Hooliganism in Football or Soccer

The dark side of football is represented by hooliganism. Despite the fact that the British government and the media accepted it as a serious issue only in the 1960s, hooligan behavior at sporting events has a long history. 'Roughs' were on a regular basis denounced as starting trouble at football fields even from the start of the professional game at the end of the nineteenth century. A number of clubs which were located in particularly tough areas had many confrontations regarding the behavior of the spectators. In the game's earliest days, local 'derby' matches usually were the center of crowd disorder, even if no visiting fans attended the game because home 'roughs' were not shy to intimidate referees as well as the players from the visiting team, sometimes chasing them out of town!

Between the First and the Second World War a change appeared and football generally became more 'respectable' and crowd problems diminished but did not disappear. Only in the first years of the 1960s the media concentrated on football and started to report more frequently acts of hooliganism at matches. Simultaneously, in the British society there was a general moral crisis concerning the behavior of teenagers caused by an increase in the number of cases of juvenile crime. In this atmosphere, football became more and more identified as a venue at which fistfights and other kinds of disturbing activities regularly occurred. Around this period, football hooliganism in England began to change and take on a more structured aspect that is associated with the phenomenon today.

After the Second World War, the second part of the 1960s saw some sort of alliances being formed between groups of young men from the suburbs, boys with a bad background. These fans located themselves at the goal-end terraces of football stadiums. They considered it to be their territory and proceeded to take certain measures that would ensure older spectators and rival fans would not have access. The evolving of these youth ends and their function in protecting local masculine reputations contributed to the development of a national network of gang rivalries that were concentrating on football.

For the teenager that were part of these groups, their own performance in beating or intimidating rival gangs began to become more vital than the results of the teams they were supposed to have come and support. By the late-1980s most escalated confrontations between fans of opposite sides no longer occurred over territories inside grounds.

After a period when hooliganism seemed to be an everyday presence in football, a series of laws were adopted to improve the situation. For the majority of football fans in the top leagues hooliganism no longer seems to have such a serious and negative influence. In 2000, 19% of all FA Premier League supporters stated that they had witnessed acts of hooliganism or objects being tossed at matches in the 1999/2000 season. The most serious problems that a Premier League fan has to deal with seem to be high ticket prices and kickoff times. Just 28% underlined hooliganism. Moreover, since the start of the new millennium only a very insignificant number of fans stated that there is an increase in football hooliganism. However, in lower football leagues hooligans still make their presence felt at certain matches.

The hooliganism phenomenon has been analyzed by many people in order to find out the basic characteristics of football 'bad apple'. If we were to make a portrait of a typical hooligan, the evidence suggests that we need to look at young people in their late teens or their 20s (this numbers do not apply to leaders) with jobs that provide a very low income. It is no surprise that London hooligans usually have more influence than the ones from the northern part of England. Moreover, it is defiantly stylish and macho in these types of groups to underline that you have the possibility to spend on, or to steal, original sportswear or leisure wear and that you have a good sense of fashion. Competition on these aspects between football gangs and within them has been powerful, and rival fans often express ironic remarks concerning the style of the others the accent being on underlining cheap and unfashionable cloths.

Hopefully, they will grow up... and come to know true life values.