UEFA Research Grant Programme 2011/12
UEFA Research Grant Programme 2011/12 Researcher: John Hughson, Professor of Sport and Cultural Studies, Director of the International Football Institute, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK Project: Football Supporter Culture in Serbia: Considering an anti-violent future 1 This final report is presented to UEFA as a position paper on the future directions for the football supporter culture in Serbia. The proposals with which the report concludes are admittedly ambitious, but not, in the opinion of the author, unrealistic. The proposed recommendations are achievable, depending on the commitment of relevant organisations. The author remains at the disposal of UEFA and the key organisations in Serbia for further advice and input towards the pursuit of positive directions in Serbia’s football supporting culture. The research undertaken for this report has informed academic outputs that are presently in preparation for submission to refereed academic journals. These intended publications and a related larger, on-going, project on ‘positive futures’ for Serbian sport are outlined in the concluding section of this report. Background The key intention of the project is to contribute to the larger plan – actively pursued by UEFA – to eradicate violent conduct from football supporting in Europe. Although much has been accomplished since the darker years of the 1980s, hooligan type activity remains a problem and, understandably enough, UEFA has acknowledged its role as an organisation with responsibility toward the resolution of this problem. The answers are not simple and any attempt to present facile and easy solutions would rightly be dismissed by anyone with knowledge of football associated violence – right through from senior administrators in the sport, to the police, the media and the majority of violence 2 abhorring football fans.
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