Holy Ground Researching Nationalistic, Far-Right Football Hooliganism in Israel

Master Thesis Cultural and Social Anthropology 8-11-2016

by Hugo Sommer 6131743 [email protected]

under the supervision of Dr. A.T. Strating

second and third readers Dr. B. Kalir & Dr. D.R. Guinness

Most people think Marv is crazy, but I don’t believe that. I’m no shrink and I’m not saying I’ve got Marv all figured out or anything, but “crazy” just doesn’t explain him. Not to me. Sometimes I think he’s […] a big brutal kid who never learned the ground rules on how people are supposed to act around each other. But that doesn’t have the right ring to it either. No, it’s more like there’s nothing wrong with Marv, nothing at all--except that he had the rotten luck of being born at the wrong time in history. He’d have been okay if he’d been born a couple of thousand years ago. He’d be right at home on some ancient battlefield, swinging an axe into somebody’s face. Or in a roman arena, taking a sword to other gladiators like him. - from Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

Schrijven is natuurlijk het leukste wat er is, maar aan het schrijven komen is een lege, saaie verschrikking.1 - Remco Campert

1 Writing is of course the most joyful thing there is, but to get to writing is an empty, boring horror.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents i

Acknowledgements iii

Prologue 1

Introduction 10

1. Hooliganism as meaningful action 15 1.1 Othering 15 1.2 Membership privileges 16 1.3 Professional hooligan 17 1.4 Violence and its limitations 19 1.5 Territorial integrity 21 1.6 The stadium as a ‘front region’ 24 1.7 Conclusions 27

2. Social divisions shaping hooliganism 28 2.1 The English disease 28 2.2 Israeli political divisions 29 2.3 Ethnic politics 30 2.4 Moral disengagement 32 2.5 Dehumanization 34 2.6 Competitive honor 37 2.7 Conclusions 39

3. Interaction with non-hooligan others 40 3.1 Territorial autonomy 40 3.2 Interaction with the club 41 3.3 Interaction with the police 44 3.4 Hooligan political strategies 47 3.5 Revisiting the stadium as a ‘front region’ 49 3.6 Conclusions 52

Conclusion 53

Epilogue 54

Bibliography 58

Acknowledgements

Without wanting to sound overly dramatic, I can safely say that writing this thesis was one of the hardest things I have ever done. By now more than a year and a half has passed since I had a serious accident - right before I planned to start writing - the physical and mental recovery of which is in some ways still ongoing. The entanglement of my recovery with the writing process has made the production of the thirty thousand or so words before you an even more daunting task than it would have been, the main reason why I found the inclusion of the Remco Campert quote above fitting.

In the end I am relieved, proud and thankful that this project has reached its completion. It would have been impossible without the help of many. A few I feel obligated to name here.

First of all, I’d like to thank Alex Strating for his patience and understanding throughout my recovery, as well as the more conventional sharing of ideas and insight concerning the thesis. Both Marieke Brand and Vincent de Rooij I owe gratitude for their facilitations en route to the completion of my degree; providing me with the opportunity and space to figure this thing out in my own time.

My parents have been there for me in too many ways to list here. I can only say that I can’t imagine how things would have turned out if it wasn’t for them and how they approached me, my recovery and my thesis - when things were at their darkest they were the shimmer of unconditional support. Mirjam, my little sister who has turned into someone to build on, I’ve learned more from you then you know. Joost, thank you for always being able to cheer me up. But you won’t read this… “pech gehad”.

Erwin Nuijten has contributed in many ways. From sparring with me on the theories that ended up in chapter two to simply watching some TV and taking a load of; from being the recipient of my many rants and raves on WhatsApp to reading the entire draft of this thesis and providing useful notes and critique. Luuk van Os, who apparently had nothing better to do in Tokyo than proofread a thesis, I thank you for your notes as well. Job Römer, showing me the strength of simplicity when I could only see the more complicated solutions. All three of you, together with Tim Ligtvoet, Lothar van Riel, Joeri Treep and Nick Romeijn, thank you for providing me with some much needed support and distraction from time to time.

I wish to thank Sacha van de Lande for guarding my sanity; keeping me grounded in those moments I was floating away. Finally, Maurits Mayer, the way you took your role meant a lot. You truly went above and beyond the call of duty, something I’ll never forget.

November 2016

iii

Prologue

It’s January 2014 when I’m in Israel for the first time. It was just a regular holiday I took with my friend Tom, not a football trip or anything like that. The both of us had been interested in going to Israel for a while, mostly because of the history to be found in Jerusalem. It wasn’t until a few days before we were to leave on our trip I found out the Tel Aviv derby would be held during our time in Israel. I am a season ticket holder for Ajax, and had an acquaintance from visiting the Ajax stadium who I knew was Jewish and had some Israeli roots. It was him who told me about the Maccabi Tel Aviv-Hapoel Tel Aviv game. When I was talking to him about my upcoming trip, he said he was able to get me some tickets for the game. Both Tom and I are football fans, so we thought it was a fun idea to add this game to our itinerary. I didn’t think too much of it. At the time I didn’t realize the nature of my acquaintance’s connections there. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Tom and I had been in Tel Aviv for a few days and had been trying to meet up with the people who would take us to the game. It wasn’t working out that well. Most of our text messages were left unanswered and if they did answer it was a short message that didn’t help very much. We finally managed to arrange for a meeting at Bloomfield, the Maccabi home ground, to get our tickets the day before the game. We had been there at the agreed time but no one was there. After having waited for about an hour - still there because they had send us a message saying they would be “right there” - they finally showed up:

Suddenly two cars race down the street next to the park at a speed that seems completely inappropriate for the road they are driving on. Tom and I were facing the other way but the sound of the engines revving made us turn around while the cars are still quite far away from us. Just before the cars race past the gate of the fence surrounding the stadium grounds they brake hard, turn onto the grounds with screeching tires, accelerate again, race towards us and brake hard. The cars come to a standstill pretty much right in front of us. Straight away the doors fly open and between 8 and 10 people emerge from the cars. All are looking rather intimidating. Most of them are wearing outdoor sports clothing: The North Face jackets with jeans or Adidas slacks, these kind of clothes. It’s the kind of attire I recognize from Ajax games back home, these are the clothes of the more ‘serious’ - as they like to describe themselves - football fans who are associated with violence and hooliganism. This whole sequence of events is very intimidating. After having waited for so long, to be blitzed like this out of nowhere leaves me at a loss for a response. “Ajax?” one of the guys asks loudly. “Errrhm, yeah…” Tom mumbles while I can’t even muster that response. My eyes are drawn towards one of the men who, unlike the others, walked away from us and towards a few large containers about 20 meters from where we are standing. He is scavenging through them. What on earth is he doing? “Good, good!” someone else calls out in response to Tom.

Most of them walk up towards us, shake our hands and give us a pat on the back while introducing themselves. Still overwhelmed, I don’t register any of their names. I’m too busy recomposing myself and shaking hands to be able to remember something as trivial as a name. Last to greet us is the man who was searching the insides of the containers. He seems to have found what he was looking for: a straight, thick and very hard looking wooden stick. He slaps the inside of his hand with it while staring me straight in the eyes. I feel a bit scared. I notice one or two of the others are laughing quietly, clearly amused by his behavior. In a moment of clarity, I decide to walk up to him and greet him. He laughs and shakes my hand. I’m happy I read the situation right. He says his name, Marv, and walks over to Tom to greet him. He then walks towards a small fence behind us, hits it as hard as he can with the stick before throwing it back into the container with considerable force. He walks off without giving us another look and joins some of the group who are talking and laughing a few meters away. None of the men here is one of those I had exchanged texts with earlier. We stand around and talk. More and more people arrive, all of whom greet a few people before joining one of the many subgroups that have now formed. The people from the cars all appear to be 20 years or older, some looking more like 30. Those that arrived later, most by foot, are mostly kids around 14 to 16 years old. The people in the group Tom and me are standing with all speak English, some better than others. They appear to be the leaders. Everybody that arrives walks over to our group first to say hello before moving on to one of the other groups. After a while a tall and slightly overweight man of around forty years old arrives. He walks over to us and says something in Hebrew. Someone in our group, who just moments before had reintroduced himself as Barak, shouts something in Hebrew. Everybody springs into action. The older man who just arrived walks towards a large blue gate that leads into Bloomfield. “He is from the club, the groundskeeper.” Barak explains. He then shouts some commands to a few of the kids who grab some heavy looking bags from the trunk of one of the cars. Once inside, everybody appears to know what to do. I’m not really sure what the idea is. “Barak, what are we doing? What is the plan?” “During the game every supporter holds up a piece of paper, together it will show a text when viewed from a distance.” “Okay.” “So now we go and put the paper in the right places. Go over there to help Eran, he speaks good English.” Tom and I walk over to Eran and start helping out. It is a rather monotone and boring job. The sun is shining however so it’s not too bad. After a while a few of the guys leave to get beer. As they return it is Eran who speaks. “Nevermind this shit, come with me.” Me, Tom, Eran, Barak and most of the older guys sit down together, open a can of beer and drink. We sit around in the sun relaxing while the kids keep on working. Seniority apparently has its advantages. We are asked a lot of football related questions about Ajax, Amsterdam and the Netherlands. Slowly the nature of the questions shifts. The subject matter moves from football to football hooliganism. In the beginning these questions are more general: what clubs have to most violent supporters, which clubs have the biggest rivalries, how does the police act around the stadium and things like that. As the conversation progresses however the questions become more personal. Have we ever seen fighting, who are the strongest fighters amongst the Ajax fans? Slowly the assumption underneath these questions begins to become dauntingly clear. They think we are football hooligans. As I’m realizing this, the same kind of process is taking place on the other side of the conversation. As we fail to provide satisfying answers to their questions it is

2 becoming clearer to them that we are not football hooligans. The cards are on the table. But it doesn’t appear to have any immediate consequence. The conversation flows away from football violence rather naturally, we are handed another beer and we simply continue hanging out and having a good time. I’m enjoying this afternoon. There is something unusual, eerie and fun about what we are doing; hanging out in a near empty football stadium, a place normally defined and shaped by the huge numbers of people present. When almost all the jobs for the afternoon seem to be done - only a few of the kids are still busy at the other side of the stadium – the group we are sitting with starts getting ready to leave. While we walk through the blue gate someone whose name I once again forgot walks up to us. “What are you guys doing later today?” he asks. “We don’t really have any plans yet. We just figured we’d go here and see what would happen.” Tom answers. “We really didn’t know what to expect or how long it would take so we didn’t really schedule anything after this.” I add. “Okay, so if you don’t have any plans, if you want you can come with us to…” He isn’t able to finish the sentence. Barak, walking in front of us, has suddenly turned around and starts speaking to the guy in Hebrew. Obviously neither Tom nor I understand what he is saying but from the looks of it he is telling the guy off. “Ah yes, I’m sorry my friends. I thought we could all meet up later today but this is not possible.” “Don’t worry about it. It is like we said. We don’t have any plans and kept the evening free to do whatever we wanted to do.” I say. “Tomorrow a few of us are meeting early at a gas station nearby, to have a few beers and get into that match day spirit you know?” Barak says. “If you want you can join us there.” “Yeah sure, sounds good.” “Where exactly is it? And what time will you be there?” Tom asks. “Around 4 in the afternoon I think. Give me your phone number, I’ll have someone text you the location when we get there. You can show this to any taxi driver.” We exchange numbers and say our goodbyes. “Were we just uninvited to something later tonight?” Tom asks me as we walk towards the main road. I laugh. “Sure looked like it didn’t it?” When we arrive at the main road, we waive down a taxi and head back to our hostel.

The next day, as we near the gas station, it’s easy to spot the group of Maccabi supporters. Most of them are clearly recognizable by the club colors they are wearing. The cab driver pulls up about 100 meters away from it. “You walk the last bit okay? I don’t go close.” he says while pointing at the Hapoel badge hanging from his rear view mirror. “Sure, no problem.” Tom says while handing him the money. “Keep the change.” “Thank you. Enjoy the game.” I close the door behind me and the taxi drives away as we start walking towards the group. I recognize a few people from the day before. Barak is there, as well as Marv who left quite the impression by dumpster diving for weapons. I also recognize Ben, one of the people I had contact with online and by phone, from his Facebook profile picture. He spots us as we get closer and walks towards us. “Good to meet you finally,” he shakes my hand, “everything good so far? You like our country?” “Yeah it’s been fun so far,” I answer, “curious about Jerusalem as well.” “You have never been there?”

“No neither of us has been to Israel before.” Tom says while shaking Ben’s hand. “You will like it. It’s especially good if you are a tourist, a lot of things to see there. But,” a grin forms on his face, “it’s no Tel Aviv.” We continue making small talk while we join the rest of the group. We say hi to those we recognize from yesterday and mingle. Barak tells us to go inside the gas station and buy some beers. As I walk in I see Marv is inside. He greets us with a loud “Ajax!” “I’m sorry mate,” Tom says while approaching him, “but I completely forgot your name. You know how it is, if you hear too many names on one day you will forget most.” He doesn’t answer and gives a puzzled look. Two other Maccabi supporters laugh. “Marv no speak the English,” one of them says, “wait, wait, I speak to him.” He translates to Hebrew. “Yes! Good! Tov! I Marv.” Marv says triumphantly. “Nice to see you again Marv.” Tom replies. “Drink! Drink!” Marv replies while pointing at the beers in the refrigerator. I grab a few local beers and pay for them at the counter. We walk outside and open our drinks. I hand one of the cans to Marv. “Good! L’chaim!” he says loudly and takes a sip. We hang around the gas station for a while longer, hanging out and talking to Barak, Ben and a few others. Like the day before most new arrivals first walk over to us to say hello and then peel off towards another cluster of people. “We must be standing with the big shots.” Tom remarks in Dutch. I guess he’s right. After a while someone else joins the group who introduces himself as Avi. He too is held in high regard by the other members in the group. He doesn’t walk around shaking hands, but people do come to him in order to shake his. I talk with him for a while and instantly take a liking to him. He is clearly an intelligent and open minded person who comes across very relaxed and easy going. It helps he speaks near perfect English. We stand, talk and drink for quite some time before Barak and Ben put the group in motion. They shout a few things in Hebrew. The only part of it I understand is “yallah”. “This word, ‘yallah’, it means go right? Like ‘vamos’ in Spanish? I thought it was an Arabic word?” I ask Avi. “Yes, it means go. But it’s Hebrew, we use this word.” “Okay, I thought it was Arab.” “The Arabs use it too but they don’t own it.” Avi sounds cold and harsh. I’m a little surprised by his uptight answer. It somehow seems at odds with his relaxed demeanor. “So we are going to the stadium then?” Tom asks, changing the subject while we start walking. “Yes.” “Isn’t it a bit early? The game isn’t for a few more hours’ right?” “We need to be there early to get all of our stuff inside, like the drums and the flags, those kind of things.” “But… do we need around, what…” Tom pauses and looks around, “35 to 40 people for that?” “There will be more people, this is not the whole group.” Avi has a sly smile on his face. “You misunderstand the situation I think. We are not there to help carry the stuff inside, we are there for protection. This is the derby you know, Hapoel know we are bringing stuff inside so they might try and steal our things.” “Wait… what... you think there will be a fight?” I ask.

“No no, not now. Don’t worry… They know there will be a lot of us so they won’t show up. That’s the whole point.” “Ah okay, I get it. A bit of cold war tactics. Mutually assured destruction.” Avi laughs. “Something like that. We Israelis know about tactics my friend.”

“What do you want to do?” Barak asks us as all the ‘stuff’ has been brought inside. “What do you mean?” Tom looks puzzled. “We have options?” “Well, you can go inside and help organize all everything inside if you want.” Barak points at the gates and those passing it. “Or you can stay outside with those who…” Eran seems to be looking for words, “who are… well… more combat ready.” He finally says with a playful grin stretching from ear to ear. Both Tom and I laugh this remark away. By now we are used to and no longer shocked by this playful depiction of constant danger. First there was the speeding cars, then Marv’s little theatrical display when we first met, the cold war tactics conversation and now this; it all just doesn’t appear to be much more than a mirage intended to impress. “What will you and Avi and the rest of the guys do?” I ask. “We stay outside.” Eran says. “No beer inside.” Barak nods at our drinks before taking a sip of his own. “You can’t buy alcohol inside?” I ask. “No.” “Well, that settles it then…” “Oh yeah, we’re staying outside.” Tom adds jokingly. “Good, we wait for about five minutes longer I think and then we’ll head back to the Yellow.” Barak explains. “Yellow?” I ask. “It’s what we call the gas station.”

We arrived back at ‘the Yellow’ with around 20 people, the rest of the group had gone inside the stadium to prepare. By now though, the group has swelled up to about 50 again with the addition of new arrivals. The weather is good, the beer is cold and the people are friendly. Suddenly a small part of the group, including Barak, starts walking. I’m not really sure what is going on. “Are they going to the stadium?” I ask Tom in Dutch. “Yeah, must be right?” “Looks like a lot of people are staying here. Who do we join?” “Well,” Tom hesitates for a moment, “I guess… follow Barak?” “Sure.” We start walking towards Barak’s group. “Wait,” we hear Avi behind us and turn around, “if you want to join, then you can come with me. But we wait a few more minutes, okay? We don’t all go at once.” Before we have a chance to reply, Avi walks off and starts talking with other people. “Well… Okay… I guess we wait then.” Tom looks slightly annoyed. Eran walks up to us. “Don’t worry,” he says, “we will all go.” “But what…” I say before being interrupted by Eran. “We just don’t want those guys,” he nods to the two police officers across the street, “to track our every move. So we split up. They can’t follow all of us.” Avi walks back to us and says something in Hebrew to Eran. Eran replies pointing at us.

“Ken.” Avi replies in turn. ‘Ken’ is one of the few words I have managed to learn so far, it means ‘yes’. Eran says something else in Hebrew before facing back to us. “Okay,” he has switched back to English, “you will join Avi now. I will see you guys in a little bit.” 6 of us start walking. Tom, Avi, me and 3 others I haven’t really spoken to before. Besides Tom and me, the group doesn’t speak. We walk in the direction of the stadium. Avi looks a little tense, he is constantly watching his surroundings. I don’t think too much of it. Then, to my surprise, we turn left. “But… what…” I mumble. “Isn’t the stadium that way?” Tom points in the other direction. “We no go to the Bloomfield.” One of the people I don’t know answers. “We’re going to a more quiet gas station.” Avi explains with a commanding tone that doesn’t leave room for any follow up questions. We walk on until we see another gas station. I wouldn’t exactly describe it as ‘more quiet’. It is located along a far busier street. Cars are constantly racing by. But we don’t walk all the way up to the gas station itself. Instead we turn into a very quiet little alleyway just before it. Waiting just around the corner, out of sight until you walk into the alley, is Barak’s group. Everybody shakes everybody’s hand. It’s not really to say hello, after all we saw them just moments before, instead it looks more as if people are congratulating each other. A nervous feeling starts to creep up on me: this is not normal pre match behavior. I look at Tom. Judging from his look he has come to the same conclusion. “What’s going on?” he asks in Dutch. “I don’t know…” “What’s going on?” English this time. “You’ll see.” Avi smiles, clearly enjoying himself. No longer franticly looking around, he has returned to his calm and relaxed nature from before. Casually leaning against the wall besides him, he lights a cigarette. Another groups arrives. Again everybody looks happy and relieved. People shake hands. This repeats itself twice more, Marv being in the first group and Eran leading the final group as Avi led ours. Now that everybody is apparently here we are around 25- 30 people again. Barak, Eran, Avi, Marv and 3 others stand apart from everybody else, deliberating amongst themselves. Some kid is standing next to me. I estimate him to be no more than 15 or maybe 16 years old. He is by far the youngest of everyone here. “This good yes?” he says with immense excitement in his voice. “What is good? Nobody told me what is going on yet…” “Hapoel. They fans sends us text, you know? On the telephone?” I nod, afraid of what’s coming. “They say us to come, if we not like the pussy, you know, like the chicken. They say we come if we not like the girl.” Fuck. I walk towards Tom. “Have you heard what is going on?” “Yes,” Tom answers “this just got real.” Tom laughs nervously. “Yeah, I… I guess.” I feel strangely distorted from my emotions. It’s not fear I’m feeling, it’s more like a disconnect between me, my emotions and my surroundings. Everything seems further away. The only thing that is close is my breathing, focused around a tense knot in my chest. “Yallah!” Barak shouts.

The entire group starts moving. Tom and me are in the middle of the pack. We walk out of the alley, towards the gas station. We turn onto a large street with lots of traffic. There are four lanes, two on one side and two on the other, separated by a large esplanade. We walk along with the traffic on our side of the road, taking up the entire sidewalk. A gap in the traffic appears. Barak, who is walking at the front of the group, yells “Smolla!” The entire group instantly shifts to the left, off the sidewalk and onto the road. Everybody follows Barak. We are now walking in the middle of the street. Honking behind us. I turn around and see traffic coming. The group doesn’t care; we stay in the middle of the road. Traffic is forced to a standstill behind us until we shift direction again. Of the road, onto the esplanade. We walk with an increasingly faster pace. I see Avi in front rolling his belt around his hand with the buckle forward, creating an improvised knuckleduster. Still no emotion. No thoughts. I look to my right. I see the young kid. He looks very tense, yet at the same time he has a paradoxically happy spring in his step. His eyes are fixed forwards. I look to my left. I see Tom. He looks back at me. We both laugh. It’s not a happy laugh. It’s not a nervous laugh either. It’s is a laugh expressing our inability to find words. I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look around. Marv has an insane grin on his face. He is holding a small metal pipe in his right hand. He looks me straight in the eyes, clenches his left fist and widens his eyes. The insanity there is intimidating, the eyes scream ‘Come on!!’ at me. Marv jogs to the front. Tom and I simultaneously hold back a little bit. As if our instinct is telling us we are better off at the back if Marv is jogging to the front. “Yamina!” someone shouts. Multiple people excitedly point to the groups 2 o’clock. There is a side street there. Have they seen something? The group switches direction again. Everybody starts walking even faster. Onto the road. Increasing tempo again, everybody in our group is now running. Cars honk loudly. I look over my shoulder and see cars brake hard in order not to hit us. The group starts sprinting. Towards the side street. Was this the place everyone was pointing at? Did someone see something over here? I hear loud screaming and shouting. But where is this coming from? A bottle soars over my head. Surprised disorientation. Are they behind us? I turn and I see... Oh fuck me. I feel it. Fear. A large group of people is running towards us carrying sticks and other improvised weapons. Sound seizes to exist. Reality is happening in slow motion. Just seconds ago I was almost at the back of the group, but the back has now suddenly become the front. I turn again. I want to run away. But I can’t. We are boxed in by a small wall in front, some buildings to the right and a few parked cars on the left. Trapped, I am forced to turn around once more. The group running towards us is coming closer and closer. Projectiles are flying overhead. Their vanguard reaches our group. Fighting commences.

The sound I hear is as if it is an echo from something happening far away. I see Tom is in front of me, still on the road. He walks backwards, trying to get away from the fighting. He trips over the edge of the sidewalk. I see him lying there on his back, about 2 meters in front of me. Someone is walking menacingly towards him. He is about to hit Tom. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Eran hits the man in the chest with a 2 legged flying kick. Both fall down. Eran and Tom get up. Tom stumbles backwards, away from the fight. Eran runs forward, towards it. Something hits me in the chest. I stumble back a few steps. The air is completely knocked out of me. It is hard to breathe. I see a large plastic Coca-Cola bottle still filled with Cola on the ground in front of me. Clearly it was the bottle that hit me. As I draw a deep breath, I wake from the slow motion trance like state I was in. Sound comes rushing back. Reality regains its normal pace. Chaos is everywhere. I have no idea who is who. I realize I need to get to the front of the row of parked cars and get around them before being able to run away. I run towards someone I don’t recognize standing next to the forward most car. He is about 15 centimeters shorter than me and doesn’t see me coming until the very last moment. I see a sudden look of surprise and fear in his eyes. He falls over as I run into him. Only one thing on my mind. Get away. I step over whoever it was I just ran over. I’m at the front of the forward most car now, I turn and run into safety. I look over my shoulder and see Tom and some others rounding the cars as well, all running away. I sprint down the empty street. At the end of the street I take a right and run halfway down that street before slowing down. Tom slows down next to me. Adrenaline is still pumping through our veins. We both start laughing franticly. “Ho-ly fucking shit!” Tom exclaims loudly. “That was…” “Bloody insane!” I finish his sentence. “I didn’t think I’d ever…” “I know, I know!” The young kid runs passed us. “Come, follow me!” he calls out. We run after him. We keep running for a while, finally slowing down just before a corner. The kid puts his belt back on, only now I notice he had the same improvised knuckleduster wrapped around his hand as Avi. “No weapons?” he asks us. “Police, they see weapon, they fuck you.” “No weapons.” I say. “Good.” We walk around the corner. Bloomfield’s entrance is in front of us. The street is full of football fans. I notice one or two people from the alley, blending in perfectly with the crowd. Near the entrance I spot Ben. “Everything okay?” he asks. “Yeah all good.” Tom answers. “Holy shit man,” I say, “that was…” “No,” Ben interrupts me, “not here, not now. Go inside, you can talk there.” I look around and notice all the security personnel and a few police officers. “See you inside then.” Tom says. Tom and I go inside and hang out for a bit. After a while Eran and Avi come in. We follow them towards a good spot to watch the game, right behind the goal. A few kids, about 12 to 14 years old, had been standing in our spot just seconds before we arrived. “They save this spot for us.” Avi explains. “So, what did you think of the fight?” Eran asks.

“What a rush man, it was something else…” I say. “A thrill.” Tom adds. “It always is.” Avi has a fatherly smile on his face. “We got our ass kicked.” Eran says. “Those cowards ambushed us.” “What exactly happened? It was all so fast. A bit chaotic.” “They sent us a text, telling us to come. They knew we would be coming from the side that we did because we couldn’t cut through the park without the police spotting us.” “They put two of their kids at the corner. One of them gave us the finger.” “They chose that spot. They had us boxed in.” Avi says. “Those two kids could easily pass between the wall and that parked car, but not us. They knew this. So they waited, we didn’t see them. When we ran for the kids, the cowards attacked us from behind.” “It was a good move. I told you we Israelis know our tactics.” Avi says.

Introduction

When thinking about football hooliganism, Israel is not the first country that comes to mind. Yet - as the prologue has already made clear - football hooliganism does exist there. This thesis aims to provide insight into the phenomenon of football hooliganism by researching it in its Israeli context. Spaaij (2006) provides us with a standard work on the subject of hooliganism, Understanding Football Hooliganism: A Comparison of Six Western European Football Clubs. As the title already gives away, his study is a comparative work. Researching hooliganism at 6 different football clubs from 3 European countries - FC Barcelona, RCD Espanyol, Sparta Rotterdam, Feyenoord Rotterdam, West Ham United F.C. and Fulham F.C. - Spaaij manages to paint a vivid picture of football hooliganism as a transnational phenomenon that is still deeply locally specific in each of its appearances. I will take the framework Spaaij uses for researching each of these clubs and apply it to the hooligan group of Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C., the Maccabi Fanatics. By doing so I will add another case to the larger body of comparative cases. My research was done through participant observation during a two-month period spanning from early January 2015 until the beginning of March 2015. A year prior to my official research period I made the trip to Israel during which the events in the prologue transpired. Hooligans tend to be wary of outsiders, so gaining access and overcoming the distrust of hooligans towards the researcher can prove troublesome (Giulianotti 1995). It was the serendipity - if one is still able to talk about serendipity when it involves a large fight - described in the prologue that provided me with instant access to my research population and allowed me to overcome the often time consuming problems of gaining access described by Giulianotti. It did pose me with a different problem however. Instead of the danger of ‘going native’, I was considered more of a native then I actually was. I was not considered a full-fledged member of the group but in most settings people saw me as a football supporter rather than someone who was actually studying them and their behavior. Bridging the gap between the researcher and the researched is for a large part the aim of participant observation, so this is not necessarily a problem. However, it did pose some problems with informed consent. By the time I started my research I was, due to my previous trip, already widely recognized2 and accepted in the group. Since it was impossible to explain to every Maccabi supporter I would encounter - hooligan or not - that I would be doing research and what that research would entail, most people considered me a fellow football supporter who just happened to ask questions every now

2 In the most literal sense; being tall, having red hair and not speaking the language make you stand out.

10 and then because he was from a different country. There are simply too many fans to explain the whole story to everyone. I did tell a number of hooligans at the core of the group the reason for my prolonged presence and the nature of my research. They gave me their blessing and permission to do my research on the condition of anonymity. Obviously, I have held up this condition and changed the names of all of my respondents. ‘Marv’ was renamed after the Sin City character, the rest are renamed after Maccabi Tel Aviv players. At his request I have also changed ‘Tom’ his name.

Defining hooliganism Now before we move on to anything else, let’s set out to define what it is that football hooliganism actually entails. This can be more problematic than it would at first appear. A wide variety of incidents related to a football context are often quickly labeled together as football hooliganism. Media, law enforcers or politicians are often just as quick to call an incident where a fan - angry over a referee’s decision - throws his lighter onto the pitch football hooliganism as they would an all-out brawl like in the prologue. ‘Football hooliganism’ in this sense is not a concept we can work with, it is too often used as a catch all label used to demark any illegal, unruly or unwanted behavior. Self-described hooligans would also disagree with this catch all definition. They see themselves as different from other fans, they consider themselves the elite amongst football fans and do not appreciate being lumped together with just anyone committing some sort of minor transgression in a football related context. I will follow Spaaij in his definition of hooliganism as ‘the competitive violence of socially organized fan groups in football, principally directed against opposing fan groups’ (2006: 11). I agree with this definition for a number of reasons. First I think the competitive element is crucial in understanding hooliganism. Violence alone is not enough to constitute football hooliganism, there is more purpose to it than senseless destruction. Hooligans and hooligan groups try to prove their worth vis-à-vis others, often - but not always - opposing fan groups. There is also a sense of competition between individual members of the same hooligan group. The final element in the definition above, is the statement that hooligan groups are socially organized. This is important because this sets apart the hooligan from just any individual committing a transgression in a football related context. The social organization demarcates hooliganism as a community of people sharing a certain set of believes and goals.

Maccabi Fanatics Looking at the characteristics of hooligan groups, members are almost always predominantly male and between the ages of 15 and 25 years old (Spaaij 2006: 334-335). For the most part this is true for Maccabi Tel Aviv as well, although on average the age of the group members seems to be a bit older than described by Spaaij. While the youngest group members are around 14 or 15 years old, they are not considered to be full members. They were constantly referred to as “the kids”, useful as of a work force that could be called upon to do a number of menial or “boring” tasks. I would say that full membership of the Maccabi Fanatics isn’t possible until someone reaches the age of 18 - the age that one is required to enter military service in Israel - with most of the younger core members around the age of 21. I noticed one exception to this rule of thumb, the younger boy who plays a part in the prologue. He was 15 at the time of those events and turned 17 while I was in Israel for my research period. He was treated with the respect appropriate for a core member, both by core members and ‘kids’ alike. The exceptionality of this was often expressed, which both kept other ‘kids’ from expecting the same sort of treatment and further enhanced the status of this particular boy3. Looking at the other end of the age disparity given by Spaaij I would say that here too we need to adjust upward. Spaaij does remark that at the core of hooligan groups, people are sometimes older (Ibid.), something that is definitively the case at Maccabi Tel Aviv. A lot of the people that play a central role in this research are in their late twenties or early thirties. Then there are a number of people who are older still. They however, are semi-retired older members who tend to have become more fluently associated with the group over time. While the core of hooligan groups is usually relatively fixed, they do tend to have very fluid unfixed boundaries (Spaaij 2006: 40). The further you go from the group’s core members, towards the less fanatic fans, the more fluid association with the group becomes. At its edges are fans who perhaps occasionally wear a Maccabi Fanatics scarf instead of official club merchandise and sings along with songs during games but rarely interact with the core members. These people enjoy associating themselves with fanatical support but are not considered insiders by either themselves or core members (Ibid.). In certain cases though, these people might partake in the transgressions of hooliganism. Football violence can often be differentiated between outburst of spontaneous violence - often as a reaction to a perceived injustice - and carefully planned and organized violence. In the latter case, those at the boundaries of a hooligan group would never participate. By its very nature, the

3 The reasons for his exceptionality have never become entirely clear to me, although I was told that unlike the other ‘kids’ he “simply understands” and “doesn’t have a big mouth”.

12 participation in pre-planned violence requires interaction with those doing the planning, i.e. the core. If you are not in the know about what is being or has been planned, it is impossible to partake in whatever is planned. In some cases of spontaneous violence however, people at the boundaries are swept up in the heat of the moment and do transgress into violent behavior.

Theoretical themes As said above, Spaaij’s framework will be used in this thesis in order to examine hooliganism at Maccabi Tel Aviv. This framework contains four different theoretical themes (2006: 54). The first of these themes is ‘the role of societal fault lines in fueling and contouring football hooliganism’ (Ibid.), looking at the major fault lines in a society, how these fault lines differ from country to country and how these fault lines help shape hooliganism in its local context. Spaaij describes how English football hooliganism is centered around class cleavages that are ‘based on accumulated social differences in, among others, type of occupation […], education, […] housing [and] income’ (Ibid.: 55) and the regional ‘center-periphery’ inequality of the distribution of these factors. Dutch football hooliganism on the other hand is not focused around class but around strong local and regional identities. However, these regional identities are not focused around a center-periphery dynamic of any kind. This is the case in Spain, where regional autonomy and identities have historically developed around a center-periphery dynamic. Hooliganism in Spain differs from England in that it’s not based around class, instead it ‘has become inseparable from the expression of regional and (sub-)nationalist identities and cuts through all social classes’ (Ibid.: 56). These different local fault lines change the local appearance and shape of football hooliganism from one country to another. The second theoretical theme is ‘the construction of hooligan identities and the attractions of hooligan subculture, i.e. hooliganism as meaningful action’ (Ibid.: 57). Where the first theoretical theme very much looks at local specificity, this theme leads to the distillation of ‘a number of key aspects of football hooliganism as a transnational phenomenon’ (Ibid.: 367). Examples of these aspects include but are not limited to: the excitement and pleasure derived from partaking in hooliganism, reputation management of both the individual hooligan as well as the collective, territorial identifications and - related to these identifications - sovereignty and autonomy. Spaaij’s third theoretical theme deals with ‘the social organization of football hooliganism’ (Ibid.: 57). Here he aims to compare the degree of organization of different groups of football hooligans. He stresses the fluidity of hooligan formations and how this often contrasts the outsider’s perception of hooligan groups as structured criminal organizations.

The fourth and final theme concerns ‘the interactions and negotiations between hooligans and significant others and the effects of policies targeting football hooliganism’ (Ibid.). This theme shows how the interplay between hooligans and significant non-hooligan others shapes the development of hooliganism in the most local of contexts. Where the first theme deals mostly with variations from one country to another, this theme explains the different phenotypes of hooliganism as a result of the negotiation between a number of relevant actors that can differ from one club to another. This theme is more about the extent of a hooligan phenotype than about its nature.

Thesis roadmap With the exception of the third theme, I will use each of these theoretical approaches as the basis of a chapter in this thesis. The third theme - the social organization of hooliganism - I have chosen to omit because I didn’t have enough data4 to warrant a separate chapter. I did however, elaborate on a few aspects concerning the social organization of hooliganism above in the ‘Maccabi Fanatics’ paragraph. In the subsequent chapters of this thesis I will elaborate on the theoretical approaches mentioned above. First I will deal with hooliganism as meaningful action. I considered this the best choice as the opening chapter for two reasons. As it sets out, amongst other things, to attest to the attractions of hooliganism it can also serve as a good introduction into football hooliganism and what it entails to those readers unfamiliar with it. The second chapter will then deal with the local fault lines shaping and contouring football hooliganism in Israel. It will examine the cleavages in Israeli society and how they relate to the shaping of football hooliganism at Maccabi Tel Aviv. The third and final chapter will then look at the interaction between the Maccabi Fanatics and significant non-hooligan others and how this interaction negotiates and contests the boundaries of hooliganism at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Finally, in the conclusion, I will summarize the chapters in this thesis and explore the interrelations between them.

4 I attribute this to the fact that a lot of organizational challenges would be tackled as they presented themselves, chaotically and at the last minute. Since I don’t speak Hebrew, a lot of things were lost on me in these situations. Secondly, I never escaped the feeling that the core and de facto leadership of the Maccabi Fanatics purposely shielded parts of the inner organization decision making process from me. I can only speculate on the reasons - or extent - that this happened. Perhaps this was due to the fact that they didn’t want me in on some of the inner group dynamics. After all, these core members where fully aware of my role being primarily that of a researcher.

1. Hooliganism as meaningful action

In this chapter I will examine the construction of hooligan identity and the attraction of hooliganism. The fun and thrill of being a part of a hooligan confrontation - something I experienced firsthand during the events of the prologue - is not a sufficient explanation. Furthermore, as Spaaij notes, violence cannot be seen as simply a means to an end, oftentimes there are more efficient ways to achieve something than through violence. In order to understand what hooligans hope to achieve, it is necessary to examine the moral economy and aesthetic values of football hooliganism (Spaaij 2006: 37). The ethnographic parts of this chapter occurred on one very eventful ‘away day’. Marv plays a central role in these events, which is why his presence will be a recurrent theme within this chapter. The ethnographic narrative is presented here in the chronological order it occurred.

1.1 Othering Othering and group cohesion are in many ways two sides of the same coin, as the same can only exist vis-à-vis the different (Jenkins 2014). The interrelations between the two can be found in Spaaij as well. He notes that ‘strong emotional attachment to the collective is a central feature of their hooligan identity, which is produced and reproduced through the process of othering’ (Spaaij 2006: 38). Othering is the process by which significant others are socially created, which in turn says something about the self. Jenkins gives the other a central role in identity formation, something that is exceptionally well applicable to football hooliganism. This doesn’t just mean othering of those football supporters that happen to be supporting a different team. There is a strong us-and-them dynamic going on between hooligans and non-hooligans that support the same team as well. For instance, a hooligan distinguishes himself from non-hooligans by not buying official club merchandise, instead opting for either plain street clothes5 or group merchandise sold by the group itself. There are a multitude of these differentiators to be found by which hooligans distinguish themselves from non-hooligans and show their allegiance - at least to other hooligans - to the hooligan group.

5 These have the added benefit of not standing out too much, enabling you to move towards or away from a designated enemy more easily without attracting attention.

1.2 Membership privileges Belonging to the collective provides its members with all kinds of privileges. Some of these are very simple and straightforward in nature, for instance Maccabi Fanatics members don’t have to worry about obtaining a ticket for that one important away match coming up. Even though the game will undoubtedly sell out and many fans will be left disappointed, those belonging to Maccabi Fanatics have nothing to fear: someone from the group will use his contacts at the club to arrange envelopes full of tickets for all those deemed important. Also, the more important you are in the group, the sooner you will be able to get your hands on (limited edition) merchandise. Other advantages of inner circle membership are less material and more about status and respect.

I pull up across the street from Eran’s place. “Could you give him a call?” I ask Tal, who is sitting next to me. “Sure thing.” Tal gets on the phone. He talks for a bit, then hangs up the phone. “They’re coming, but it will take a few minutes. I smoke a cigarette okay?” Tal gets out of the car and lights his cigarette. I get out my pack of smokes and join him. After a few minutes Eran and Uriel, a good friend of Eran whom I have seen on a number of occasions but never really spoke to on account of his poor English, come out of the apartment building Eran lives in. Uriel is joking around with Eran in Hebrew, Tal smiles at whatever it is Uriel is saying. I throw away my cigarette and get in the car. Uriel pushes Tal away, quickly opens the passenger seat door and claims the seat next to me. “Ya ben zona!” Tal calls out loudly while punching Uriel in the shoulder. “Ben sharmuta! Ya zain!” Uriel replies laughing. It’s the usual swearing. Tal and Eran get in the backseats of the car. “We go pick up Marv now.” Eran tells me. “Marv? But he has a ban right? Why on earth is he coming?” “We had a fight last time with Maccabi Haifa, before you were here.” “But…” I’m a bit puzzled, “we play Hapoel Haifa today right?” “Yeah, same stadium though. Marv thinks Maccabi Haifa might try something, take revenge for the fight they lost, so he wants to come.” “Will they try something?” I ask while pulling away and merging into traffic. “Not sure, but I doubt it. It’s not their game. You know the way to Marv’s house?” “Yeah.” 15 minutes later we pull up to the small alley where the entrance of Marv’s mothers place is. “Use the horn.” Eran tells me. After honking the horn, almost immediately Marv comes out of the building. He angrily shouts something at his mother who doesn’t seem all that glad he is leaving with us. While Marv is walking towards the car, Uriel opens the door and gets out. He moves to the back and Marv gets in next to me. “Hugo! My friend! Good? Yes?” “Ken, tov.” I reply signaling I’m good. “You?” “Yes! Yes! I very good!” Marv looks me in the eyes impatiently. “Yallah, ja zain!” I laugh and start the drive towards Haifa, it should take us little over an hour.

During the time that I had rented a car everyone would always vie for the passenger seat, like Uriel and Tal did here. This would always happen in a playful way, jokingly trying to sneak in before someone else could or racing someone to the car. At first I assumed that this was because I rented a rather small car, that sitting in the back was just less comfortable. But whenever Marv was present there was no question who would sit in the front. People getting out of the car and giving up the passenger seat to him was a common occurrence. It was a privilege given to him due to the respect his status in the group commanded.

1.3 Professional hooligan Marv uses the group as social security safety net. Ever unable to keep a job, having been to prison a number of times despite being in his early twenties, living then with his girlfriend, then at his mother’s house, then nowhere at all, never having any money etc. etc., he is able to overcome all of these problems because he is held in high regard in the group. His extreme talent for hooliganism places him at the very heart of the group despite not having any organizational role. During my research I spent quite some time with Marv. Because he was unemployed - most of the time at least, he got a job halfway through my time in Israel but got fired a week later - he had a lot of time to kill. The same applied to me, after all not every day is match day, which resulted in us meeting up regularly. Often we would go to the bar where Eran works and sit on the terrace there. Our backs facing the wall, overseeing the entire terrace, these moments always seemed to me as if we were holding court. We would sit, drink and eat something, smoke a lot of cigarettes and every once in a while some Maccabi fan who had heard we were there would come by. They would shake our hands, talk for a bit, buy us coffee or beer (depending on the time of day) and then leave after half an hour or so. Eran would occasionally join us during his breaks and sometimes the owner of the bar would as well. When there was no one there but us, we would have these very primitive conversations. This was due to Marv’s horrible English language skills. After a while Marv would grow frustrated, kill the conversation, grab his phone to call someone and then yell at them in Hebrew. This could go on for hours on end. At the end of the afternoon people would often join us for longer periods of time. Among those regularly present after they would finish work were Avi, Tal, Gal and Eran. Marv would never have any money and never really paid for anything, so the others did this. Sometimes Eran would present Marv with a ridiculously low bill, clearly missing the bulk of what he had consumed. Cigarettes he would take from others as well, rather forcefully at times. Usually at the end of the evening, when everyone would go their separate ways, someone would ‘borrow’ – a euphemism, I’ve never seen anyone getting their

17 money back - Marv 20 or 40 shekel, about 5 to 10 euros. From me he would never accept any money, although he gladly took any coffee, beer, food or cigarettes I offered him. The cigarettes he would take if I didn’t offer them as well. Later on, when I had rented a car, we would drive all over the place. He would show me around, after about 3 days I could find his mother’s house in Ramat Gan, where I often picked him up and dropped him off, without using satellite navigation. The house was in a deplorable state, let alone the neighborhood. It surprised me no one joked about this with Marv, as they would with others. On poker nights, organized once or twice a week, I would pick Marv up and we would drive to pick up whomever we would give a lift. Along the way we would stop to get some drinks and snacks, usually to be paid for by whoever it was we gave a lift that night. There would normally be about 6 to 8 people there, on a busy night 10. Everybody paid 100 shekels – slightly less than 25 euros - per round, winner takes all. Marv would usually have scrapped together the first buy in, but the second round he would borrow the money from whoever won the first round. Of course, whenever Marv borrowed any money, the creditor did so knowing he would not be getting his money back. Even those times when Marv won he would not be asked to pay back the money. At the end of the night, usually I would drop Marv off at his mother’s place, or at his girlfriend’s house. From time to time he would not be welcome at either of these places because he was in some sort of fight with them. He would then go with someone present at the poker game and sleep there. Clearly for Marv group membership was vital. Being a core member of the Maccabi hooligans enabled him to overcome all kinds of practical personal problems. The reason Marv was treated with such regard will become clear when we will take a closer look at one of the central concerns for any hooligan group: violence. Perhaps even more important than the violence itself is the anticipation of future violence. Despite his stadium ban Marv was present on the day of the away game against Hapoel Haifa because he expected violence. Others were not so sure.

“Smolla smolla, the cars the Maccabi. You look?” Marv points left to a field with some parked cars in it. Next to them are a number of familiar faces. “Yeah, I see them.” I drive onto the field and park the car at the end of the row. Marv, Tal, Eran, Uriel and me get out of the car and say the usual hellos to everyone. I look around me and take in the surroundings. There isn’t much to see. We are in a field next to a large main road on the outskirts of town. There are some trees next to the field and the road, but other than that there is not much to this place. Behind us, in the distance, is the skyline of Haifa. After all the cars have arrived the group starts moving. We begin a long walk towards the stadium. I’m walking next to Avi.

“So, you guys really expecting trouble today?” I ask him. “No not really.” “Then why park all the way over here?” “Better to be careful.” “Long walk though.” “Yes, well, you see we carry all that with us,” Eran gestures at the banners and drums being carried by some of the people around us, “so we can’t take any risks, can’t allow them to steal that. Probably they will do nothing, but you can never be sure, they might try if we are stupid.” “I get it.” “Also now we are too strong, there is too many of us. And the good people to. This way we know they won’t try anything, and if they do, they regret it.” “I get all that, still think it’s a long walk though.” Avi laughs. “Smoke?” “Sure.” I take one of Avi’s cigarettes. When we arrive at the stadium the usual procedures start. All the banners are unrolled and laid out on the floor for the security to check. I notice a small group of people is peeling of, walking away. Amongst them is Gal. I run after them. “Where are you guys going?” I ask when I catch up with them. “Just to drink some beers, have some food maybe. They can handle that stuff on their own.” “Good, I’ll join you. Is that okay?” “Yes of course, always welcome.” We walk for about 5 minutes and arrive at a large shopping mall. A large group of Maccabi supporters is standing in front of one of its entrances. I doesn’t take long to see why they have chosen this particular spot: everything a football fan wants just before the match can be found here. Right next to the entrance of the shopping mall is a shawarma and falafel place, and right next to that a liquor store. It takes about 5 seconds before someone throws me a half liter can of beer. “Toda!” I open the can and mingle. After a while I notice I haven’t seen Marv for a while. Curious where he is I walk over to Avi. “Avi, where is Marv? I don’t see him anywhere. I’d like to buy him a beer.” “You won’t see him here my friend, he has to be careful. If police or stewards or anyone like that see him he will probably be arrested. Remember he is not allowed to be here.” “Then, where is he now?” “I don’t know, around somewhere. Most of our strong are here so he will be near us probably, but just being careful you know. Staying out of the groups, a bit more out of sight.”

1.4 Violence and its limitations The most powerful symbol differentiating the hooligan Self from non-hooligan Others is the use of violence. The proven willingness to put yourself on the line for the club and the group is by far the most important distinction between hooligans and non-hooligans. This is of course also the reason I was able to do this research in the first place. Due to the circumstances described in the prologue I had proven my worth to the group. It was that violent incident that legitimized my presence. I never ran away. I was “good people”. It is like this for many core members, almost all of them have legitimized their status in the group through violence.

The violence itself is directed at significant others; hooligans of opposing teams. The definition of who exactly is deemed to be a hooligan can change from situation to situation, but the opponent needs to be defined as a hooligan in any specific context before a confrontation can commence. Because honor can only be won against equals, it is not deemed honorable to fight non-hooligan supporters (Spaaij 2006: 42). This means there needs to be a legitimization for perpetrating serious violence against a person or group, you cannot just attack them, there needs to be proof of some sort that the other is a hooligan as well. Proof may sound rather serious and hard to come by, but keep in mind that in most hooligan confrontations both parties are actively seeking conflict and make their intent unmistakably clear. Simple yelling and taunting between two groups can in those cases be enough to legitimize violence. In many hooligan cultures the police are also considered a legitimate target, especially when they are in the process of separating different hooligan formations (Ibid.). This is most definitely not the case in Israel, or at least not in the case of Maccabi Tel Aviv. The police are not to be touched. At one point I witnessed two police officers keeping about a 100 hooligans from engaging each other until their back up arrived after a few minutes. The hooligan groups would run at each other at different locations, but each time one of the two police officer ran in between them and the hooligans would immediately scatter. I later asked Eran what that was about, expressing to him I was sure that in many other countries the hooligans would have engaged that police officer. He explained to me that it was ‘special police’ who kept order at football games. Riot police in Israel were, according to Eran, actually not part of the police but of the military. They would also patrol the borders with the Gaza strip for instance. This meant two things. First of all, due to their patriotism and their service to the state of Israel they are deemed less appropriate of an opponent by the right wing Maccabi hooligans. Secondly, it means they are allowed to scale up violence quickly. Retaliation for attacking a police officer in Israel is swift and harsh. As Eran explained it, attacking a police officer is a good way of making sure you get an entire can of teargas sprayed in your face while being arrested, followed by a quick one-week trial and conviction to a significant prison sentence6. Giulianotti and Armstrong (2002) point out that killing or afflicting serious injury upon opponents is not a hooligan objective. From what I have seen and witnessed I agree with this statement. In the fights I have witnessed weapons are used - the use of weapons differentiates from culture to culture (Giulianotti and Armstrong 2002; Spaaij 2006: 43) - but these weapons take the form of sticks, belts, etc. I haven’t seen any knives or other weapons that can seriously injure or kill someone. Even

6 Eran’s explanation is not wholly satisfying, but more on the relation between Maccabi hooligans and the police in chapter 4.

20 someone like Marv, who is considered an especially dangerous hooligan, from what I have seen doesn’t try to hit someone’s head if he is using a lead pipe or a bat as a weapon. There was one incident during my time in Israel that did involve serious injury. It occurred around the Beitar Jerusalem-Hapoel Tel Aviv game during a fight between hooligans of these two teams. A Beitar hooligan had hit a Hapoel fan on the head with a hammer, using the cat’s paw and not the flat end of the hammer. This resulted in the hammer remaining stuck in the victim’s head. Pictures of the victim were circulating through the different Israeli hooligan groups, which is how I came to see them. It was not a pretty sight. Everyone expressed their shock and/or disgust at this. It was made clear Beitar’s La Familia hooligan group had crossed a line. Because of this reaction it is safe to say this incident, despite of the serious injury, argues for the Giulianotti and Armstrong claim that causing serious injury and let alone killing someone is not intended. After all, if the most seasoned hooligans amongst the Maccabi Fanatics claim La Familia “have lost it now” or “are fucking crazy” it shows that an unwritten rule has been broken. Such an action is outside the realm of ‘normal’ Israeli football hooliganism.

1.5 Territorial integrity Closely related to hooligan violence is territory. The entire hooligan ‘game’ revolves around it. Hooligan groups have a great deal of autonomy over territory that is deemed theirs. Stadium regulations for instance are often not enforced in the section a hooligan groups sits in. This can be either because a group is given certain privileges, because enforcing rules is not possible due to the group’s strength and evasion strategies or a combination of the two. I will go into this further in chapter 4, for now suffice it to say that territorial integrity is the source of a hooligan group’s power and pride. Because of this the hooligan ‘game’ revolves around invading the other’s space and defending one’s own.

It’s around the 75th minute of the game and Maccabi is 1-0 down. To everyone’s surprise, the lowly Hapoel Haifa is completely outplaying and outworking Maccabi Tel Aviv. The singing and supporting continues, as it always does, but the atmosphere on the stands is dampened quite a bit by the poor display on the pitch. The stadium is quite large, too large for this game. Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Haifa both play their home games here, but since Hapoel is so much smaller of a club the stadium is very empty today. There are two rings in this stadium, we are on the second ring on the long side opposite the benches, the short sides being the ones behind the goals. The rest of the second ring is completely empty. Below us the first ring is only half filled. Straight below us, on the same ‘long side’, are the non-fanatical Maccabi fans. I would estimate that, even though we are in Haifa, there is just as many Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in the stadium as there are Hapoel Haifa supporters. The fanatical section of Hapoel Haifa supporters is behind the goal on our right. They, of course, are jubilant that they are winning. They’re singing, cheering on their club while every once in while taunting us.

On the pitch, Maccabi is attacking. A winger is dribbling the ball up. Cheers erupt around me as he passes the defender in front of him. He crosses the ball into the box but the keeper catches the ball before one of the Maccabi players can get to it. He instantly kicks the ball forward. A Maccabi defender attempts to head the ball forward but completely mistimes his attempt. The ball flies over him and into the path of a Hapoel attacker who is running forward. Groans and swearing erupts around me. The player picks the ball up and makes a run for the goal. As he enters the box, the Maccabi goalie comes towards him in an attempt to make the goal smaller. But from the other side another Hapoel player comes running into the box. Everyone in the stands knows what is coming. The player with the ball passes to his teammate, who has an open goal in front of him. He casually rolls de ball in. 2-0. Anger is all around me. Some people are furiously kicking the seats in front or behind them. Everyone realizes this game is now lost. 2-0 down and there is less than 15 minutes to play. Normally, there is no coming back from this. The crowd in our section becomes relatively silent after the first anger has subsided. Most people are just standing around and watching the game instead of the usual singing. After a few minutes, suddenly something changes. An excited murmur races through our section. I don’t immediately understand why. I look around trying to figure out what’s going on. I see it. In an empty second ring section above the Hapoel fanatical fans two people are quickly moving towards the balustrade. In spite of the balaclava both men are wearing, I immediately recognize one of the two as Marv. The blue grey Adidas track suit. There is also something distinctive in his walk, something aggressive. The other I don’t recognize but he appears to be younger. I decide he must be one of the kids always hanging around, trying to win the favor and approval of the older fans. “How the fuck did Marv get into the stadium?!” I excitedly ask no one. “Hell, how on earth did he get into one of the closed sections?” “Look! The banner!” Tal yells out one row above me. Tal is right. Attached to the balustrade above the Hapoel fans is their group banner. Marv and the kid are trying to steal it. Having your group’s banner stolen is one of the worst humiliations, you can suffer as a hooligan. It is like the Roman Eagle of a hooligan Legion. Everyone is excited now, cheering them on. No one is watching the game anymore. As Marv and the kid manage to untie the first few pieces of rope, the right side of the banner is lowered below the balustrade. The Hapoel fans now see what is going on. About 10 to 20 of them storm out of their section and into the catacombs of the stadium, clearly they’re on their way up. The banner is now almost completely untied, only the left most tip is not. The kid is struggling with the knot there; he just can’t get it lose. As Marv is walking towards him, two police officers enter the section through the entrance nearest to Marv and the kid. Marv immediately gestures wildly that the kids needs to get out of there. As the kid runs away from the police, Marv climbs up a few rows in the opposite direction. “He is going towards them?!” I call out surprised. His arms are wide, taunting the police. Both officers are now focused on Marv, providing the kid with an opportunity to escape. The officers start a pincer move on Marv, approaching him from two sides trying to block any escape route. Marv looks behind him, sees the kid is far away and starts running before the officers can close him in. In our section I see Avi, Barak and Gal forcing their way through the crowd. They are on their way towards the line of stewards who are standing almost shoulder to shoulder, enforcing a border between us and the empty sections. The kid is now halfway between the banner and the stewards. Everyone in our section is screaming and spurring him on. Suddenly a security guard emerges from an entrance the kid is running past. The guard manages to grab him by the

arm. The kid tries to wrestle free but to no avail. Marv has seen it; he is running straight for the guard who seems preoccupied with the kid. He never sees it coming, he never stands a chance. Marv slams into him like a freight train, his knee and elbow extended forward. The guard falls down a row and the kid manages to escapes. Two more guards have entered. Marv sees them and runs towards them. Both take a step back, the momentum is clearly on Marv’s side. He suddenly changes direction, jumps down 2 rows and starts running towards us again. The kid is now near out section, all the stewards are facing him. I hold my breath, surely they will catch him. But Avi, Barak and Gal have halted, all under cover of deep hoodies. They are not at the front just behind the stewards, instead holding back a bit. There is quite some people in between them and the stewards. As the kid is just seconds away from reaching the stewards he slows down, looking for an opening. Barak starts screaming loudly and pushes the people in front of him in the back. Avi and Gal immediately follow suit. It creates a domino effect of people moving forward. They are herding people forward. The stewards are suddenly overwhelmed by the momentum of hundreds of people moving forward, pushing them in the back. This breaks their line and forces them to refocus their attention back to the supporters. The kid slips through without any problem. I immediately lose track of him in the crowd. Avi, Barak and Gal have also already disappeared into the crowd. Marv is now closing in on the stewards, chased by security and police. The stewards are dividing their attention between keeping the supporters at bay and anticipating Marv’s arrival. Just before reaching the stewards, a few meters before the border, Marv quickly jumps up 3 rows successively. He is now in the same row as me, providing me with a good view. The steward in front of Marv is clearly startled, he didn’t expect to face Marv. When Marv reaches him, it is as if he isn’t there. Marv just runs through him, the crowd parts to let Marv through and then closes as soon as he has passed. Marv immediately lowers himself and keeps running. While moving he takes of his Adidas jacket and throws it on the floor. I see someone picking it up. Marv grabs a cap from someone’s head and puts it on. When Marv reaches me he gives me a wink, grabs my shoulder and uses it to push himself up a row. I turn just in time to see that behind me Tal has taken of his black leather jacket and quickly hands it to Marv. Marv puts it on and starts to move a bit slower. He climbs up a few more rows and disappears into the crowd.

In the example above the importance of territory is the determining factor shaping the incident. Marv manages to infiltrate a territorial space he is not supposed to be in, attempts to steal a flag demarcating the opponents ‘turf’ and finally escapes to the safety of the Maccabi section, a safe territorial space. Later we will see that the infiltration of Maccabi territory, even if it is just temporarily theirs for the duration a specific away game, is something that cannot be allowed and requires retaliation. In the prologue I described a fight that was lost by the Maccabi hooligans. A lost fight is always something that haunts the hooligan’s collective memory. It is not very often spoken off and is perceived as a humiliation. In the case described in the prologue however, the fact that it happened on Hapoel ‘turf’ - on the Hapoel side of the stadium - is considered a mitigating circumstance. During this fight Maccabi was not humiliated by losing a fight, they were merely unsuccessful in invading the Hapoel

23 territory when called out by Hapoel hooligans. As both Giulianotti and Armstrong (2002) and Spaaij (2006) remark, the greatest humiliation for a hooligan is “getting run”, i.e. losing a fight, on your own territory. This did not happen, the territorial integrity of the Maccabi hooligan group was not violated during the incident. On the other side of the coin Giulianotti and Armstrong describe, the greatest honor is routing your opponent on their territory. In the example above, Marv’s infiltrates the opponent’s territory and insults them by attempting to steal their group’s banner. He isn’t successful in his attempt but still comes close enough for the Maccabi hooligans to have made their mark. The attempt is further complicated by the fact that police tries to arrest him. His escape into safe territory further adds to the honor he manages to win the Maccabi supporters, consequently it also adds to the excitement for those watching it all unfold.

1.6 The stadium as a ‘front region’ The most important territorial spaces are the stadiums. The home stadium is the football hooligans holy7 ground, in particular the sections that house the more fanatical fans. In this case the area behind the goal where the Maccabi Fanatics have their stand. This territory has to be defended while it is contested during games by opposing fans. Bloomfield is a particularly contested territorial space as not just Maccabi Tel Aviv plays its home games there; it is also the home ground for the main rival, Hapoel Tel Aviv. Both the defense and contestation of this territorial space happen through colorful display and loud singing during every game. Sometimes it happens through violence, be it in the form of an actual fight between hooligan groups or milder forms like Marv’s attempt at stealing the Hapoel Haifa banner. According to both Spaaij (2006) and Giulianotti and Armstrong (2002) hooliganism rarely takes place within or just around the stadium anymore due to heavy police restrictions and security measures imposed over the years to combat football hooliganism. They argue the ‘geographical meaning’ of the stadium has changed from a ‘front region’ of contestation to a ‘back region’, making it less relevant to football hooliganism. It would appear this argument does not hold true for Israel because these policing measures are far less common. It wasn’t impossible for Marv to get to the areas where he was not supposed to be, it was just difficult. The same goes for his escape into the safe space that was the Maccabi section of the stands. When we look back at the prologue we can see that with a little bit of effort the police can be shaken off and it is possible for two hooligan groups to meet within a few hundred meters of the stadium before a match. There is also a rather famous incident that occurred a few months before I arrived in Tel Aviv for my research period. During the Tel Aviv derby, a well-known

7 Religious analogies (holy, hallowed, sacred, etc.) were often used to describe Bloomfield to me.

Hapoel hooligan invaded the pitch while drunk and attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv striker Eran Zahavi. The two fought for a couple of seconds before being separated. When the referee penalized Zahavi with a red card for his share of the fight, the Maccabi reaction of both players, staff and supporters was furious. Nine Maccabi hooligans then invaded the pitch, ran across the field towards the section that houses the more fanatical Hapoel fans. All were intercepted before they could reach the Hapoel stand, and all were arrested8 (ESPN 2014). Incidents like these prove that the football stadiums in Israel, despite what Spaaij or Giulianotti and Armstrong tell us, are still very much a ‘front region’ (Spaaij 2006: 38) for hooligan encounters. I would also argue that violence is not the only form of contestation that is deemed important to Maccabi hooligans. Singing, putting on displays off huge banners and setting off fireworks are all examples of ways in which contestation takes place. It may be true in some places - not at Maccabi Tel Aviv - that violence doesn’t take place in and around stadium, but I think it is important to note that violence is not the only form of competition between hooligan groups. In the ethnographic section below this becomes very clear; we will see an example of the territorial integrity of a group of football supporters being violated and contested through non-violent means.

The game is almost over. Despite the game certainly being a loss everyone around me is jubilant and excited by the events that just transpired. I start climbing down a few rows to see if I can perhaps help carry something once the game is over. Suddenly shouting starts around me. People are pointing upward; something is going on behind me. I turn and see thickly packed green smoke near the top of the section we are in. Someone has set off a smoke bomb. Pyrotechnics are prohibited but quite common. Smuggling them in and setting them of is part of the cat and mouse game between fan groups on one side and police and security on the other. But this seems different than normal; people shouting and looking around, the most prominent hooligans have sprung into action and are moving towards the exit quickly. Ben climbs upward over the chairs next to me. “What’s going on?” “Maccabi Haifa.” His tone is very serious and doesn’t look at me when speaking, instead scanning the crowd. “What?” “Green. It’s Maccabi Haifa.” Only now it hits me: yellow is the Maccabi Tel Aviv color, green is the color of Maccabi Haifa. A Maccabi Haifa supporter did this, set off a green smoke bomb in the middle of the Maccabi Tel Aviv section. Something like this won’t be tolerated, it’s too great of an insult. Ben continues his ascent towards the exit. I follow him. Adrenaline starts pumping. As we move through the exit into the catacombs we encounter a pandemonium. People are running in all

8 A video of this incident can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjX9zif8qkk

directions, looking for anything that might be Maccabi Haifa. I can’t make any sense of all the chaos and Hebrew shouting around me. I decide to just follow Ben. He quickly moves through the crowd, towards the exit out of the stadium. Within seconds we are outside. Ben halts. I stop next to him. “See anything?” Ben asks me. “No...” “Watch out, look around, maybe this is bigger. Maybe they try something.” To our right I hear shouting. I look in the direction of the noise and see people running. Did they find someone? Are they being attacked by Maccabi Haifa hooligans? Ben starts running. I follow. Almost immediately I see Gal to my left, he is not running but standing still, scanning his surroundings like Ben was doing before. I hold back and walk over to Gal. “Gal, are you not going over there?” I point in the direction Ben ran off to. “No. I looking. Not Haifa there.” “What are we looking for exactly, you see who did it?” “Wait, wait, I looking.” Gal keeps carefully scanning his surroundings. “There!” Gal starts running in the opposite direction Ben did moments ago. I follow Gal. After sprinting for about 50 meters we arrive at a peculiar scene. About six people have surrounded someone pinned to the side of a large white SUV. Clearly he is suspected of having set of the smoke bomb. They are shouting at him; I can’t understand any more of what is being said then the occasional swearing or an accusatory “Maccabi Haifa”. Only now I notice Marv is at the thick of it, he is the one pinning the man to the car rendering it impossible for him to move. He grabs the suspected smoke bomber by the neck hole of his t-shirt and rips down, tearing the shirt to shreds. I can’t really make out anything specific from the distance I’m standing, but Marv and the rest of the group have clearly seen enough. “Ya ben zona!” Marv yells as he punches the now shirtless young man in the face. More punches are thrown, not just by Marv but by others in the group as well. Others are now running for the group, all eager to get some kicks or punches. Like pack of hungry wolfs the Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are descending on the man. Police run passed me towards the group. Someone notices them and yells something. The wolfs scatter. I look at the man, who is now sitting down leaning his back against the SUV, dazed and confused. The police officers kneel down next to him and check if he is okay. I look around, almost no one is here anymore, everybody has run off. I decide it’s time to do the same.

Later, sitting over coffee at Eran’s bar, Marv would tell me the reason for ripping the shirt of the Maccabi Haifa hooligan. He had suspected but had not been sure that this man was the one who had set of the smoke bomb. Marv needed conformation and justification before a beating could begin. He was looking for a tattoo and could find none on his arms. Ripping the shirt had exposed a Maccabi Haifa logo tattooed on the man’s chest, proving the man’s guilt for Marv and the others. Earlier in this chapter I have shown that hooligan violence needs to be directed at other hooligan elements; it is deemed dishonorable to attack non-hooligan supporters. Marv had, even in the heat of the moment, been careful enough to determine the status of the victim as being a Maccabi Haifa hooligan. He displayed here a further aspect of his professionalism as a hooligan. He is not just a professional in the sense that he ‘makes a living’ from it and derives meaning and purpose from it, he also showed a sense of calm not

26 getting swept up too much in the moment. He did what he had to do; he did his job. Note also how both Gal and Ben kept very calm and matter of factual in the midst of chaos. They also displayed this aspect of professionalism.

1.7 Conclusions In this chapter I have shown a number of different aspects important in the formation of a hooligan identity and its attractions to both current and prospective group members. On an individual level, group membership can have very practical advantages giving hooliganism part of its attraction. Looking at the moral economy and aesthetic values of football hooliganism, I follow Jenkins (2014) in arguing that the construction of the hooligan Self happens in relation to a number of Others. The use of violence - bound and structured by unwritten rules - is the most important symbolic differentiator between a hooligan Self and non-hooligan Others. Jenkins’ identity theory is perhaps even more relevant within the realm of football hooliganism because hooliganism revolves around the constant territorial contestation between different groups; a hooligan group’s worth is constantly negotiated in relation to other hooligan groups and each group’s territorial integrity. I disagree with Spaaij (2006) and Giulianotti and Armstrong (2002) their argument that the geographical meaning of the stadium has changed from a ‘front region’ to a ‘back region’ of hooligan contestation. At least in the Israeli context this does not hold up, fighting does occur in and around the stadium on a regular basis. Furthermore, I would counter the ‘back region’ argument with the fact that for other - non-violent - forms of contestation the stadium will always remain a front region.

2. Societal divisions shaping hooliganism

In the previous chapter I have examined the construction of hooligan identity and the attractions of hooliganism. In this chapter I will delve deeper into the local specificity of Israeli football hooliganism. I will explore the role of local social fault lines that shape hooliganism in Israel.

2.1 The English disease Spaaij (2006) argues for taking into account local context when it comes to trying to understand football hooliganism. Traditionally there has always been a wide body of literature on English football hooliganism. The conclusions drawn from research in the context of the United Kingdom are in Spaaij’s mind too generally applied to all instances of football violence in Europe. This is perhaps in part due to the fact that for a long time football violence was seen to be in inherently English problem, at the very least in the minds of the English themselves, that then spread across Europe along with the rest of English youth culture, as for instance Bufford (1991) argues. This view however neglects the roots of the more Southern European ultras style of fanatical support that originated in 1960’s Italy and was itself inspired by supporter cultures witnessed by Italian fans in neighboring Yugoslavia. This might also be due to the fact that, like supporter subcultures themselves, the studies on football violence and its perpetrators are spread over a vast number of different countries and languages. The English studies might simply have been the easiest to access and comprehend by the most (academic) readers - due to English serving as a sort of lingua franca. Whatever the exact reason for it, Spaaij feels that for a long time the English studies have been too dominant in shaping the discourse and understanding on football hooliganism. This led to too great a focus on class as an explanation for hooliganism. The socio-economic background of the perpetrators of football violence came to take a central role. This however might have been a fair focus in England but the contours of football violence in other parts of Europe need not be centered around class at all. In Spain football support and football violence is usually given meaning as an expression of regional identity or in direct nationalist opposition of it, while those perpetrating said violence come from all socio-economic layers of society (Spaaij 2006: chapters 8 and 9). In Israel as well, I found a wide disparity in backgrounds among the fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv. From people living in poverty, always scraping by on

28 loans and gifts from others, to those from middle class upbringing to those born and raised in wealthy parts of the country and driving around in expensive cars. These are just two examples of localities where the English focus on class is not particularly insightful or relevant. One can add to this list of examples with ease. For a good idea of the wide variety of different localizations of fanatical football support one needs only to read the overview given by Spaaij (Ibid.: 12-18) in his introductory chapter.

2.2 Israeli political division Ben-Porat (2001, 2014) claims Israeli hooliganism is fueled by ethnic and nationalistic conflict. This is in line with my assumption that the local fault lines in Israel would be mostly centered around that most famous of Israeli conflicts, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Now there are of course no Palestinian football teams in the Ligat Ha’al (Israel’s Premier League) due to the fact that Palestine has its own football leagues. The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) while The Israeli Football Association (IFA) is a member of European football federation UEFA9. This means that Palestinian and Israeli football teams also don’t play each other in international club tournaments, unless both would win their continents respective international tournaments and qualify for the World Cup for clubs. While I cannot vouch for the quality of Palestinian football, I think I have now seen enough Israeli football to make the claim that this will not happen any time soon. So while matches between Israeli and Palestinian teams are impossible in the current situation, there are a few Arab-Israeli teams, most notably FC Bnei Sakhnin. I was surprised to learn during my time in Israel however that the fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv don’t really care all that much about games against these Arab-Israeli teams. When I expressed my surprise at the lack of excitement to Eran ahead of the upcoming Maccabi Tel Aviv-Bnei Sakhnin match he shrugged his shoulders and said in an uninterested tone: “Why should we care? It just an Arab club, they are not important.” What is seen as important, by far the biggest fixture on the Maccabi Tel Aviv calendar, is the derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Other important rivalries are amongst other the games against Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Haifa, all Israeli teams and all teams that have traditionally been big clubs in both sporting achievements as well as supporter following. These rivalries are also the games in which incidents of football hooliganism are most likely to occur. Indeed, the incident described in the prologue that provided me with such relative unrestricted

9 The IFA became a part of the AFC in 1954 but after pressure from a number Arab federations they were expelled in 1974. After a 20 year period in which club teams only competed at a national level and the national team having to qualify for FIFA events in Europe, Oceania or South America the IFA was admitted to UEFA.

29 access to Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans took place before a game against Hapoel Tel Aviv. The Maccabi- Hapoel rivalry is one that is given meaning by invoking a political framework. Hapoel is perceived as being a (far) left club - ‘hapoel’ even means ‘the worker’ in Hebrew - while Maccabi is seen as mostly a right wing and nationalistic club. Tel Aviv is far more progressive and left wing then the rest of Israel which creates the interesting and slightly confusing dynamic of both teams’ supporters feeling as a political minority that is besieged and under threat by a majority that radically differ on world view. On the one hand there are the left wing supporters of Hapoel Tel Aviv who are a strange sight waiving their anarchist and Ché Guevara flags in a right wing country. On the other side of the spectrum there are the Maccabi fans who feel like they are the only patriotic people in a city that has lost its way. Maccabi fans regularly call Hapoel fans traitors or sing about Hapoel being the same as Hezbollah, while Hapoel fans plaster walls with graffiti calling Maccabi a fascist club. This of course is an accusation not made - or taken - lightly in Israel.

2.3 Ethnic politics Now this seems to suggest that the societal fault lines that fuel and contour Football hooliganism in Israel are not ethnic or religious in nature. All this points more to a traditional left-right political divide. This however, is not entirely true. The many conflicts in Israel do play a part in the rhetoric of the fans. While they might not have any football or hooligan rivalries with Arab or Muslim clubs, they don’t liken Hapoel with Hezbollah for nothing. I have also witnessed multiple occasions in which racism was displayed towards or voiced about Muslims and/or Arabs. Arab players are often vocally abused, not just those playing at opposing teams but the one Arab player playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv while I was there was perhaps more viciously booed than any player on the opposing teams. I do want remark here that not all Maccabi supporters did this, many still applauded him or threated him not much different than any other player. However, almost every one of the more fanatical fans, including the hooligans, did clearly voice their displeasure at this Arab influence on their team. This was always a difficult subject to research, because it was hard to have a proper in depth conversation about racism. Usually I was in the presence of a group of people who found themselves strengthened in their convictions and unwilling to challenge or reflect upon them due to the support of their peers. Before long people would be joking around or ridiculing me, often in Hebrew. But when I found myself in a one on one situation, I seized the opportunity.

It’s about 2 a.m. on a weeknight and I’m at Tal’s place, a small one room apartment at the top floor of an apartment building in central Tel Aviv. A bottle of Grey Goose vodka, by now half empty, on the table in between me and Tal. I feel this is the most opportune moment I’ve had so far to ask about something that has been bothering me for a while now: Tal is a very reasonable guy, at least for a football hooligan, intelligent and I can talk to him well despite him being socially rather reserved on most occasions. Now, after drinking and talking with him all night, I feel is as good a time as any. “Tal, you know in the games, when there is an Arab player, when all of you guys start yelling and stuff like that you know…” Tal laughs and, perhaps sensing my discomfort at bringing this up, doesn’t say anything. He slowly takes a sip from his one-use plastic cup filled with vodka. Tal is unusually fashionable and hip for a football hooligan, not at all reflecting the usual dress codes and mannerisms of football hooligans. He is however, quite a renowned fighter. Something that explains him not having to play, or dress, by the rules while still commanding significant respect from fellow supporters. “You know how it is,” he finally replies, “you’ve been to plenty of football games.” “Yes, well, but this doesn’t really happen in the Netherlands I think…” “You should not make too big a deal of this my friend, you say things, it’s not because you mean them, it’s just to try to get the other side out of the game. You say what you can to hurt them and to make your own team’s chance to win bigger. Is it someone who never was in the Army? You call him a traitor or a homosexual. Is he Arab? You scream at him for being a terrorist. Black player? Throw a banana at him. It doesn’t mean you don’t like black people. It’s just about the game, about getting his head out of the game.” It’s my turn now to say nothing and take a sip of vodka while taking this in. I’m not sure what to make of this answer. This doesn’t make a lot of sense. “You understand?” “Well, you say this, and I think I can follow what it is you are trying to argue, but you know this is not really true becau…” Tal aggressively interrupts me. “You calling me liar?” I look Tal straight in the eyes. “Maybe yeah, do we have problem?” After a few weeks of being with these hooligans I have learned how to deal with these constant tests; it’s usually not a serious attempt at starting conflict and it is better not to back down if you want to keep their respect. Tal laughs. He grabs the bottle from the table and signals me for my plastic cup. “Go on.” he says while pouring me another drink. “Well, the other day after the away game we won, the players came over to us one by one to thanks us. There was singing for every player. But then, when, what’s his name again, the Muslim player?” “The Arab, call him that. But I know what you mean, we scream at him.” “Yeah, so that’s not to hurt the opponent in any way you can. He is on your own team.” “This is true.” Tal seems somewhat amused by all this. He takes a sip of his drink. “So then why? There is not a purpose or anything…” “It’s more, you know, like a joke.” “It didn’t seem like he, the player, found it particularly funny.” “Well, you are not Israeli, you don’t understand.” I don’t say anything. Tal seems a bit uncomfortable and takes another sip. “You don’t understand. Every one of us has stories. From the army, from friends, stuff like this. So like…”

Tal is not looking at me but at the ceiling, he is looking for words. “Okay, so I am in the Army okay? With two or three of my army friends we are on a roadblock. We cannot let anyone pass, this is our orders. After a while, a young kid, like 15 or 16 years old yes? He is walking towards us, wearing a big coat. So we think this is not normal, it’s hot, maybe he is wearing a bomb belt. We shout to him he needs to stop but he keeps walking, he doesn’t stop. Our, you know, like the boss? Our commander, that’s it, he is few kilometers away. We call him, ask what we do. He tell us he cannot say, he is not there. He says we have permission to shoot if we think this a danger. So we shout more you know, to the kid, I don’t want to shoot. But he doesn’t stop, keeps walking. Not running, just walking. But he comes closer and closer. So I lay down behind the barricade and aim. We shout more you know, why he doesn’t stop? I don’t understand. So I shoot the warning, you know? Still this kid, he just keep walking. So what can I do?” I see desperation in Tal’s face. He pours himself another drink, then sliding the bottle over to me. I grab it. “Thanks.” I feel for him. It’s late, we drank too much and I pushed him into reliving something he clearly would rather forget. Tal gazes past me. I see tears welling up in his eyes. Suddenly, out of nowhere, anger flashes over his face. All the sadness I could see there just moments before is now gone. “That’s why I fucking hate them. Why we hate them, why we don’t want them our club. It’s the Arab, the Hamas, who do this kind of shit. Sending their kids to do their fucking dirty work, these fucking cowards. Who does that? Only a fucking animal sends a kid.” Tal downs his drink in anger.

2.4 Moral disengagement According to Bandura’s theory of moral disengagement (1996) - moral disengagement occurs when someone temporarily disengages the capacity to self-regulate the morality of their conduct - there are three sets of practices that can lead to a state of moral disengagement, two of which are relevant here. The first of these two is cognitive restructuring - framing inappropriate behavior as acceptable – and consists of three different mechanisms. The first, moral justification, occurs when behavior is made acceptable on a personal and social level by instilling in it a sense of purpose. We clearly can see this happening when early on Tal attempts to morally justify his own and other people’s racist behavior by framing it as a tool in the service of the bigger picture: taking your opponents head out of the game and thereby providing your own team with an edge over their opponent. The second mechanism is using euphemisms. Through the use of euphemistic language one can hide immoral behavior, make it seem more innocent, or sometimes even make the immoral seem respectable. Now in general this doesn’t really happen amongst the Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans. I think the most logical explanation for this is that in a group where status in part comes from your capacity to engage in anti-social behavior, there is less of a need for euphemistic language. In a subculture that celebrates aggressive masculinity, hiding behavior behind a veil of euphemistic language is not something that happens a lot. Now Tal does refer

32 to racist abuse of a Maccabi player by Maccabi fans as a joke, clearly euphemistic language, but the context here is rather different from the ‘normal’ state of affairs. Tal and I are alone and he knows I do not approve of this kind of behavior, my questions about the subject alone say as much. There is no one else present besides the two of us, so now euphemistic language does become a useful tool. The trouble is that it doesn’t work since both parties here don’t agree on the acceptability of the toned down euphemistic speech here. After a moment of hesitation this brings Tal to the third of Bandura’s cognitive restructuring mechanisms: exploiting advantageous comparisons. By comparing the racist abuse perpetrated by the Maccabi fans to deeds that appear to be worse, suddenly the abuse seems insignificant in the grand scheme of things. And in a sense it worked, after Tal’s story I dropped the subject. It didn’t feel appropriate anymore. Here in front of me was sitting someone who was clearly in pain over a memory he would rather forget. Bothering him further with difficult questions about racism felt wrong. Now of course I’m not saying, and neither is Bandura, that this is a purposeful move in order to win a discussion. The emotions and feelings that came to the surface were very real indeed. The experience that people undergo during their conscripted service in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) can lead to such strong emotions. These emotions can then cause this kind of cognitive restructuring, leading to and ensuring the continuation of destructive behavior perpetrated by groups such as the Maccabi Fanatics. Taking into account these strong emotional resentments for - and lumping together of - everything ‘Arab’, ‘Muslim’, ‘Palestinian’ or anything related it might seem strange that there is no real interest in a rivalry with predominantly Arab-Israeli clubs like Bnei Sakhnin. After all, at first glance football hooliganism presents one with an excellent framework to fight out resentments of this kind. So how can we explain the insignificance and virtual nonexistence of a Maccabi Tel Aviv-Bnei Sakhin rivalry, both on and off the pitch? This is I think were the second set of Bandura’s moral disengagement practices become relevant. They have to do with how the victim of the immoral behavior in question is perceived by the perpetrator. The first mechanism in this set is the dehumanization of the victim, where victims are deprived of the intrinsic qualities take bestow upon someone his or her humanity. The second mechanism is the attribution of blame, laying the fault of the perpetrators actions towards the victim at the feet of the victim. This leads to a perpetrator that is no longer responsible for his or her actions since they are merely responding to actions or provocations by the victim.

2.5 Dehumanization Dehumanization can happen through language, oftentimes equating the Other with an animal and thereby categorizing them as separate from humanity (Semelin 2014: 38-39). Tal does this at the end of our conversation, saying “only an animal” would be capable of doing such a thing. There are numerous times during my research when I encountered the use of metaphors like this. I prefer not to go through them all here, but suffice it to say that it isn’t a coincidence I know that the Hebrew word for ‘pig’ is ‘chazir’ and that it’s plural is ‘chazirim’. But language, particularly its parole, can be far more subtle than these kind of simple analogies. Before exploring this, let me describe some of the events that took place while exploring Israel with Tal and Ben.

I am driving north in my small rental car with Tal and Ben to visit Tal’s family - who live little over an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv - and see a little bit of the country. Tal is in the back of the car while Ben is sitting next to me in the passenger seat. We are passing through a village that I hadn’t paid any particular notice to until now. “You see this?” Ben asks me. “See what?” “This village.” As I check my rear view mirror I can see a smirk on Tal’s face. Apparently he already knows where this is going. “Sure, hard to miss. What about it?’’ “It’s an Arab village. We take you the scenic route.” I don’t reply immediately, I’m busy focusing on a particularly busy intersection. Israeli drivers tend to have a very aggressive driving style, concentration is key at times. Tal and Ben talk amongst themselves for a few seconds in Hebrew. Both laugh at the end of it. I don’t think too much of it, these kinds of moments happen all the time and I’m no longer that bothered by not understanding some of the things said around me. “You don’t wanna know how I know this?” Ben continues. I laugh. “Sure, I’ll bite. Tell me.” “Just look at it, look around you.” I pay closer attention to the village around me. I notice some street signs, most of them have 3 different alphabets on them. Like everywhere else I have been in Israel the street signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and Latin writing10. Looking past the street signs I notice that all other signs, like those found above stores or advertising something, are actually in Arabic. “Well I guess the signs? Arabic?” “Yes well that too I guess.” Ben laughs. Tal says something in Hebrew again. Ben laughs even harder. “So what did you mean?” I ask.

10 The Latin writing can be quite inconsistent at times. For instance, at one street sign you’ll see the word ‘Rehov’, next sign it’ll be ‘Zehov’. Both are Latin alphabet interpretations of the Hebrew word for ‘street’. All three –including the English word street- can be used interchangeably for the same street name. And yes, I did get lost a few times before discovering this.

“Look at the place. It looks like shit. All the houses are crap, half of them don’t even have windows.” I look around. I guess it would be fair to say this isn’t the nicest place I have seen so far in this country. A lot of the houses do indeed appear unfinished, still consisting of dark grey unpainted concrete or indeed not having glass in the windows. Some houses don’t have a roof over the top floor but don’t appear to be under construction. More generally speaking most houses are very poorly maintained, although to be fair some of the poorer areas around Tel Aviv like parts of Bat Yam or Ramat Gan don’t look any better. “All Arab villages are like this?” “Yes.” “Why? What makes them be more, well, shitty, then the Israeli villages?” “They don’t care how they live.” There is some serious disgust in Ben’s voice when he says this. “O come on really? You’re saying Arabs don’t like to live in nice houses? That they actually prefer shitty ones?” Ben hisses in disapproval. He mumbles something in Hebrew. I look in mirror and see that Tal, who was leaning lazily before, is now leaning forward. He looks me in the eyes via the mirror. “Come on man,” Tal’s tone is explanatory, “be fair. It’s not like we forbid them from building a nice building. Tell me then, why don’t they improve their village?” “Well, I dunno, just, well you know, because…” I feel uncomfortable, I don’t particularly feel like making a stand right now while driving and being outnumbered two to one. “Well I guess that Arab-Israelis…” “Arabs.” Ben corrects me. “…in general have less money, are just poorer, so it’s harder for them.” “Ah come on, don’t give me that shit!” Ben flies of the handle. “They have all the opportunities they need! Don’t act like it’s us who are holding them back, if anything it’s the other way around! They don’t have to go the army, they don’t give anything to this country. Look at this place! It looks like shit, look at these Muslim countries surrounding us, all of it looks like this here. Like shit! Now look at Tel Aviv, a modern city. We build that!” This is exactly what I didn’t want right now. “Ben, relax okay. I didn’t mean anything by it. Tal asked me question, you know, what I thought? I don’t know, I just said something, what I thought, what came to mind.” “You should think! For hundreds of years there is only Muslims here, while we were all over the world without a country. Nothing was build, nothing was developed, until we came here.” “Ben! Relax! Again, didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sorry okay?” Ben turns away and mumbles something in Hebrew. Tal says something to him that sounds like he is trying to calm Ben down.

It took a few minutes but after dropping the subject the atmosphere returned to normal pretty quickly. Later that day when we were driving back, we stood still at a red traffic light. I notice we are next to a building that was in particularly bad shape, it was almost a ruin. Before I knew it, or even really thought about it, I pointed at it and said: “Look, Arab village.” All of us laughed, Tal gave me a pad on the shoulder. He remarked that I “might just become one of [them] yet.” I later felt quite guilty about that particular moment.

On a less personal and more analytical level I think we can also see something very interesting here. Baumann (2006) argues that othering happens primarily through three different grammars: orientalizing, segmentation and encompassment. When these linguistic grammars ‘implode’ (Ibid.: 42) dehumanization starts to take place; when the Other is no longer spoken of along the normal categorizations we use for othering, the Other is being placed outside the moral order that is humanity. This is exactly the sort of thing we see happening in the section above. Perhaps even more interesting in relation to the section above is Baumann’s remark - when speaking about the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi regime - that ‘what we need to show here is how patterns of language use may have contributed to otherwise “normal” people acquiescing in, or collaborating with, a project of mass annihilation’ (Ibid.: 43). I tend to think of myself as ‘normal’, yet we can see how little it took for me to adopt the imploded grammar used by Tal and Ben. At the beginning of the section above there is a complete miscommunication between me and them, perfectly illustrated by me not being able to guess what it is Ben wants to hear. Not using the same classifications as they do, I can only come up with the street signs as an Arabic identifier. It’s not until the crescendo of miscommunication peaks into Ben’s outburst that I learn the classification used by Tal and Ben. It’s only then my own grammars start to implode. Internalizing this doesn’t appear to take very long. Still on the same day, on the way back, I make that horrible joke. Tal’s remark that I might become one of them yet shows how adopting their linguistic parole is a necessary step for anyone to be accepted as a true part of their Self. The guilt I later felt for making that joke in part comes from this inclusion expressed by Tal; it felt like he had laid bare my collaboration with his project of mass annihilation. Now it’s not just language through which victims are dehumanized, as we can also see in the example above. Physical conditions are also interpreted such as to favor one’s own situation over that of the Other. Waller’s physical machinations (2007: 247) work complementary to the more linguistic forms of dehumanization. For Ben and Tal - and indeed many other Maccabi fans - the physical world provides ample ‘proof’ of Jewish superiority over Arab-Israelis. The idea that the area which today consists of Israel only became prosperous and technologically after the Jewish state was established is one I heard numerous times, almost every time used as a direct or indirect argument for Jewish superiority over that of Others in the Middle East. By dismissing anything outside of the Other’s behavior as a cause for the situation the Other is in, something Ben does when he angrily yells at me I shouldn’t “give him that shit”, he is making the situation appear as a natural state of affairs. By blaming the victim, he is essentially

36 saying there must be some inherent fault in the victim, he is creating an inability or unwillingness to develop on the side of the Other, and placing him outside of moral human behavior. There are countless more examples that point to dehumanization I encountered during my stay in Israel. I’ll quickly pass by a few here. Avi once refused to acknowledge the word ‘Palestine’. I couldn’t understand why Avi, who speaks English quite well, was failing to comprehend wat I was saying. It took me forever to find out that it was the word ‘Palestine’ that he was ‘failing to understand’. He didn’t drop a single hint - he didn’t tell me only Israel and not Palestine exists in his mind or anything like that - he just sat there and kept saying he didn’t understand me every time I spoke a sentence that contained ‘Palestine’. Another time Dor, a particularly loudmouthed hooligan who always likes to shock people, was saying that in essence Hitler was not that bad of a leader. When you came down to it, he was mostly a strong leader who looked after the interest of his people. This was something they could use in Israel, to kill all the Arabs like Hitler killed all the Jews. Now it needs to be acknowledged here I think that this was said in a context where there were a lot of people present and everybody was trying to surpass whatever the previous person had said. It was one of the first days I was in there, I was asking questions about Israeli politics and gradually answers were getting more extreme to the hilarity of most Maccabi hooligans present. This particular remark made by Dor was probably mostly aimed at shocking me and entertaining the others at the table. Nonetheless it was said, people did laugh and voice their agreement, something that wasn’t done with every remark that evening. And as most can probably imagine, alluding to Hitler or the Holocaust is not something done lightly in Israel.

2.6 Competitive honor So if Arab-Israelis - who are often conveniently lumped together with non-Israeli Arabs, Palestinian, Hezbollah, Hamas and Muslims in general - are dehumanized by Maccabi Tel Aviv Hooligans, then why is a club like Bnei Sakhnin not a viable target for these hooligans? The key to answering this question lies within the definition of football hooliganism established in the introduction. Because the violence that we see in football hooliganism is competitive in nature and takes place between hooligans of different clubs, measuring who is the superior fan group, the dehumanized are not a viable opponent. After all, even though a Maccabi fan hates everything Hapoel, the Hapoel fan is human. Hapoel fans might be all traitor to the state of Israel, left wing, self-hating Jewish communists, they are part of the same moral community of football hooligans and they do play by the same rules and share some values. You don’t attack each other at work for instance, you both dislike the police and carry banners with ACAB (All Cops

Are Bastards) on them. Fans of Bnei Sakhnin are dehumanized, are placed outside the shared moral community and are no longer a relevant group to compete with, to measure yourself with. An interesting point made by Waller (2007) in this light, is that dehumanization enables ethnic or genocidal violence because it increases the distance between the perpetrator and the victim. This is a necessary step because, according to Waller, as distance decreases, killing - in this case fighting - becomes more difficult. It becomes the most difficult in the hand to hand combat range. This, of course, is exactly the range in which violence between football hooligans takes place. So the violence of football hooliganism, with its competitive and very personal nature, is not a type of violence deemed suitable or appropriate for the Arab fans of Bnei Sakhnin by the ultra-nationalistic fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv. This is illustrated by Eran’s nonchalant quote early in this chapter saying “Why should we care [about Bnei Sakhnin]? It just an Arab club, they are not important.” It is important to note that this situation is not the same across Israel. Different societal fault lines can be or become important at different clubs within any country. My respondents told me that Bnei Shakhnin was deemed to be a very important away game for the members of Beitar Jerusalem’s La Familia hooligan group. Apparently, La Familia always came out in force during away games against Arab teams and - in the words of Avi - tried to “turn their village in a warzone, you know, destroy anything they see.” I was surprised by this, since it had just become apparent to me that Bnei Sakhnin wasn’t an important fixture for the Maccabi Fanatics. Apparently a game that for one far-right hooligan group didn’t hold any significance, was one of the more significant games of the season for the other far-right hooligan group. Whatever the reason11 for this, it shows the variation in the appearance and expression of hooliganism from one club to another. Another example of this within the context of Israeli football can be found in the work of Ben-Porat (2001, 2014) who has researched identity formation amongst the supporters of two different Arab-Israeli football clubs. He demonstrates how the supporters of Hapoel Taibe and the supporters of Bnei Sakhnin are forced into an ‘Arab’ identity due to their lower status in Israeli society and due to the interaction with supporters of ‘Jewish’ teams - primarily the fans of Beitar Jerusalem and Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv12 - who label them as ‘Arabs’ (Ben-Porat 2001, 2014).

11 When I asked Avi for a reason, he told me that La Familia consisted of “religious nutjobs” and that it is because of this they go “all crazy” there. Religious beliefs might be an adequate explanation for this, Beitar does identify more on the religious right than the nationalistic right like Maccabi. It could be hypothesized that for a religious hooligan, another religious football fan is a valid and equal target. Whether this is the case can’t be said with certainty within the scope of this thesis’s research however, more research at Beitar Jerusalem would be needed in order to confirm this hypothesis. 12 I hadn’t encountered this team or any stories worth remembering about them during my time in Israel. A quick Google search taught me they have relegated to Israel’s second division between the time Ben-Porat’s 2001 article has been published and my research period in 2015. At the end of the 2014-2015 season they promoted back to the Israeli Premier League.

So where for Maccabi supporters societal political cleavages are the most important, at Beitar Jerusalem religious cleavages seem to be more important in shaping hooliganism. And while I am not sure about the extent to which there is any hooliganism at Hapoel Taibe and Bnei Sakhnin, it is apparent that ethnic cleavages are the primary source of supporter identity formation at those clubs. This shows that the societal fault lines Spaaij talks about can differ not only from country to country but also from club to club within the same country.

2.7 Conclusions In this chapter I have argued that the English research on football hooliganism is not particularly relevant in clarifying hooliganism in a local Israeli context. Instead of class, it is Israeli political divisions - left wing vs right wing - that are the fault lines contextualizing the rivalries that are deemed to be important by Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters. Ethnic conflict and racism are overtly present amongst Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters but are not shaping hooliganism, i.e. the act of competitive violence between rival supporter groups. This is due to the moral disengagement towards and dehumanization of ‘Arabs’. One can only win honor - the aim of competitive violence - against one’s equals. Therefore, someone who is placed outside the hooligans’ moral community, through the process of dehumanization, holds no value as an opponent. Finally, the fault lines shaping hooliganism at Maccabi Tel Aviv are not the fault lines that shape hooliganism at all hooligan groups in Israel.

3. Interaction with non-hooligan others

In the previous chapter I have explored the societal fault lines that are important in shaping football hooliganism in Israel and more specifically at Maccabi Tel Aviv. In this chapter I will show how the interactions between Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans and significant non- hooligan others, in this case exemplified by the club and the police, co-shape hooliganism and its perception. I will do so by following the events I experienced just before the Tel Aviv derby that took place during my research period in Israel. It shows the power and means hooligan groups can have to navigate and circumvent official and unofficial rules and regulations, i.e. establish their autonomy, and how the hooligan’s autonomy is both legitimized and contested by significant others.

3.1 Territorial autonomy Local interpretations of football hooliganism differ not only from country to country but also from club to club. How hooliganism is perceived is important in determining the level of policing of hooliganism (Spaaij 2006: 348). In other words: the more hooliganism is perceived to be a problem, the more attention it will attract from the state and its primary enforcer the police. I found that the level to which hooliganism is policed in Israel is not that high. There were never too much police present; not enough to stop incidents from happening anyway. There was definitely policing going on, but these measurements where relatively easily circumvented. By taking simple measures - like dividing up into smaller groups and taking a few back alleys as was done in the prologue - I have witnessed time and time again the relative simplicity of circumventing security measures. Circumvention however is not the only way in which hooligan groups deal with significant non- hooligan others. They have a large amount of autonomous control over what is perceived as their territory, especially during football games. Some examples: Smoking is not allowed in some stadiums, but everybody smokes during games. Setting off fireworks is not allowed, but it happens from time to time. There is nothing much the club or the police can do about it; they won’t enter onto the stand to put an end to it. These kind of actions are done in evasive ways so the perpetrators of certain transgressions are shielded from the view of cameras or security personnel. This way the perpetrators are not arrested after the fact, they remain safe after leaving the territory where hooligans have their autonomy and safety.

These are examples of things that are not allowed but supporters can allow themselves without consequence due to the autonomy of the hooligans over their own territory. There are also incidences where the hooligan group’s autonomy is more formally recognized. For instance, the Maccabi Fanatics sell their own merchandise inside the stadium during home games. This is the only merchandise sold in the section they are housed in; official club merchandize can only be bought in other sections of the stadium. The hooligan groups are also allowed early access to the stadium on match days in order to organize and prepare their supporting activities during games. These kind of situations where autonomy is recognized legitimize the hooligan’s autonomy and power. So, once inside the group’s territory, fanatical supporters have greater freedom than non- fanatical fans sitting in other sections of the stadium. Getting into the territory however can pose problems. Access is restricted in that one needs to hold a ticket to a specific section of the stadium. Also you need to pass a number of security and police checkpoints where you are frisked and your bag is checked if you have one with you. Evasive tactics need to be employed to smuggle in fireworks if you want to use them. The police and security officials are aware of this. In part because of this, group banners and the other materials used by supporters during games are checked extensively before they are allowed inside stadium grounds, as we shall see later in this chapter in one of the ethnographic sections. Security measurements created in order to police the hooligans are part of a cat and mouse game, all parties continue to adapt in order to get what they want. Hooligans keep finding ways to stretch or break the rules while the police attempt to prevent this from happening by adapting their policing strategies.

3.2 Interaction with the club I found out the extent to which the Maccabi hooligans can find ways to stretch the rules - in the following case by utilizing their contacts at the club - when I unexpectedly found myself without a match ticket to the Maccabi Tel Aviv-Hapoel Tel Aviv derby. A big game like this is impossible to get a ticket for last minute, so another solution had to be found in order to get me inside stadium grounds. After a few minutes it was decided that I was to enter the stadium with Omri - who often was the one organizing match day preparations like putting up banners - and a number of ‘kids’ before the stadium would officially open. Under the guise of preparations that needed to be made, I would basically be smuggled into the stadium before it would open and the scanning of tickets would commence. This plan almost failed however, when I found myself on the wrong side of a gate.

The last few minutes a number of ‘kids’ have, along with me and Omri, been carrying everything from the car towards the gate separating the stadium grounds with the outside world. There they hand it over to the few Maccabi fans who are already inside. They lay out all the materials on the ground, so that everything can be rigorously checked for contraband hidden inside it by security and police. When I arrive at the car one last time, it turns out to be empty already. I walk back over to the gate in order to get inside. However, a security officer is already in the process of closing the gate. A large number of people, mostly ‘kids’ are drumming around the small gap in the fence still open, trying to get in. I’m at the back of them. Most of them are younger and smaller than me so I don’t have too much trouble muscling my way forward. But when I arrive at the front of the group, I find that the security officer is not letting anyone through anymore. “I’m supposed to be inside, I’m with those people already there.” I tell the security officer. He looks a little bit shaken and definitively surprised upon hearing English. Clearly he doesn’t understand what I’m saying. I point at myself, then pointing inside past the security officer. “Lo13.” He says firmly shaking both his hand and his head signaling I’m not allowed to go inside. “Ken14.” I say, trying to sound every bit as firm as he just did. “Lo!” He says once more. My heart starts pounding. Did I just miss my opportunity? I scan my surroundings, see if I can spot Omri anywhere. He is inside already, talking vigorously with the club’s head steward over some of the stuff that is laid out on the ground for inspection. “Omri!” I call out loudly. He doesn’t hear me. “Omri!” I try again to no avail. I look around again, seeing if I can spot anyone one this side of the fence who might be able to help. I notice Ben is not standing too far away. “Ben!” I call out as I walk over to him. “What’s up. Everything okay?” Ben asks. “Not really no.” I explain the predicament I’m in. To my surprise Ben just laughs. “Well, you sure picked a good game not to have a ticket for…” “Yeah I know man,” I say a little bit relieved by Ben’s lightheartedness, “but at least all this gave you a laugh.” “Don’t worry,” he pads me on the shoulder still smiling, “I’ll get you in. Follow me.” I follow Ben back over to the gate, by now completely closed. The security officer is still standing next to it on the other side, the ‘kids’ are still standing next to it on this side. As we reach them, Ben shouts a few things in Hebrew using a commanding tone of voice. Immediately everybody moves away to let us through. Ben approaches the security officer and starts talking to him. The conversation is surprisingly calm; I’m used to people pretty much shouting at each other in situations like these. At first the security officer replies by shaking his head and holding firm, but after a little while, the security officer nods his head and walks away. “We’re good.” Ben says. The security officer walks over to the head steward, who is still talking with Omri. He interrupts them, says something and points over to me and Ben. Omri says something to the head steward. He just nods, not saying anything. The security officer walks back to the gate, opens it and lets me pass. One of the ‘kids’ tries to sneak in behind me but is grabbed by Ben, who gives him a loud scolding. After Ben is done telling him off, he literally kicks him towards the street. I see the

12 No. 14 Yes.

security officer looking at this in approval as he closes the gate again. Ben turns back to him, shakes his hand through the gate and thanks him comprehensively. The security officer nods at Ben in understanding and respect, saying something I don’t understand. Ben smiles and says something that makes the security officer laugh. He then turns to me and says: “I’ll see you inside in an hour or so.”

A football club has a number of different options available to them when it comes to dealing with football hooligans. Spaaij provides us with a framework outlining the six informal policy options that according to him can be implemented by a club (2006: 356). Informal because oftentimes clubs are bound by law or other forms of outside pressure and influence to adhere to certain formal policies. Informally however they may take steps contradicting official policy or stances that communicated to the outside world. These six informal policy options are: 1. Denial/downplaying: For instance in order to protect the club’s image from a perceived exaggeration of the problem by the media. 2. Exculpation: Labeling hooliganism as a societal and not a club problem thereby laying the responsibility of reducing hooliganism outside of the club. 3. Facilitation: Providing hooligans with privileges like financial support can be done for a great number of reasons. For instance, a club’s board may fear retaliation if they crack down on hooliganism, they might view fanatical support as a useful motivator improving results on the pitch, they might view hooligans as a useful ally in the club’s internal political arena. The atmosphere created by fanatical support groups during games is also part of the experience clubs try to sell. 4. Toleration: Turning a blind eye to certain elements of hooliganism is usually done with similar reasoning as facilitation. It is however often a safer option for a club because there is no active support of controversial elements amongst a club’s supporters. 5. Co-optation: The assumption here is that hooliganism is a serious problem but that repression alone is not likely to solve it. Because of this an attempt is made to reach a dialogue and understanding with the hooligans, to look for a compromise all parties can live with. 6. Repression: The idea here is that hooliganism is a very serious problem and can only be fought by cracking down on hooliganism and its perpetrators hard. Access to games may be denied for long periods of time to anyone suspected of hooliganism.

It’s important to realize that multiple informal policy options might be employed by a club at any given time, that they may change over time and that they might contradict official policy (Spaaij 2006: 355). At Maccabi we can clearly see facilitation going on to some degree. Some supporters are allowed early access to Bloomfield in order to prepare for in game support. The communication between the clubs appears to happen relatively out in the open. If you contact the right gatekeepers, in the bit of ethnographic data above quite literally at one point, a lot of cooperation by the club can be expected. Omri and the head steward were on friendly terms, cooperating to make everything go smoothly. Ben’s friendly demeanor towards and skillful allying with the security officer guarding the gate both facilitates current and ensures future cooperation. The fact that Ben kicked out the ‘kid’ trying to sneak in alongside me shows he values the cooperation and makes sure it is not wasted by choosing loyalty to the club over loyalty to a fellow fan, even if that fan is very low on the seniority ladder.

3.3 Interaction with the police Besides the club the other important actor is the police. In the ethnographic section below, the difference between the club’s stance towards Maccabi Fanatics and the stance of the police will become more evident.

I’m inside the stadium grounds but not inside the stadium yet. We’ll have to pass another gate before I’m actually inside. I’m standing around talking to a few people as Omri and some others are rounding up their business with the stewards, police and security. The highest ranking police officer on site suddenly walks towards the group I’m standing with. He says something to me in Hebrew. I obviously have no idea what it is he is saying. “What?” “He ask if you from here.” Someone explains. Someone else starts talking to the officer in Hebrew, apparently explaining who I am. The police captain replies, and multiple people start arguing with him. I just stand there, unable to understand what is going on. After a while, the captain has apparently had enough. “You come with me.” He gazes at me with a stern look on his face. I walk with him towards a place out of earshot of the others. “Hello.” He extends his hand. “Nice to meet you.” I shake his hand. “So you are not from here?” “No I’m from the Netherlands.” “Do you have a passport with you?” “Yes,” I start fiddling through my pockets, “you’ll want to see it?” “Please.” I hand him my passport. “So what are you doing here right now?” He says not looking at me but at my passport. “I’m just here to visit the game.”

“The game doesn’t start for a few more hours.” He is now flicking through the pages of my passport, still only looking down instead of looking at me. “Yes well, you see, someone, a friend, he told me to go with Omri, that’s Omri over there,” I point out Omri in the distance, “and see how things are before a game. Help out a little bit, putting things up and getting stuff ready before the game, you know?” “These people are allowed in early by the club,” there is a clear tone of disapproval in his voice, “but the gates aren’t open yet for the fans. So what are you doing here?” He hands me back my passport and looks me straight in the eyes. “Well, ehhm… just, errh… what I just said… Omri… help get stuff ready.” I stammer overwhelmed; being questioned by a senior police officer is not exactly part of my daily routine. “How did you get a ticket for this section? This not a normal section of the stadium.” “Oh no, I know. I know some people that have season tickets here. They took care of it.” The captain gives me peculiar look, as if he doesn’t really know what to make of this. “Show me your ticket.” He commands me. “Ah, yes well, you see…” How am I going to get myself out of this one? “It’s like this…” “You don’t have a ticket.” This is not a question. He already knows what is going on. “No ticket, no entry. Come with me.” The captain escorts me to 2 police officers who are standing nearby. He tells them something in Hebrew. “You will go with them.” He says before walking away towards the stadium catacombs. “Yalla.” Says the police officer nearest to me. I walk with them towards the perimeter fence. They open the gate, point to the other side, I walk through and the gate is closed behind me. I decide it is best to join the others. A few minutes later as I approach ‘the Yellow’, the gas station about a kilometer away from the stadium where a lot of the group goes before games to get some beers and socialize, Ben is one of the first people to spot me. He walks towards me. “What the fuck are you doing here?” He sounds almost angry. “I got kicked out man.” I reply. “What? What happened.” “This police guy, like the boss, the police captain, he overheard me speaking English I guess. He pulled me to the side and questioned me. After he kicked me out.” The full range of Hebrew swearing I have learned so far plus some other words I don’t know pass Ben’s lips. As we walk towards the rest of the group, Ben calls ahead in anger. People come walking over. A conversation starts in Hebrew with me at the center of it. I don’t really know what all the sudden commotion is about. I notice it’s not just a random group of people around me, these are the organizers. Eran, Barak and others who have organizational leadership roles. I can’t really follow what is going on around me right now, so I walk over to another group of people. Tal is amongst this group. “What happened?” Tal asks. When I have explained everyone around me expresses their anger much in the same way that Ben did moments before. “It’s because of this new police asshole,” Tal explains, “he wants to make a show.” “He is new?” I ask. “Yeah after the last derby, with all the people invading the pitch, this was in the news. Everybody on the television saying how bad it is, bullshit you know? The next day, outside the courthouse, we were there for supporting those they arrested, there was fighting. People film it with their phone, maybe you see this? Marv is on it and some others.” I nod.

“Well Marv and the rest, they kick the shit out of some Hapoel Hooligans, you know people we know.” Tal laughs. “In the middle of a busy street during the day you know, right outside the court! It was beautiful. But…” Tal raises his finger. “This was also show in the television, in the news you know? So now with the new derby today, they put a new police captain, try to pretend they are really something you know. Make a big show.”

Power relations between hooligans and police officers are not simply determined by the law (Spaaij 2006: 353), there is more to it than that. As demonstrated above, hooligans have a great deal of autonomy over certain territories and activities. If this autonomy is breached this is perceived as an injustice, as an infraction violating the ‘natural’ order of things. We can clearly see this happening above, when I finished telling I had been kicked out, a lot of the senior hooligans - more so than those less at the core of the group - were angered by this. When looked at from the outside, the police commander’s action was completely understandable. He is tasked with keeping order in and around the stadium and overseeing security checks of materials brought in by the very people he is primarily tasked with policing. When upon closer inspection it turns out someone without a match ticket is attempting to gain access to the stadium, he denies this access. Looked at it from the hooligan’s perspective however this was a transgression, a violation of previously established custom. Once the police commander had denied me access to the stadium - and by doing so had overruled the process of political negotiation between the club and its hooligan supporters - I quickly became the stake in a process of boundary negotiation between the police and the hooligans. There is an interdependency in the negotiation of boundaries between police and supporters (O’Neill 2004) that is laid bare when I was denied access to the stadium. As Tal himself admitted the police reacted to transgressions by the Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv supporters during and in the days surrounding the previous Tel Aviv derby. There had been a number of supporters invading the pitch after a Hapoel hooligan had attacked Maccabi Tel Aviv striker Eran Zahavi15. The following day during the judicial proceedings at the courthouse related to this there had been fights between Hapoel and Maccabi hooligans. These events sparked a public outcry, even making international press and amongst others prompted a government minister to condemn what had happened. This forced the police to reconsider its position and handling of Maccabi and Hapoel hooligans, or in the words of Tal, they tried “to pretend they [were] really something”. A result of this was me not being allowed in, something the Maccabi hooligans would not simply accept. Their possibilities and ways of pushing back in this hotly

15 To repeat a note from chapter 1, a video of this incident can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjX9zif8qkk

46 contested moment of boundary negotiation will become more clear in the next part of ethnographic data. I would like at this point to revisit the remark, described in chapter 1 - page 20, made by Eran that the police were not touched because doing so would result in too harsh a punishment. Given the points made above about the interdependency between hooligans and police in the process of boundary negotiation, I would like to offer an alternative explanation for the illegitimacy of the police as a target of violence. It isn’t implausible to think that the relative non-aggression between Maccabi hooligans and the police was contingent on clearly demarcated boundaries. Considering the above, the fact that hooligans would not attack police officers probably had more to do with the fact that both parties had little to gain from breaking status quo than with police proficiency for violence or judicial consequences after the fact. Both those aspects can factor into the arguments against breaking the status quo, but it is not a prerequisite. After all, there are examples from Catalan football hooliganism were the Guardia Civil - considered the harshest and most brutal of the three police branches active in Catalonia - is actively sought out because of their proficiency for violence despite the higher risk of serious physical and judicial consequences (Spaaij 2006: chapter 8).

3.4 Hooligan political strategies When supporters are allowed into the stadium grounds, they have to do so through one of a number of small gateways in the outer perimeter fence. Each of these gates is manned by two stewards who check if everyone has a ticket. Tickets are not yet scanned at this point; only visual confirmation is needed. The scanning of the ticket happens at the second gate that you need to pass in order to pass from the stadium grounds into the actual stadium itself. At this second gate there is a turning metal barrier that only opens if your ticket’s barcode is recognized by the machine. In the following section, Ben and I are approaching the first of these two gates. Long lines have formed outside.

“Okay, we will join the line just before this little fence there starts okay? I’m not going to wait forever.” Ben points at the crush barrier herding the line towards the gate. Entering the line here effectively means cutting three-quarters of the line. “Sure.” I reply. I’m still not really sure what the plan is. “When we are in line. You stay on the outside and about one or two people behind me okay?” “Ehm, okay? But how… I still don’t have a ticket.” “Don’t worry, I will take care of that. You just walk passed them, don’t run, don’t look at them, just walk. When you are a little bit away from the gate, so they don’t come after you, there you wait for me.”

We have arrived at the line, before I get the chance to ask any more questions Ben has joined the line. I decide just to go with it and join the line as well, making sure to keep two people between me and Ben. Those around us seem annoyed at us. I can’t blame them; we did just cut the line. Nobody says anything about it though. The line creeps forward. Now inside the crush barriers, I stay on the outside of the line as I was told. With every fan that passes the two stewards, we get closer to the gate. With every fan that passes the two stewards, I get more nervous. Only two more people before Ben’s ticket will be checked. I feel my heart pounding in my throat. One more fan until it’s Ben’s turn. I try to suppress my nerves, to focus on my breathing. Ben shows his ticket to the left most steward, the one on the inside. The other steward is checking the person in front of me. Ben’s steward nods. Ben starts walking forward, bumps his shoulder into the steward and stumbles back as if he was pushed. Instantly he starts shouting accusatively, pointing a very aggressive finger into the steward’s face. The other steward pushes the fan in front of me through the gate and steps towards Ben, creating a gap behind him. Instantly I start walking. I pass the gate without any problems. As the nerves subside I look over my shoulder. I see Ben passing the gate walking backwards while still arguing loudly with the stewards.

Above we see a subversive strategy employed by Ben. He creates a diversion by engaging in minor conflict with two stewards, resulting in me being able to circumvent the rules and enter the stadium grounds without a ticket. However, hooligans do not only employ these kind of subversive strategies for dealing with significant non-hooligan others. Below there will be a more cooperative strategy employed.

About 5 minutes after slipping through the gate, Barak and Ben are talking to the head steward. I stand next to it. No idea what is being said, no idea what is going on. I see Gal walking by. He notices me too and walks over to me. “Hugo! My friend! Everything good?” As I haven’t seen him at ‘the Yellow’ earlier, I explain to him what has been going on. “Ah, this not good,” he replies with the usual smile on his face, “but Barak and Ben are good, don’t worry.” “I hope so. They have been talking to him,” I gesture at the head steward, “for a while now.” “Hugoooo… Don’t worry! If Barak and Ben say he fix it, he fix it. Okay?” “I hope so.” “Not a problem. I see you.” Gal shakes my hand, slaps me on the shoulder and walks off. I’m left to wonder once more what is exactly going on as my faith is decided by others. It pisses me off a little, not being in control, being at the mercy of someone I don’t know or understand; the head steward. I wish Eran had just taken care of that ticket for me. “Okay,” Barak has turned to me, “you will wait here. In a little bit someone from the club will come here, he will take you inside.” “Sure.” “We will go inside. We’ll see you in a little bit.” “Just wait here with him.” Ben points at the head steward. “He doesn’t speak English does he?” Barak laughs. “No my friend, he doesn’t.” “Great…”

I spent a few minutes feeling stupid as I follow someone around with whom I cannot communicate and who, judging from his demeanor, doesn’t like having me around very much. Finally, a short bald man wearing official Maccabi clothing comes walking up to us. He exchanges a few words in Hebrew with the head steward before turning to me. “You are the people Amsterdam?” He says in broken English. “That would be me yeah.” “Come with me.” We walk around about a quarter of the stadium towards a non-fanatical section of the stadium. As we do so I learn he is some sort of ‘stadium director’. What his exact role is I don’t really manage to figure out, his English doesn’t allow for much conversation. We arrive at an entrance. “You wait there.” He points at an iron cast side door of the entrance. “Okay.” I walk over to it. He walks past the line of the regular entrance, gets a small pass from his pocket and scans it at the entrance. As he moves through I lose sight of him. After a little while, the door in front of me opens and the man is standing in the opening. “Yalla.” He says as he starts walking. I go inside and follow him. I walk straight passed security. I’m not frisked or checked in any way, even though all the other supporters entering are subjected to a thorough screening. The little bald man leads me through the catacombs and into the stands. We walk down towards the bottom row and towards the field. At a small gate that when passed leads from the stands to the field we stop. Words are exchanged between the two security officers guarding the fence and the little bald man. The gate is opened, and we move onto the field. I can’t really believe I’m now walking next to the sidelines of the pitch. Just a few meters away players are doing their warm up routine. We walk towards the stand behind the goal where all the Maccabi fanatical support is. I am moved passed a line of police, then passed a line of stewards. Two security officers open a similar gate as the one I moved through moments before. I walk through it and up into the stands. I’m in. Multiple people come up to me and shake my hand, apparently they heard what happened. Some congratulate me for making it in, all beam with triumphant glee.

As we have seen, there are different strategies employed by Maccabi hooligans. These strategies differ depending on the people with whom interaction is required at that point in time. In the case of a ‘low level’ steward a completely different course is action is appropriate then when dealing with higher ranking club officials. In the first case friendly, constructive communication is avoided - Ben opts for shouting and pushing - while in the second case a constructive argument appears to be made in order to achieve the goal.

3.5 Revisiting the stadium as a ‘front region’ In chapter 1 I showed that in Israel the stadium is still is a ‘front region’ for hooligan interaction despite Spaaij’s argument that “comparative analysis of the development of football hooliganism over time highlights a fundamental transformation in the landscape of football hooliganism: the displacement of hooligan confrontations and attended changes in the geographical meaning of the stadium. Constrictive

49 security measures have fundamentally reduced the opportunities for violent confrontation inside the stadium” (Spaaij 2006: 361). Here I would like to further explore the second part of this point: the changed meaning of the stadium resulting from stricter security measure i.e. interaction with significant non-hooligan others. Spaaij bases his argument on a similar argument made by Giulianotti and Armstrong (2002). As said before, the changing geographical meaning of the stadium as a result of policing brought forward by these authors is not or far less present in Israeli football. It might be that such developments are yet to happen, but it isn’t possible in any way to claim that they will happen. Geographical developments concerning football hooligan confrontations in Israel do not necessarily have to follow the same process as it did in England & Scotland (Ibid.), The Netherlands and to a lesser extent in Spain (Spaaij 2006). During the time of my research there have been numerous examples of hooligan confrontations in or directly around the stadium leading me to disagree with the argument for the geographical displacement of hooliganism. Further evidence against this argument can be found in Greece. A number of incidents of hooligan confrontation inside the stadium took place there. In one example, before the Panathinaikos F.C.-Olympiakos F.C. match on the 21st of November 2015, a large group of Panathinaikos hooligans invaded the pitch and fought a battle with riot police inside the stadium16. The game was eventually cancelled (BBC Sport 2015). Despite the fact that away fans are no longer allowed at games between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos (Ibid.) and a large police presence due to incidents of hooliganism in the past - something that should actually fit into the Giulianotti and Armstong (2002) and Spaaij (2006) argument - the stadium here remains a ‘front region’ of hooliganism. I feel it would be too easy an assumption to argue that certain events - like the appointment of a new police commander and stricter enforcement of rules that led to me at first being denied access - are the first steps in the process of geographical displacement of hooligan confrontations from the stadium to other locations. Stricter security checks and other forms of restrictions are means to contest the geographical meaning of the stadium employed by certain actors, in this case the police. The reaction of other actors to this kind of contestation can vary widely from one location in time to the other. In the ethnographic data in this chapter we see a combination of an evasive strategy, in order to pass the stewards at the first gate, and a more cooperative strategy with trusted people representing the club on a higher level to pass the second gate. The club is also, at least informally, contesting the police’s control over admittance to the stadium by allowing me to enter. In the example of the fight in Greece we can

16 A video of this incident can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xiJNmoEDQI

50 see a completely different and far more confrontational way of contesting control over and meaning of the stadium. So, I would argue that the security measures and restrictions on football hooligans developed and imposed by significant others like the police do not necessarily have the effect of eliminating from or reducing football hooliganism in the stadium. Both the severity of such restrictions as well as the hooligan reactions to such restriction vary greatly from location to location and change over time. The geographical meaning of the stadium is a point of contestation between actors such as the police, national and local governments, the club, other football related governing bodies like UEFA, the media, non-hooligan supporters and hooligans. The outcome of such contestation is not set in stone and does not follow a linear development over time, instead being the product of local circumstances and rules - either written or unwritten - and the competence of different actors to navigate the playing field created by these circumstances. Spaaij doesn’t deny local variations on his argument, describing how the decision not to allow away supporters at certain games in Spain led to a flaring up of hooligan confrontation inside the stadium between different hooligan factions supporting the same club (2006: 363). Per chance, not related to this research, I have recently witnessed similar confrontations at AFC Ajax Amsterdam. There since the beginning of the 2016/2017 season the club has decided to merge two previously separated sections of fanatical fans. Despite strict security and policing at football games in the Netherlands this decision has led to a number of fights in the stands during games between members of what had previously been two separated hooligan groups. At Maccabi Tel Aviv as well, there have been numerous times were people referred to situations in the past when there had been fights, within and outside the stadium, between different hooligan groups all supporting Maccabi Tel Aviv. Eran and Avi for instance would sometimes joke how they had fought each other tooth and nail in the past before what they called “the unification” of Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligan factions into the Maccabi Fanatics supporter and hooligan group. Of course, the fact that the stadium remains a location of hooligan contestation does not mean that hooligan confrontation does not also happen away from the stadium. Spaaij also notes that hooligan confrontation also happened away from the stadium before the changed geographical meaning of the stadium in Spain, England and the Netherlands (Ibid.: 363). Furthermore, no matter how much fighting occurs somewhere, for the hooligan the stadium will always remain a “holy ground”; a place of great significance and meaning.

I think I have demonstrated sufficient variation in the ‘geographical meaning’ of the stadium to invalidate an argument for a relatively fixed trajectory of hooligan confrontational displacement. Even when presented as a trend or common “variable outcome” (Spaaij 2006: 363), I would consider it more helpful to approach the stadium as a focal point of contestation between numerous different actors involved in shaping hooliganism then as a place of “changed geographical meaning” (Ibid.: 361). Change occurs continuously in the contestation of the stadiums geographical meaning and it does not necessarily lead to the stadium becoming a ‘back region’ of hooligan confrontation over time.

3.6 Conclusions In this chapter I have shown that Maccabi Tel Aviv’s hooligans have a large amount of territorial autonomy. This autonomy is both recognized and legitimized by significant non-hooligan others, while simultaneously being constantly contested by them. Hooligans navigate this constant friction by employing a variety of political strategies available to them ranging from cooperation to violence. The stadium is the primary location where the constant boundary negotiation between hooligans and significant non-hooligan others takes place. This negotiation is a constant and ongoing process of contestation without a fixed trajectory or outcome.

Conclusion

In this thesis I have sought to provide insight into the phenomenon that is football hooliganism by researching it in its Israeli context. In the first chapter I have demonstrated that hooliganism constitutes meaningful action, that it’s more than ‘just’ any violent transgression in a football related context and that it’s attractions range far wider than just the kicks and excitement people get from participating in hooliganism. Hooligans and hooligan collectives shape their identity in relation to others. Once accepted as a member of a hooligan collective, certain privileges are attained. The ‘game’ that is hooliganism knows boundaries, in the sense that there are unwritten rules one should adhere to. Territorial spaces form the primary stake in the contestation - often through violence - between hooligan groups. In the second chapter I explored the societal fault lines shaping hooliganism in Israel. I found that which societal fault lines are important in shaping hooliganism differs from club to club. At Maccabi Tel Aviv political division on a traditional left-right spectrum are most important in determining hooliganism. The political identification the Maccabi Fanatics associated themselves with is one of ultra- nationalism. Because of this the primary rival for the Maccabi Fanatic hooligans are the far-left hooligans of Hapoel Tel Aviv. Despite the fact that racism and strong ethnic rhetoric is overtly present amongst the Maccabi Fanatics it is not a determining factor shaping hooliganism. This is due to the fact that in order for honor to be won an equal opponent is necessary. A dehumanized ethnic other is no such equal and therefor uninteresting as the hooligan’s opponent. In the third chapter I have shown the interactions between hooligans and significant non- hooligan others, exemplified in this thesis by the club and the police. Due to the specific local circumstances the Maccabi Fanatics have legitimized territorial autonomy over ‘their’ section of the stadium. This territorial autonomy can be both recognized and contested by significant non-hooligan others. The degree of territorial autonomy hooligans can permit themselves is a product of an ongoing process of negotiation between the hooligan collective and the significant others. The outcome of that negotiation is not fixed and does not follow a set trajectory or direction.

Finally, I express here my hope that I have adequately and sufficiently ‘move[d] beyond generality towards a more specific analysis of the ways in which football hooliganism is nested within particular fan communities’ (Spaaij 2006: 405) - in this case that of Maccabi Tel Aviv - and thereby added to ‘the understanding of football hooliganism as a transnational phenomenon’ (Ibid.).

Epilogue

October 20th 2016, Dam Square, Amsterdam Around me are hundreds of Maccabi fans, here for the UEFA Europa League game against AZ in Alkmaar. Most fans have chosen to stay and party in Amsterdam. All around me football mayhem; loud singing and chanting, people jumping around, loud bangs as firecrackers go off, thick yellow smoke, flares being lit and waived around franticly wherever I look. I’ve been standing with Avi and a couple of his friends for a while now. Talking, drinking and watching the party around us. “Listen, you know if Ben is around here somewhere?” I ask after a while. “He has my ticket.” “Yes, he went for a piss. He should be back, not long.” Avi grabs a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, takes two and offers me one. “No, thanks. I quit.” “What? What is this? Why you do that?” Somehow I don’t think there are any rational arguments for quitting that would impress Avi all that much. Besides, who likes I preacher? “I don’t know, I just did.” “I don’t like it.” Avi lights one cigarette and puts the other back in the pack. “At least you still drink…” Avi grabs a couple of beer from his backpack and offers me one. I take the can and open it. “L’chaim.” “Cheers…” We both take a sip. “Might be a bit of trouble getting into the stadium.” “Why?” I ask. “Well they tightened security after, you know, recent incidents. I hear they are going to check everybody’s passport. See if the name fits the name on the ticket.” “Okay? So how do I get in?” “I think it will be fine. They probably won’t do it. And even if they do, Barak told the main steward you will be there I think.” “It always worked out before… Guess it should be fine now.” “Look, over there. It’s Ben.” Avi points towards a bar behind me. “Great, thanks. See you in a bit okay?” “Sure.” I walk over to Ben. Even from a distance it’s clear he is high as a kite; he is moving around slowly and bumping into stuff. When I get a bit closer I notice the bloodshot eyes and the glazy smile fixed on his face. “Ben! You good?” “Yes. Very.” The smell of marihuana is unmistakable. “I gather you are enjoying Amsterdam.” I can’t help but laugh. It has an infectious effect on Ben. “Yes, Amsterdam...” It seems like it’s the funniest thing he ever heard. No point in talking too much, it would probably just freak the bugger out. “Listen, you have my ticket?” “Yes.” Slowly Ben starts going through his pockets. He finally stumbles across my ticket. He stares at it for a few seconds, puzzled by its appearance, then hands it to me. “Thank you mate. Do I owe you anything?” “Of course not. Don’t be stupid.” “Well, thank you.” “Give me this.” Ben gestures for my can of beer. I hand it over to him and watch him take a sip. Ben turns around, almost crashes into a lamppost, stands still for a few seconds, regains his composure and walks away with the can of beer.

I’m left standing there. Laughter turns into simmering sadness. What is it I’m doing here exactly? What did I think was going to happen today? I had doubted coming here; doubted whether I would get back in touch or if I would just let it be what it was. Looking for something to do, I get my phone out of my pocket. The battery is dead. Great. Just great. As I put the phone back in my pocket people start yelling, the crowd moves towards the Krasnapolsky Hotel. All kinds of shouting and rude gestures are hurled into the direction of the hotel. Something is up. I see some hooded figures and people wearing balaclavas crossing the street towards, making their way to the entrance. The Krasnapolsky’s two bouncers bar the entrance, spreading their arms. I notice Avi leaning against a tree, watching it all. Whatever is going on can’t be too serious, not if he’s just standing there. I walk over to him. “Avi, what is going on?” “Not much. Just some idiot who stays at the hotel. Shouts something. Like, eh, today it is us who will lose 5-0.” “What? I don’t get it.” “It’s just something stupid. We beat Hapoel 5-0 a few weeks ago.” I nod in understanding. “Okay, I get it.” “Also, this number, it is important. Like a symbol? I don’t know how to say it in English, it’s like something from the religion? From the tradition.” “What? You’re losing me man…” Avi seems annoyed and frustrated, he doesn’t like having to explain this. “Nevermind. He just shout something, people think he is Hapoel, the kids they want to be strong men so they run there. Pretend to be something. Nothing will happen.” I can see Avi is right. Most of the people know to be hooligans are standing around, not doing anything. We watch as the two bouncers from the hotel are holding back about 10 people, all trying to get into the hotel lobby. No one - neither the bouncers nor the supporters - seems to be willing to cross the line and transgress into violence. Before long all the supporters have retreated back onto Dam Square, where they once more indulge in the lighting of fireworks and the singing of songs. Avi and me stand there, taking it all in, not really speaking all that much. Avi breaks the silence. “Did you get your ticket from Ben?” “Yeah, got it right here.” I pad the pocket that contains the ticket. “Good, not long before we leave.” He lights another cigarette.

Getting into the stadium didn’t prove difficult. The stewards abandoned their policy of checking everyone’s passport after about 15 minutes. As the lines were becoming larger and larger, a few of the hooligan supporters joined the back of the line and started pushing and shoving their way forward. This created a ripple effect, increasing the pressure on the front and forcing the stewards to let more people in faster. Now inside, I’m standing underneath the stands looking up. Scanning the crowd above me, I spot Omri somewhere a little right from the center of the section near the stairs. I like the spot; it will allow me to both watch the game without flags waving in front of my face and people jumping around me will also being close enough to the center to really feel the atmosphere. As I make my way over to Omri, I notice a few flags carefully and meticulously laid out across a few seats. Two of the kids are standing next to it, as if guarding it. I have a strong suspicion as to what is going on: probably there is fireworks - to be set of at the beginning of the game - hidden from view underneath the flags. “Hugo. Good to see you! I didn’t know you would be joining us today.” Omri says as I’m almost at his side.

“Wouldn’t miss it. How are you Omri?” “Yes good, a bit tired. This city of yours is taking its toll on me.” “Mind if I stand here for the game?” “Not at all,” Omri gestures to the spot next to him, “please join me.” I take my place besides Omri. “So, how long are you in town for?” “Not long, just a few days. I arrived, let’s see, Tuesday morning, and I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.” “Like it? Good hotel?” “Yeah it’s fine. Bit expensive, but it’s good.” “What about the game? What do you think, good result?” Omri doesn’t answer straight away - instead contemplating his reply - before finally saying “Time will tell my friend, time will tell.” A disappointing reply, not something I can work with. So we stand there for a while, watching the warm up routine of the players. “You have a phone?” I ask after a little while has passed. “Yes?” “Could you do me a favor and check the score at the Ajax game? My battery is dead.” “I don’t have internet.” I point to a kid standing a row below us, looking at his phone. Omri taps him on the shoulder and tells him something in Hebrew. The kid instantly hands his phone over to Omri. “Who do they play?” “Celta de Vigo.” I answer. “Okay, let me see… Here it is, 2-2. 5 more minutes until the end.” “Oh, really? That’s good. Who scored?” I look down on the screen, the names Hakim Ziyech and Amin Younes visible as the Ajax goal scorers. “Just some Arabs.” Omri says, the tone of his voice almost bored. He hands back the phone to the kid in front of us. Strange how little emotion I feel; just blunted. And perhaps a little tired. It doesn’t shock me anymore. Nor does it intrigue me in the way it once did. I don’t feel like going into it. There is no point in challenging his views anyway. So why would I? His remark - all that implicit nastiness - it just floats there, filling the space between us. Separating us.

It’s around the 80th minute. The score is 1-1. Maccabi played well the entire first half, scoring a beautiful goal to come ahead 0-1. The second half has been a different story though, AZ has had the better chances, pressure on the Maccabi defense had been steadily building until it cumulated into a goal little under 10 minutes ago. Now level, the game feels like it is slipping away from us. The momentum on the pitch is translating into a loss of momentum in the stands; the entire game the Maccabi supporter section had been going crazy, now it’s slowly growing more quiet. After a large display of fireworks at the beginning of the game had sent the Maccabi supporters into a frenzy, they had been singing and screaming their team forward the entire game. Now just a few people are singing, the sound they produce a faint echo of the mayhem that was before. As Maccabi is getting ready for a corner kick the crowd picks up a little energy, maybe this will be the moment. The ball is hurled forward. It doesn’t even get close to where it needs to be. An AZ defender easily picks up the ball. For the first time this game, the Maccabi supporters fall completely silent. It’s a deafening calm, a complete soundless disappointment, a blackout in the stands. The AZ defender kicks it forward. He mishits it; the ball doesn’t go far. Somehow it ends up at midfielder Eyal Golasa’s feet, about 5 meters outside the box. He flicks the ball to his left, past the only AZ player near him. So much space. I can feel the crowd hold its breath. Do it. Come

56 on… Just shoot! Golasa taps the ball forward once more, getting just that little bit closer to the box and the goal. Still a long distance away. Come on! I can hear his foot hit the ball as he shoots. It’s a ferocious effort. The goalkeeper dives but can’t reach it. The ball slams into the back of the net. An explosion. Pure ecstasy. I jump into the arms of someone I don’t know next to me. Omri is screaming next to me, he turns, sees me and flings himself into my arms. We scream and jump together, almost falling down. Everyone is going crazy in this one moment of shared ecstatic experience.

An hour later the contrast is striking. The game is over, won 1-2. Everyone is outside of the stadium. Bored, cold and waiting. The gates separating the stadium grounds from the outside world are closed, guarded by police. They won’t let us out. We are to wait for busses that will bring us to the train station. There we can board the train back to Amsterdam. Everybody is cold and tired. There is not a lot of conversation going on. We just pace around impatiently. Ben walks up to me. He looks more like himself then he did this afternoon. “Hugo, are you here by car? They are letting people with a parking ticket out.” “No, I came by train with the rest of you.” “Fuck.” Ben angrily rubs his hands, searching for some heat. “Came down from your high did you?” “Yeah it sucks. I’m going to see if someone else has a car, rented one. I want to get out of here man. See you.” Ben walks off into the crowd. It takes another 10 minutes until the busses finally arrive. As the busses form a line, so does the riot police. They start herding us towards the busses. The police commander takes a step forward. “Please move to the busses calmly! They will take you to the train back to Amsterdam!” “Sure, put the Jews on the train!” someone screams back at him. Someone else shouts something about Auschwitz in Hebrew, a playfully fake panic in his voice. Everybody - including most of the police - erupts in laughter. The train ride back to Amsterdam is long and boring. No one is really talking all that much. Here and there people are streaming the game’s highlights on their phone, re-expressing their delight at the beauty of Eyal Golasa’s goal. Barak enters our compartment of the train. He is collecting money. A lot of people gives him 10 or 20 Euro. “What was that about?” I ask after he has left the compartment. “Just some money for fines.” Someone I don’t know replies. “Fines?” “Yeah, some of the kids smuggling the fireworks, they got arrested. They have to pay fines.” “I see.” The rest of the train ride I don’t really speak, preferring to watch the outside world roll by. When we finally arrive in Amsterdam, everybody is in a hurry to get out of the train and into the city. Some want to party, some are desperate for food, others just want to go to their hotel and sleep. Hundreds of Maccabi supporters emerge from Amsterdam Central station, scattering to their respective destinations. As we walk down Damrak I notice Eran and Barak inside the McDonalds, getting ready to order food. I stick to the group and walk on. I notice Avi in front of me. I walk a little bit faster, trying to catch up with him. He peels of and walks into the KFC. I look around, holding back a little. Only about 20 people are left of the hundreds that left the train mere minutes ago. I can still make out a few familiar faces. Gal is still with the group, as are some of the kids. The rear of the group passes me. I turn right and walk off into the night.

Bibliography

Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G., Pastorelli, C. (1996). Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 71, No. 2, 364- 374.

Baumann, G. (2006). Grammars of Identity/Alterity: a Structural Approach. New York: Berghahn Books. Chapter 2, 18-50.

BBC Sport (2015). Panathinaikos 0-3 Olympiakos. Retrieved 17/9/2016 from the BBC website: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/34849318

Ben-Porat, A. (2001). “Biladi, Biladi”: Ethnic and Nationalistic Conflict in the Soccer Stadium in Israel. Soccer & Society. Vol. 2, No. 1, 19-38.

Ben-Porat, A. (2014). Who are we? My Club? My People? My State? The Dilemma of the Arab Soccer Fan in Israel. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. Vol. 49, No. 2, 175-189.

Bufford, B. (1991). Amongst the Thugs; Face to Face with English football violence. St Ives: Arrow Books.

ESPN (2014). Israeli Police Arrest 10 People After Tel Aviv Derby Pitch Invasion. Retrieved 12/6/2016 from the ESPN website: http://www.espnfc.com/maccabi-tel-aviv/story/2127009

Giulianotti, R. (1995). Participant Obeservation and Research into Football Hooliganism: Reflections on the Problem of Entrée and Everyday Risks. Sociology of Sport Journal. Vol. 12, No. 1, 1-20.

Giulianotti, R., Armstrong, G. (2002). Avenues of Contestation: Football Hooligans Running and Ruling Urban Spaces. Social Anthropology. Vol. 10, No. 2, 211-238.

Jenkins, R. (2014). Social Identity. New York: Routledge.

O’Neill, M. (2004). Policing Football in Scotland. International Review of the Sociology of Sport. Vol. 39, No. 1, 95-104.

Semelin, J. (2014). Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacres and Genocides. London: Hurst & Company.

Spaaij, R. (2006). Understanding Football Hooliganism: A Comparison of Six Western European Football Clubs. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Waller, J. (2007). Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing. New York: Oxford University Press.