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Football hooliganism

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Football hooliganism is a distinct form of disorderly behaviour or hooliganism in which participants are supporters or adherents of one or more football clubs or national teams, and is frequently, although not exclusively, evidenced at or immediately before or after matches.

Although football hooliganism has only attracted widespread media attention in the last 50 years or so, it has its roots as far back as the early days of the game in the late 1800s, when gangs of supporters would intimidate neighbourhoods, attack opposing supporters, or players and referees.

England

Football hooliganism, as it is currently recognised in England, has its roots in the 1960s, when levels of violence at, before and after matches rose sharply. The government of the day responded with the Public Order Act (1968), which, amongst other provisions, allowed for the courts to ban offenders from football grounds. This however did little to staunch the waves of violence that erupted on match-days. In 1985 the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 people died in a pitched battle between Liverpool and Juventus supporters, marked a new and dismal nadir for English football. The spotlight was turned sharply on football hooliganism, with English clubs banned from European competitions until 1990, with Liverpool banned an extra year.

It was not however until the tragedy of the Hillsborough disaster that the Thatcher government acted, bringing in the Football Spectators Act (1989) in the wake of the Taylor Report. However, as the Hillsborough Justice Campaign notes, "the British Judicial system has consistently found that violence or hooliganism played no part whatsoever in the disaster" .

Football violence is now virtually non-existent domestically - much of the trouble now occurs at major international tournaments. France 98 was marred by violence as English fans clashed with the North African locals of Marseilles, which led to up to 100 fans being arrested. In Euro 2000 England were threatened with expulsion from the tournament due to the poor behaviour of the fans. Following good behaviour in Japan 2002 and Portugal 2004 the English reputation has improved. In Germany in 2006 there were limited incidences of violence with over two hundred preventative arrests in Stuttgart, with only three people being charged with criminal offences.

France

Six French supporters of French club Paris St. Germain attacked Galatasaray supporters ahead of a Champions League match between the two sides. The six, who are members of an official PSG fan club were charged with assault, carrying weapons, throwing missiles on the pitch and racism. (May 24, 2001)

The investigation led by Parisian judge Jean-Batpiste Parlos alleged that the six had deliberately entered the part of the Parc des Princes Stadium where French supporters of Turkish origin were standing, in order to attack them.

Fifty people were injured during a melee between Turkish and French fans at a March 13 match between Turkish club Galatasaray and Paris Saint-Germain of France.

Footage from surveillance cameras at Paris' Parc des Princes stadium helped investigators to identify the fans involved in the violence, the sources said.

Security, media and the club administration of Paris St. Germain had tried to cover this up and made outlandish accusations including that the Turkish supporters at the match, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, were able to inflict large numbers of casualties upon the French supporters while taking on only one casualty themselves. Also, it was later revealed that stadium security allowed French supporters to carry in staves, while confiscating flags from Turkish supporters, apparently in an attempt to allow French supporters armed with the staves to attack defenseless Turkish supporters.

Interviews with gang members and repeated visits to the stadium for PSG games found that racist hooligans operate openly and with almost total impunity at the 43,000-seat ground that hosted some matches during the 1998 World Cup, which France won with a team dominated by players from former colonies in Africa.

There is evidence suggesting that football hooligans work for the club security, when, before a home game against Sochaux on Jan. 4, 2006, two Arab youths were punched and kicked by white fans outside the entrance to the Kop de Boulogne. Ushers, all white, stood chatting and did not intervene.

On March 7, 2006, a Paris court convicted three PSG supporters for unfurling a racist banner at a February 2005 match.

PSG’s hooligan problem seriously escalated against the backdrop of the club’s success in Europe in the 1990s. The club reached the 1995 Champions League semifinals, won the European Cup Winners Cup in 1996, and lost the final the following year.

PSG hooligans made their mark by brawling with opposing thugs from Juventus, Arsenal, Anderlecht, Glasgow Rangers, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.

In September 2004, a 150-strong PSG mob attacked around 50 Chelsea hooligans — known as the “Headhunters” — by Porte de Saint-Cloud Metro station. The fight earned PSG’s thugs high praise on Web sites dedicated to soccer violence.

Italy

On numerous occasions, travelling English supporters have been attacked in Italy during weeks where their teams played away there. One incident involved a Leeds United supporter being stabbed ahead of a Champions League match.

In one case, three Middlesbrough fans were stabbed ahead of the club's Uefa Cup clash against AS Roma in the Italian capital. A group of extremist Roma fans, known as Ultras, are being blamed for the attack. Reports said they were led by a man wielding an axe.

Netherland

Several clubs are known to hooliganism, of wich Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, Utrecht, Fc Den Bosch, Ado Den Haag and Groningen have the worst repetation. In the Netherlands there have been several big rivalry's between teams. The biggest Rivalry is between Ajax en Feyenoord. The most violent encounter between the rivalling hooligans has been the battle of Beverwijk (23 march 1997), where several people where seriously injured and Carlo Picornie was killed. 15 April 2004 Ajax hooligans where know to step the most out of line, by attacking players of feyenoord under 21, during the match feyenoord under 21- Ajax under 21. An other big riot in the Netherlands happened after that Pierre Bouleij (16 December 2000) was killed by cops and VVV – Fc Den Bosch was Cancelled. After this 3 days of big unrest occurred in the Graafse wijk (a Neighbourhood in Den Bosch), where over 300 soccer hooligans fought against the police.

Scotland

Scottish football hooligans are commonly known as 'Casuals' Hooliganism is more closely associated with the 'second tier' of clubs such as Aberdeen, Hibernian and Hearts, than with the Glasgow-based Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers. Some contend that the Glasgow teams fans have close links with paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, and perhaps the most serious violence associated with supporters of these clubs occurs here, though media reports in Scotland inlight of Old Firm games often claim no trouble related to the matches, only trouble in the stadium and surrounding area is taken into account, fights and stabbings are common . It is not advisable to be in Glasgow city-centre, especially not in the colours of either team, after an old-firm match, particularly if the match has been ill tempered or one sided {[fact}}. It should be noted that the national team's travelling supporters, the Tartan Army, are world-renowned for their friendliness and general aversion to violence.

Recent years have seen a revival of "Casual" culture in Scottish football, with many groups now recruiting via the internet . Though these efforts seem doomed to failure because most Scottish football fans are against these types, an interesting quote from the former Celtic Soccer Casuals website was they got into more fights with other Celtic fans than other clubs.

See this article here for anti-casual measures being taken in Scotland.

Scandinavia

Hooliganism in Scandinavia became a growing problem in the 1980s, but pitch invasions and violence on, or in direct connection to the football grounds lessened in the later years of the 1990s, instead, organized football firms took on the role as the troublemakers in Scandinavian football, moving the problem relatively far away from the grounds and the regular supporters.

Hooliganism is said to have made the entrance in Sweden when supporters of IFK Göteborg invaded the pitch, destroyed the goals and fought the police in the end of the football match in 1970 that destined the club to be relegated from the highest league. In the end of the 1970s, inspired by the English football culture, many unruly supporter groups were created, including AIK's Black Army and Hammarby IF's Bajen Fans. The word huliganism was established in the Swedish language as a description of violence in connection with sport events, mainly football, in the early 1980s.

Hooliganism in Denmark is almost exclusively a domestic affair ; the traveling supporters of the national team, known as roligans, are as renowned as the Scottish supporters (the Tartan Army) for their peaceful nature . However, there are a few hooligan groups, of which some occasionally engage in violence abroad, mainly in the Swedish part of the Oresund Region.

Brazil

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What are often referred as the Brazilian hooligans are organized groups of supporters called "Torcidas Organizadas" which follow each club. Originally pacifist local fan clubs, or "charangas", were marching bands that played in the stadiums, but since the 1980´s many have become armed and violent resulting in deadly confrontations between rival clubs.

The origin of the "organizadas" was influenced by American youth movements such as the Black Panthers. The name "Jovem" (Portugese for "youth") became common in most organizadas that flourished in the period between 1969 and 1975. Members of such organized crowds hail from diverse backgrounds, since the culture is fueled by male dominated sexism rather than the racism most common with similar ultra movements in Argentina and Europe .

In Brazil, the football firms tend not to be restricted to the home states of the football teams. It´s quite common for a football firm to have members in others states. This way they can be subdivided into minor groups whose nominations vary accordingly with the firm itself (which would give them a stronger sense of identity) e.g: The Jovem Fla is divided in "Pelotões" (Platoons), the Furia Jovem in "Canis" (Kennels) Young Flu in "Núcleos" (Centers) and Força Jovem in "Familias" (Families). These subdivisions are numbered and each region of the city has its own subdivision.

Ground battles between swarms of rival supporters have gone from being in-stadium phenomena, as was common in the late 1980s and 1990s, to violent encounters across cities and recently characterized by the use of firearms. Only in the last 6 months, more than 8 deaths have been linked to hooligan groups including the murder of the president of Fortaleza EC division "Leões da TUF" in a sabotage gunfire attack by Furia Jovem members, supporters of the Botafogo FR side from Rio de Janeiro. In the last Corinthians - Palmeiras derby in São Paulo, a Palmeiras supporter member of the Mancha Verde division was shot to death in the São Paulo Metro, while a Corinthians supporter was gunned down on his way home. Back in 1995, state of São Paulo federal attorney Fernando Capez shut down the major Torcidas organizadas, such as Mancha Verde of Palmeiras and Independente of São Paulo FC, an effort that in the long run was proved to have been inefficient due to the fact that the organizations maintained their structure, exponentially growing in a clandestine manner, which only made them more dangerous . These hooligan gangs are notorious for their in stadium beautiful spectacles, with huge flags and banners. Off the field they are organized in regional blocks or cells divided by different parts of town.

What is also very strong in Brazil is the friendship and unity between crowds of clubs from different cities that share common rivals. The best-known of these alliances is the one between Força Jovem of CR Vasco da Gama, Mancha Verde of Palmeiras, Galoucura of Atletico Mineiro and Super Raça of Grêmio. Some of these organizations are often supported by their clubs who pay their match tickets and transportation to away games, but also the hardcore supporters gangs are involved in other actions, such as Brazil´s largest crowd Gaviões da Fiel of SC Corinthians is renown for its carnaval samba school, several times champion of the São Paulo Carnaval.

In 2003, the government passed a new legislation called the "Supporters Statute" that forced clubs to better conditions of the grounds in order for supporters to be more respected. The law has yet to show results, since Brazil's social problems reflected among hooligan groups go far beyond football.

When it comes to national teams, the supporters of the local organized crowds are rarely ever involved , and Brazil supporters have a nearly spotless reputation on the international stage .

Here is a list of the major supporter groups in Brazil, by team:

Ethnic violence

The Australian National Soccer League was dogged with ethnic rivalries:

Today the NSL has been replaced by the Hyundai A-League, which is structured to have only one team per city. This makes it virtually impossible for any team to be identified with a single ethnic community.

See also

Notes

  1. The Taylor Report: The Football Education Network website. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  2. Fans die in Heysel rioting: On This Day, BBC News. Retrieved 27 July 2006.
  3. English teams banned after Heysel: On This Day, BBC News. Retrieved 27 July 2006.
  4. Hillsborough Justice Campaign: Website. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  5. England fans on rampage: by Ben Fenton and Charles Masters. The Daily Telegraph, 15 June 1998. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  6. Fan fears grow ahead of England match by Sean Ingle: The Guardian, 25 June 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  7. The term casual comes from the style of clothing worn by the perpetrators of football violence. Back in the 60's when fighting at football first became commonplace, police would be on the look out for fans wearing cheap work wear. Once this became apparent to those involved in the violence they started to wear the expensive 'casual' clothing favoured by the well-to-do fans, so as to avoid police attention. This taste for expensive clothing has extended through to the modern period where 'classic' gentleman's labels such as Burberry, Aquascutum and Paul and Shark, have been appropriated by the hooligans as their uniform. Although the wearing of such clothing to domestic football matches is now more likely to attract police attention than repel it. The very height of casual culture was the mid 1980's when hooligans following Liverpool through Europe would 'raid' couture boutiques across the mainland continent to steal the very latest trends.

Reference

  • Franklin Foer. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. Harper, 2005.

External links

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