Hooliganism When Good Blokes Go

Hooliganism

When Good Blokes Go Bad: Soccer Hooliganism in British Culture and Legal Responses Thereto

In this modern age where feats of physical strength are no longer necessary to the survival of individuals in a society or to that society's way of life, it can perhaps seem strange that athletic prowess is still as revered and as capable of capturing the public imagination as is the case. In ancient Greece, where the original Olympics were held, the feats of speed, strength, and general athletic ability were meant to how of the prowess that individuals would have had in battle, and although warfare is still very much a part of modern society it now depends far less in the individual athletic abilities of the soldiers fighting in any given battle. As society no longer actually needs athletic ability, it would make sense for these abilities to fade to the background in terms of society's attention to them.

This is far from what has actually occurred in Western society, however. Instead, athletic prowess has reached a new level of cultural importance and reverence in the age of mass media, with boxing heroes and race horses first capturing national attention, then vying (and ultimately losing) to the superstars of newer sports like cricket, baseball, American football, basketball, and what is easily the most popular sport in the entire world: what Americans call soccer and the rest of the world knows as "football" (or the equivalent in their own native tongue). The best players in these sports tend to become national heroes as well as extremely high-paid celebrities with decades of endorsement payoffs even after they retire.

The pay-scales of professional athletes and their stature in their own countries and internationally is evidence of the extreme importance that is attached to athleticism in the modern era. It is not only individual players that receive an extreme amount of attention from entertainment media sources and the public at large, however, but teams, specific match-ups, and the often complex final tournaments that decide annual champions are all matters of intense scrutiny and emotional attachment to many individuals. The Superbowl, the champion-determining game held each January between the two top American football teams in the National Football League, is the center of the biggest and most expensive advertising blitz every year, and the World Cup championship games determining a national winner in soccer/football is home to equal advertiser attention throughout the world.

While it is obvious that many people take a great deal of harmless enjoyment out of watching their sports teams succeed -- and even manage to take it relatively good-naturedly when they fail -- the extreme emotional attachment that much of the public has to their sports teams and figures can translate into negative behaviors as well. Gang identification with various sports teams leads to violence associated with certain logos or colors, and riots are often feared at the win or the loss of a local sports team in many cities around the world. For this reason, certain laws and regulations have begun to develop in response to what can only be described as sports related mania, an increasing phenomenon presenting an increasing danger to public safety and to property and posing a growing problem to law enforcement.

This paper examines one very specific form of sports mania -- namely, "hooliganism" amongst British soccer fans -- and its cultural origins and effects. In addition, the manner in which the British legal and law enforcement systems have addressed -- and perhaps failed to address -- the issue of soccer hooliganism. An examination of news articles and research studies regarding these issues will be utilized to come to a better understanding of what the basic impulses behind the continued reverence of athletes and sports teams are, and how these translate for some individuals into the basic depravity, disregard, and lawlessness that defines hooliganism. From this understanding, might be possible to extrapolate larger and more general conjectures as to the nature of sports fervor and sports related mania in other cultures and with other types of sports, as well.

"Hooliganism" Defined

For those living in parts of the world that have not really experienced "hooliganism" on the scale that exists in Great Britain -- for anyone that is not British, really -- the terms "hooligan" and "hooliganism" might seem both quaint and ill-defined. Even British individuals that have experienced first hand what "football hooligans" are capable of might be hard pressed to come up with an exacting and precise definition of the term. Developing a definition of hooliganism is somewhat easier in Great Britain than it is in other European countries, however, because the phenomenon has long held an official status and there are actually hooligan clubs or firms that typify specific behaviors (Kerr 1994).

The essential purpose behind these hooligan clubs, at least in their most direct and simplistic incarnations, is to support a (usually local) soccer team by opposing the supporters of all other teams (Kerr 1994; Julian 2010). The way in which they do this is typically by brawling with other, rival hooligans, or simply by trouncing supporters of other teams (or "clubs," as they are called in Britain) at the matches between rival teams (Julian 2010). Fights are sometimes also scheduled to take place in an almost formal way, in places distant from sports stadium where there will be a lower level of law enforcement presence and the violent activities are less liable to attract immediate attention (Julian 2010; Dunning 2000). At its most basic, then, hooliganism is the practice of and participation in violence directed at the fans and/or supporters of a rival soccer team (or "football club").

This definition does not quite account for all of the activities that hooligans engage in, however. In addition to fighting amongst rival hooligan firms, there have been many instances of property damage to business owners nearby to stadiums after losses (and after wins) due to purposeful and/or indirect hooliganism, including one instance where an American pub owner was beaten almost to death inside his own business establishment (Farrington 1994; Julian 2010). These types of behaviors have even been known to lead to massive riots, such as during the Euro 2000 Championships (Johnston 2010). Though hooligan activity reached a height of public attention and public danger in the 1980s, full-blown riots resulting from hooligan behavior have been known to occur even today, and hooliganism might be headed for a resurgence.

There are also other elements to hooliganism that, while not directly a part of the original intent of most hooligan firms and certainly not the definitive features of hooliganism, are still quite important form a cultural and a law enforcement perspective. Hooligan firms are often highly racist, and a definite tendency towards right-wing extremism and ultra-nationalism has been observed in many different hooligan organizations (Julian 2010; Farrington 1994; Kerr 1994; Johnston 2010; Mackey 2010; Dunning 2000). For some firms, the political intentions and motivations can actually override the support of the soccer team for which the firm was originally formed, and though these groups tend to be on the fringe of the political scene they can be influential in local politics and have definite implications on national cultural trends (Johnston 2010; Kerr 1994).

From these descriptions, it can be seen that hooliganism is not really as simplistic as it might appear at first glance. While ostensibly and superficially rooted in the near-fanatical support for a specific sports team, hooliganism has come to refer not only to violence against rival fanatical supporters, but against other fans and the general public as well as their property, and is also associated with right-wing extremism, racism, and general political unrest. Law enforcement has difficulty dealing with issues this complex in any way other than a direct manner countering actions taken by hooligans, yet developing a deeper understanding of exactly where the impulses that give rise to hooliganism originate and how they might be controlled or directed elsewhere could yield more effective solutions.

The Sociology of Hooliganism

Many scholars have suggested that it is the political bent of hooliganism and of specific hooligan firms that can best describe their origins and the cultural impulses that lead to these behaviors and organizations, rather than the sports fanaticism that is their most salient feature to the casual observer (Kerr 1994; Dunning 2000; Farrington 1994). By examining the general attitudes and values that individuals have evinced during or following their engagement in hooligan activities, these scholars have begun to construct sociological explanations for the phenomenon of hooligan behaviors. Furthermore, these explanations could help to explain not only why hooliganism occurs but also why there is an apparent resurgence of these activities in recent years and how this climb in the frequency and degree of hooliganism and hooligan organization membership might be forestalled.

Farrington (1994) has observed that aggressive behaviors that lead to hooliganism occur predominately in white, working class families, and the almost exclusively male membership in hooligan organizations is not so much a matter of policy as of prudence on the part of even aggressive females, it has been suggested. Hooliganism, like other forms of violent and aggressive behavior, can be traced to frustrated male needs for assertion, and the staunch identification with a sports team gives at once a sense of belonging and a clearly demarcated territory to "protect" (Farrington 1994). In this way, hooliganism fulfills a need that males who feel culturally disenfranchised experience in a sharp way (Farrington 1994).

Other scholars take a more historical view of hooliganism, tracing its origins and development in the twentieth century as a means of constructing a series of cause-and-effect sequences that led to the height of hooliganism and associated violence in the 1980s, and is possibly leading to a second rise today (Dunning 2000). Also included in this particular piece of research were interviews and other recorded statements made by hooliganism participants, and these demonstrated from a different perspective many findings similar to those of Farrington (1994): many men were feeling increasingly disillusioned and disenfranchised by ongoing political events, and these feelings were becoming increasingly evidenced in violent manners that hooliganism gave a direction and a sense of purpose to (Dunning 2000). The 1980s in Great Britain was typified by Thatcherism, which included the privatization of many formerly state-controlled operations, massive deregulation, and ultimately worsening conditions for the middle and working classes, and this can possibly be linked to the rise in hooliganism during this period (Dunning 2000).

A more complex psychological view of the phenomenon is found in the application of reversal theory has also been put forth, in which motivations align in such a way as to promote collective violence (Kerr 1994). Specifically, becoming intensely motivated by goals rather than an enjoyment of process and by the exercise of power with a sense of group identity can lead to hooliganism, and intensifications of these feelings can be noted in sociological and psychological studies of Great Britain over the past decades, according to some (Kerr 1994).

The origins of hooliganism in the cultural mindset and in the minds of individual hooligans are obviously quite complex, and there are many different explanations for how exactly these feelings and behaviors of hooliganism arise. These theories are not necessarily mutually exclusive, however, as they actually come to remarkably similar conclusions. It is a confluence of sociological, historical/political, and psychological mechanisms that produces violent and ultra right-wing hooligan firms, and unfortunately these firms are self-perpetuating, serving as attractions to other individuals that are experiencing similar reactions to their life course within their society and ongoing political events. In this way, hooliganism manages to remain strong even when it is not especially prominent, and changes in economic and political events can have a major impact on hooliganism levels, as well.

Law's Reaction

It is for this reason that legal action against hooliganism has become increasingly preemptive in nature, taking place at the legislative level rather than simply through brawls that have left hooligans, police, and wholly innocent bystanders dead (Johnston 2010; Julian 2010; Mackey 2010). It must be asked, however, if what has been done is enough, or perhaps even more pressingly if the legislative action that has been taken is truly appropriate given current knowledge regarding hooliganism and its roots. The answer to this last question is a fairly resoudning, "no," which can be demonstrated by an examination of the various legal and law enforcements responses to hooliganism over the decades.