The Carling Cup tie between West Ham and Millwall on Tuesday night witnessed scenes of widespread trouble between rival fans the scale of which we haven't seen since...well, since the last time we saw it.

Stewards were jostled, noses were bloodied, outside the stadium window glass shattered and everywhere fully-grown men in large numbers jumped up and down, waving their hands in the air.

Media reports relayed how the clashes extended from inside Upton Park itself to, not only the surrounding area, but London Bridge and Canary Wharf. More riot police were despatched, widespread condemnation was voiced and mobile phone clips were posted on YouTube.

And let's make no mistake, this is the era of the You Tube hooligan.

The most fleeting visit to the site will reveal the frequency of similar incidents over the past few years, although the scale and the fact that these incidents often don't involve Premier League clubs means the level of media coverage isn't always that afforded to Tuesday's game.

Sadder still is the reality that many of these internet postings come from those involved.

Once again there was the assertion that the confrontations were pre-planned, although in terms of the history of the fixture, how much planning was really required? Is it a coincidence that both West Ham and Millwall draw most of their fan base from within their respective communities?

There's the angry riposte among ordinary fans that these mindless thugs are not real fans.

There's also the assertion that when a large group are on the move and in an environment where they'll come into contact with an equally large rival group, it only takes a few troublemakers to incite a flashpoint. Witness the experiences of England fans abroad.

The issues of policing and ticket allocation are continually bandied about. Does a low-key police presence merely give licence to such behaviour? When does heavy-handed policing inadvertently lead to the very types of confrontation a police presence was intended to prevent?

In terms of tickets to away fans, is it a question of too many tickets or not enough? News reports state that a large number of the travelling Millwall contingent didn't have tickets. How many of these realisticaly thought they'd get into the ground?

There are also reports that some of these people were on 'bans' -  i.e. prohibited by law from attending matches.

And then there's the behaviour of the some of the fans inside the ground. TV footage shows that a large number of those on the pitch were old enough to remember Hillsborough and Heysel. I'm not drawing comparisons between those tragedies and this cup game, nor am I pointing the finger at Millwall fans. This match isn't an isolated incident.

Everyone who goes to football has come across this problem to a greater or lesser degree, been inconvenienced by it and sometimes been scared and sickened by the whole unpleasantness.

Gone are the days when travelling fans on Intercity Specials would go anonymously to 'have a right old tear up' in someone else's manor.

Social networking sites, mobile phones and You Tube, not to mention the glut of recent 'casual' and hooligan literature, TV programmes and movies - the latest of which, The Firm, is soon to be released - means that now, maybe more than ever, hooliganism is a burgeoning, if very unfortunate, sub-culture and a tradition passed down by senior statemen to up-and-coming 'top boys.'

It's a complex problem and one that doesn't look like going away in the forseeable future. Most of the attempts at a solution have been aimed at containment. Chairman and 'suits' are coming out in condemnation but it's not really a case of the message falling on deaf ears, rather it's targeting the message at people who aren't listening anyway.

So what can we do, if anything, as fans - as people who want to bring their children to games?

Would a large-scale concerted campaign where the players themselves come out and voice their disapproval (similar to the Stamp Out Racism in Football campaign) achieve anything?

Has it been tried before?

Across the water in Ireland, there's a form of football called 'Gaelic' whereby teams are drawn from players within their own counties. The sport is incredibly popular and draws huge passionate crowds from the areas which the teams represent. Yet there's never a whiff of crowd trouble before, during or after games.

The reason is that the fans themselves en masse see anti-social behaviour as unacceptable and will not allow it to become part of a sport that they are proud to support.

Wouldn't it be great if football fans could find a successful way to promote a similar attitude in the game?

Is there a way that hooliganism can ever be stamped out of football? Can anything be done or will scenes such as those witnessed on Tuesday night forever be part and parcel of the game?