Emory International Law Review Volume 27 Issue 2 2013 The Dark Heart of Eastern Europe: Applying the British Model to Football-Related Violence and Racism Matthew R. Watson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr Recommended Citation Matthew R. Watson, The Dark Heart of Eastern Europe: Applying the British Model to Football-Related Violence and Racism, 27 Emory Int'l L. Rev. 1055 (2013). Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr/vol27/iss2/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Emory Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Emory International Law Review by an authorized editor of Emory Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. WATSON GALLEYSPROOFS2 5/1/2014 9:13 AM THE DARK HEART OF EASTERN EUROPE: APPLYING THE BRITISH MODEL TO FOOTBALL-RELATED VIOLENCE AND RACISM Matthew R. Watson* ABSTRACT In the summer of 2012, Poland and Ukraine co-hosted the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. A week before kickoff, BBC’s investigative journalism program, Panorama, aired a documentary highlighting pervasive violence, racism and anti-Semitism in the football stadiums in both these nations. Violent and racist hooliganism is not a new phenomenon in Europe, but the images and interviews were shocking as hundreds of thousands fans from all over Europe prepared to travel to Eastern Europe for Euro 2012. This Article explores the history of European football hooliganism and its proliferation in Eastern Europe. The rise of media coverage after Euro 2012, heightened by instances of racial abuse and violence during the 2012–2013 season, make the issues presented in this Article all the more applicable.