.

Luton goalkeeper Les Sealey, who had to stand in front of the Millwall fans during the second half, received a missile to the head, and a knife was also found in the goalmouth after the game.

[2][9] The seats ripped from the stand were hurled onto the pitch towards the police, who started to fall back, before regrouping and charging in waves, batons drawn.

Children around me clung to their parents in fear; women and pensioners vowed never to go to a football match again… The scenes before me were ones of open bloody warfare… I was reminded of the Brixton riots.

And not to despair at how low life had sunk; for these were not fans, they were not people, they were animals.The carnage continued through the town, as a battle between the mob and the police developed, leaving smashed cars, shops and homes in its wake.

[13] Chelsea chairman Ken Bates claimed that he intended to erect electric fences at Stamford Bridge to avert such an incident at his club.

[15] Luton Town announced a £1 million overhaul of Kenilworth Road soon after – the club would spend £350,000 on a new artificial pitch that summer,[16] and £650,000 on converting the ground to an all-seater.

The football hooliganism "War Cabinet", set up following the incident by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, attempted to have such schemes adopted by clubs nationwide without success.