Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies
English Language and Literature
František Badžgoň
Football hooliganism - the dark side of the beautiful game
Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph. D.
2014
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
…………………………………………….. Author’s signature
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my supervisor, Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D., for his patience, consideration and valuable input that was indispensable to creating this thesis. Table of Contents
1 Introduction ...... 2
2 History of the game ...... 5
3 Hooliganism- definition, stages of development ...... 7
3.1 Heysel Stadium and Hillsborough tragedies ...... 10
3.2 Mass media and football hooliganism ...... 14
4 Contemporary hooliganism ...... 18
5 Motivations in football hooliganism ...... 24
5.1 Formation of collective identity ...... 27
6 Conclusion ...... 43
7 Work cited ...... 46
Summary ...... 50
Resumé ...... 51
1 1 Introduction
The game of football, known as soccer in English speaking countries overseas, has been around for over 600 years and has evolved to become the most popular team sport in the world and has firmly established itself as an indispensable part of local cultures.
Hundreds of millions of people around the globe participate in the game either as players or, as is the case of a great majority, as spectators, that is fans/ supporters.
Consequently, it is understandable football offers not only an exciting, captivating show for all classes of fans, but also generates high levels of frenzy and passion that can quickly turn into different types of football-related violence. Although football has been associated with violence since its beginnings, it has only been in the last 50 years that violent behavior commonly referred to as football hooliganism has become not only a subculture of its own, but also a serious social issue and a concern for authorities all over the world. Despite the best efforts to curb and prevent hooliganism, it is obvious crowd disorder is not only surviving, but as has become obvious by the recent outbreak of fan violence in this part of the world it is highly unlikely the sport will ever be free of crowd disorder.
This work will attempt to address the issue of football related spectator violence.
However, since football hooliganism is undoubtedly a heterogeneous phenomenon that needs to be approached in its different social and historical contexts and also because of the specific extent of the paper, the bulk of the work will deal with the aspects and social mechanisms of the phenomenon within England and the Czech Republic.
It is important to acknowledge at this point that most of the information presented in this paper comes from research literature that has been available to date. It is mainly based on a number of British studies, particularly those done by Murphy et al, Dunning
2 et al, Armstrong and King as well as on the work by Spaaij. Nevertheless, some of the information acquired for the purposes of the work also stems from active personal observation. The information provided to support certain arguments has been obtained through direct interaction with real football hooligans in the Czech Republic.
However, because of time and economic constraints on one hand, but also due to a wealth of personal contacts within the local football environment on the other hand, the bulk of the field work was done in a region widely considered to be one of the hotbeds of the Czech hooligan subculture, that of North Moravia. It is unfortunate though that because of the fear of being identified by the law enforcement authorities all personal interviews with real life hooligans had to be held on condition of anonymity at venues carefully selected by the interviewees . The information attained ultimately proved very valuable since it provided me with a firsthand account of the “behind the scenes” rituals and customs which, for the most part, remain off limits to most of the non hooligan entities.
Other methods of data collection involved documentary and fanzine analysis, Internet websites, media reports and various semi-structured interviews with not only self- confessed hooligans, but also club officials, journalists and law enforcement officers.
The first part of the thesis will briefly look at the history of the game and will subsequently outline the different stages football hooliganism has gone through tracking the phenomenon´s pattern of development beginning with the early demonstrations of spontaneous low level crowd disorder and ending with the post modern form of contemporary hooliganism. This part of the work will also be devoted to the role the
British mass media initially played in creating widespread moral panics which on one hand originally vilified the newly formed hooligan subculture, but curiously enough on the other hand ultimately popularized the phenomenon with certain parts of the 3 population. Aside from the vital role the media has played in and throughout the historical development of soccer hooliganism, the chapter will also scrutinize the tragic football events and their aftermath that came to symbolize a milestone in the evolution of football hooliganism and the impact they ultimately had on the game and the football culture itself.
The second part of the work will present historical as well as socio-cultural factors that have contributed to the emergence and spread of contemporary football hooliganism in the United Kingdom and subsequently in the Czech Republic. Factors such as social circumstances and economic changes will be taken into consideration when attempting to assess reasons for the emergence and subsequent development of the hooligan subculture. Available research findings as well as active participation will be presented, both of which inevitably point to masculine attributes predominantly typical of the lower social strata. In particular, aggressive behavior often accompanied by excessive alcohol consumption appears to play the central role in the present day pattern of fan violence. Furthermore, to illustrate an astounding trans-cultural nature of the hooligan subculture a comparison of two hooligan formations based in specific locations in
London and the Czech Republic will be provided.
In the last part of the work a sociological perspective necessary to grasp the nature and dynamics of football violence will be provided. Motivational specificities that are central to manifestations of football hooliganism will be dealt with as well as apparent commonalities in the identity constructions that basically bear out the transnational dimensions of football-related violence. In particular, space will be devoted to personal interviews with current members of the local hooligan formation to demonstrate the crucial role both masculinity and identity hold in the formation of a hooligan mentality.
4 2 History of the game
There is little doubt today that football is by far the most popular and a truly universal sport in the world. What is interesting though is that since its beginnings in thirteenth century England the game of football has been associated with violence. According to
Bliss, initially games were warlike and the matches involved hundreds of players on each side. Essentially young men from rival villages were involved in battles/ matches that were often used as an opportunity to settle old feuds, arguments and land disputes.
Such matches basically settled many political quarrels. More importantly, a town’s well being and reputation depended on the play of their football team. The better the team was, the better off the town was. Successful games gained a village not only food and money, but also brought about respectability (Bliss). Gradually the game of football started to evolve into a national phenomenon. However, it was not until the 18th century that the game was transformed from an unregulated battle on an ill-defined field of play to the modern version that was first embraced by the English public schools in the early
1800s and as a result of urbanization and industrialization it eventually became a working class pastime.
1863 turned out to be a major turning point in the development of the game since the game´s first set of common rules were drawn and adopted during the historic meeting at the Freemasons´ Tavern in London (Encyclopedia Britannica). During the same year the
Football Association was founded as well and formal competitions were set up.
Towards the turn of the century the game was espoused by the working class and many stadiums were built around the working class communities. The working man soon devoted his heart and soul to the game and staked the reputation of the community on the outcome of the match.
5 Gradually the game was exported to other parts of the globe mainly through the British sailors, traders and servicemen who introduced the game to locals on their journeys overseas. Nowadays, thanks to the game´s phenomenal popularity, football is played in virtually every country in the world on both amateur as well as professional levels.
According to the 2006 Big Count, a FIFA survey of its 207 member association, more than 270 million people worldwide are actively involved in football as players, referees and officials. It is unfortunate though that this most played, watched and talked about activity on the planet has also been for some time associated with violent behavior of parts of its fan base. The nature and evolution of this violent behavior commonly known today as football hooliganism will be dealt with in the following part of the work.
6 3 Hooliganism- definition, stages of development
Football hooliganism is a complex, dynamic phenomenon that is traditionally linked with violent behavior of different kinds and levels. To this day, however, there is no specific legal definition of it. The term itself was created by the media, the tabloid press in particular, in the mid – 1960´s. Although the phenomenon was originally thought of as the” English disease”, it has become obvious over the years that hooliganism is not an issue endemic to the Isles, but one that has spread all over the world. As Dunning et al (1988) propose it involves forms of verbal as well as physical violence such as foul and abusive language, throwing objects at players, match officials, team officials ,other fans; the vandalizing of private and club property; fist fights; fights involving kicking; and fights involving weapons such as knives and even guns (p.2).
Basically there are three stages of development the phenomenon has gone through cross-nationally. The initial stage commonly entailed sporadic violence directed mainly at referees and players when verbal abuse and pitch invasions were a common spectator practice. The following stage usually involved violence between opposing groups of fans or violence of fans against the police/security officers, all of it taking place inside the stadiums. Finally a third and most recent stage has incorporated violent clashes between fans at pre-arranged venues away from football grounds. Unlike the Isles, however, football related violence is currently a predominantly domestic problem- the majority of incidents occur at the club level. Overall, national team supporters are better behaved, unlike their British counterparts who are an apparent exception to the rule, especially when confronted with their rivals from Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.
Football encounters of such kind usually/inadvertently lead to off-pitch violence.
According to the Leicester research into the history of football hooliganism which was
7 based on a systematic study of the Football Association´s records and of reports in a variety of national and provincial newspapers the incidents of reported soccer crowd disorderliness in the United Kingdom was high before the First World War, then declined markedly between the wars and remained low up until the mid -1950´s. After that it started rising, the rise was slow at first but the incidence of reported disorderliness became more rapid in the mid-1960´s, especially from 1965 onwards, the period just prior to the staging of the World Cup Finals, the only ones to have taken place in England (Football on Trial,p.74).
Furthermore, as Murphy et al suggest in their seminal work the big surge in football hooliganism during the latter part of the 1960´s resulted from what Cohen (1980) calls moral panics (conditions, episodes or people that emerge to threaten societal values and interests) that had been sweeping through the British society. Factors such as the rise of juvenile crime and delinquency, growing racial tensions and reindustrialization greatly contributed to the emergence of the Teddy Boys and later the skinhead craze during the
1960´s.Openly aggressive behavior came to form an important part of the lifestyle of adolescent and young adult males within particular socio-economic classes that went to football matches and found football grounds an attractive and convenient venues for their fighting. The hooligan subculture thus basically enabled young working class people to resolve essential conflicts in their lives. Football confrontations took a number of various forms starting with hand-to-hand fighting in the best case scenario, but gradually much more serious incidents involving weapons such as “Stanley knives” became commonplace. As a result, the phenomenon started receiving widespread attention from the media (p.84). Unfortunately this only aggravated the issue, glamorizing and reinforcing hooligan behavior. However, Welsh (1999) argues that the media´s influence was not entirely unconstructive, as it has also succeeded in pressuring
8 the government and football authorities to tackle the problem. As a means of preventing football hooliganism an official policy of segregating rival fans was introduced. Steel fences were installed to keep opposing fans in check. However, instead of preventing violence it led to enhancing the solidarity of “football ends”, fan groups who regularly watched their team from behind a particular goal, and to driving the phenomenon outside grounds (Dunning et al, 1986). More importantly, placing fans in pens had far reaching consequences that ultimately changed the nature of football hooliganism. It was just a matter of time and wrong circumstances before a disaster would strike.
9 3.1 Heysel Stadium and Hillsborough tragedies
As a consequence of the policy of segregating fans in pens (fenced off sections of the venue offering standing room only) the two tragedies that occurred in the mid and late part of the 1980´s contributed initially to a sharp decrease in football hooliganism on one hand and a number of decisive measures that forever changed the face of the phenomenon.
The latter part of the 1980´s turned to be crucial in the development of football hooliganism not only in Britain, but also in most of the continental Europe where crowd disturbances were becoming common place. The Heysel Stadium disaster that occurred in 1985 during the European Cup Final game held in Brussels is widely considered a watershed in the history of football hooliganism. Undoubtedly the worst hooligan related tragedy continental Europe has seen in terms of the number of fatalities, it fixed the idea of football hooliganism as an English disease in the minds of people around the world and forced a great many football supporters to do some soul searching. To put things in perspective, the Heysel tragedy occurred at or near the crest of a rising wave of
English -inspired hooligan incidents in continental countries since a lot of continental fans made an effort to adopt English hooligan styles (Williams et al., 1984/1989). On 29
May 1985 the European Cup Final between Liverpool FC, an English side, and Juventus, an Italian side was held at the Heysel stadium in Brussels. Although potential trouble between the two supporter groups was anticipated, the aging stadium had been chosen as the venue and rival fans found themselves in adjacent terrace sectors. It was not long before erupted. As the BBC News account of the disaster states Juventus supporters allegedly precipitated the clash by pelting the English with stones. In response, a section of Liverpool fans charged an area of Juventus fans. A defective wall collapsed as the
10 Italians tried to escape and 39 people lost their lives (having been crushed or trampled to death) and many others were injured (The Heysel Tragedy).
As a result the UEFA banned all English clubs from international competition for
5 years and the Liverpool club itself for 10 years (History.com). Although it became clear poor organization (inadequate segregation) and insufficient police deployment
(underpolicing of the facility) were the primary causes of the tragedy, the entire incident was put down to hooliganism. The term “English Disease” firmly established itself in the international football lexicon and in Dunning et al´s words the tragedy also represented a peak in the politicization of the English hooligan problem since it led for the first time to direct Prime Ministerial involvement in the issue and contributed to the introduction in Parliament of the Football Spectators Bill (p. 5).
With the Heysel tragedy still fresh in the minds of football fans and authorities another disaster struck, once again involving Liverpool football supporters. On 15 April 1989 a semifinal match of the FA Cup was to be held in Sheffield United's Hillsborough stadium. According to the BBC News account of the event entitled „How the
Hillsborough disaster happened“ a number of hooligan related factors led to the worst football tragedy on British soil. To begin with, terrace fans (those that used to stand rather than sit to watch matches) were traditionally made to watch from fenced off sections of the stands, as part of the official attempt to contain and control the hooligan threat. Also, because of the hooligan-related ban on alcohol many supporters used to stay in pubs until just before the kick-off time, which logically led to a hectic entry into the grounds and a stressful response by the police. Additionally, the police later misinterpreted an attempt by Liverpool fans to escape from the fenced off terrace that had become overcrowded as an attempt to invade the pitch. Fencing had been put up by many football clubs during the 1970s and 80s to control crowds and prevent pitch
11 invasions. However, because the safe capacity of the terraces allotted for Liverpool fans was doubled at the time (police decided to alleviate the crush outside the ground by having a large exit gate opened), there was major crushing within the terraces. Minutes after the game started a crash barrier that was installed to prevent overcrowding collapsed and people fell on top of each other. This caused fans to climb the fences to escape into safety. Overall 96 fans were crushed to death in the stands and hundreds seriously injured, all due to a series of unprecedented mishaps (14 April 2009). The
Hillsborough disaster came to symbolize a milestone in hooligan related incidents and has since contributed to a decline in violence inside stadiums.
Immediately after the Hillsborough tragedy an inquiry into the disaster was launched and its findings, conclusions and recommendations have resulted in major changes not only in British football, but also in international fan culture as well. The Taylor Interim
Report (August 1989) as well as The Final Report ( January 1990) are documents overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosworth that were produced in the aftermath of the
Hillsborough disaster to establish its causes and to make recommendations with regard to the provision of safety at sports events in the future. The reports singled out the failure of police control as one of the main reasons for the tragedy (p. 50) and they also recommended that all major stadiums be converted to an all-seater model, meaning that all ticketed spectators have seats (p. 12). Ultimately it was Taylor’s recommendations that changed the face of football fan culture on the Isles . Aggressive and confrontational policing tactics that often escalated minor incidents into wide scale disorder have been abandoned in favor of more progressive approach aimed at constructive communication with supporter groups. Apart from a change in policing methods Taylor's report also precipitated the removal of perimeter steel fences from grounds since ,in Taylor's words, the removal of “cages” reduced the frequency of
12 animal like behavior among the fans (Taylor Report, p. 179). Along with the removal of the fences regulations were introduced by the Football League which required that clubs in the top divisions comply with Taylor´s recommendations by August 1994. While most clubs refurbished or rebuilt their stadium, some opted to build new stadium at different locations. Another important factor in an array of measures against hooliganism was the use of closed-circuit television. Closed-circuit television was introduced into football grounds so as to subject football supporters to camera surveillance to mainly deter potential trouble makers and to make a distinction between the hooligans and the ordinary supporters.
In the aftermath of the Taylor Report The Football Offences Act of 1991, an amendment of the Football Spectators Act 1989, which, at the time, was going through
Parliament, was passed . This Act made it a criminal offence to enter the playing area, to throw missiles and to chant racist remarks. The measures in the1989 and 1991 Acts were subsequently strengthened by the passing of the Football (Offences and Disorder)
Act 1999 and the Football (Disorder) Act 2000 (Football Industry Group: Hooligan Fact
Sheet).
Although all these legal measures have been generally welcomed, it must be observed that they do not treat the causes but only the symptoms of football hooliganism. It is therefore necessary to address issues and factors that have, to varying degrees, contributed to the rise and spread of football hooliganism. To begin with, attention needs to be turned to the role mass media and popular press in particular have had in the development of the hooligan subculture.
13 3.2 Mass media and football hooliganism
There is little doubt mass media have for a long time had a tremendous impact on society as a whole in shaping the public opinion of the masses. The media have the potential to not only form, but also manipulate/sway public opinion depending on what the objective is. And especially with the relatively recent advance of technology (the last five decades or so) the media have become a significant force in modern culture- they basically reflect as well as create cultural trends which are then seen in various societal attitudes.
The roots of the hooligan subculture itself can also be traced to the way football related violence was dealt with in the then dominant media- the press and television. It was during the 1960’s and 1970’s that this phenomenon received widespread attention.
Although it would not be fair to credit the media exclusively with the creation of the hooligan subculture as has often been proposed, it would nonetheless seem legitimate to recognize the role the media in particular eventually played not only in orchestrating what Cohen (1980) coins a moral panic centering on the problem of working class youth, but also in establishing what King (1997) refers to as the post-modernity of football hooliganism.
Crucially it was Dunning et al’s work on the origins of hooliganism (1988) that cast useful historical light on the newspaper coverage of the football related disorder. Their examination of the press’s representation of fan confrontations during the period of between the wars and that starting in the mid-1960’s provided a better understanding of the impact press coverage had on the development of football crowd behavior.
Significantly, the context, content and tone of press reports demonstrate changing modes of media coverage. While spectator misconduct and disorderliness was fairly
14 common and the offending individuals of the inter-War period were described merely as
“hotheads” who had failed to abide by the ethics of sportsmanship and had lost their self-control, the male fan in the post-1960’s period was vilified with de-humanizing rhetoric which branded their behavior as “animalistic”, “lunatic” and “barbaric (pp. 108-
109).
As Murphy et al (1990) also assert for the most part the aim of pre-War reporting was clearly to inform, rather than to catch the eye and shock, titillate and sensationalize
(p.98) as the following report on a local football match published in Leister Daily
Mercury on 8 April 1904 illustrates:
“Pleasant weather prevailed and there was at the outset a 4,000 gate included amongst which was a train load from Lincoln… The match now seemed to be quite a secondary consideration with an unselect few of the spectators on the popular side and a Lincoln v.
Leicester proceeded on two occasions in the shape of free fights. The sparring was wilder than judicious and out of place in any case, but fortunately each time a constable was at hand and promptly and firmly parted the pugilists who showed by these actions that they were not qualified to watch a football match”(Football on Trial, p.99).
Due to the fact spectator disorderliness was substantially under-reported during the pre-
War period football grounds came to be perceived as respectable places that were relatively safe. It seems likely then it is because of this perception that crowd attendances reached record numbers. However, changing social and economic conditions in addition to a growing competition within the media resulted in a gradual change of press coverage during the 1960´s. Unlike the earlier mode of providing a basically passive reflection of events, the media, and the tabloid press in particular, learned to manipulate the context, content and tone of reports and in doing so played an important part in influencing attitudes, opinions and behavior. In line with the other 15 moral panics sweeping through the society of the time football hooliganism as a newfound negative phenomenon threatening contemporary society became an easy target for the kind of sensationalist reporting that boosted the press´ circulation. This kind of reporting often relies on powerful headlines grounded in violent imagery and war metaphors while articles are regularly edited for impact (FIG Fact Sheet).
The way the hooligan was portrayed in the media changed dramatically in about the mid-1960´s when he became a figure who according to Dunning et al. “had descended into the beyond and the abnormal; the hooligan became an animal, a madman or a barbarian” (p.583).
However, although the employment of animal analogies, as Hall (1978) argues, helped rob individuals of their rationality and humanity and thus ultimately legitimated the application of stern disciplinary measures on the part of state (p.29), it at the same time presented the fans’ activity as something beyond the normal. Consequently, by making the hooligan a liminal figure the media paradoxically valorized the hooligans´ activities as illegitimate and dangerous making hooliganism attractive to the fans.
However, it was not only the press that helped to glamorize football hooliganism and bring it to the public eye. Films and documentaries such as The Football Factory, Green
Street and The Firm, all of which centered on one of the most notorious football firms- the Inter City Firm, offer a vicious look at the world of ecstatic chaos the hooligan enters where societal boundaries are breached.
At present traditional as well as new age media still play a vital role in disseminating current trends within the hooligan subculture. Helping to maintain the postmodern standards of hooligan confrontations, the Internet along with mobile phones provide fast and convenient means of communication and thus increasing their organizational and
16 tactical sophistication.
All in all, mass media have undoubtedly played an important role in popularizing the hooligan subculture. Nevertheless, it must also be conceded that it has also been a matter of social and cultural changes that to a considerable degree have contributed to the development of football hooliganism. With time fan violence started changing and due to a number of factors mentioned previously has acquired its contemporary form.
The following part of the work will address the modern form of football hooliganism and will deal with the current elements it encompasses.
17 4 Contemporary hooliganism
The late 1970’s and early 1980’s brought about a major change in the way the British football hooligans organized themselves. According to Murphy et al (1990) initially
„football ends“ came to be formed after segregation of opposing fans had been imposed.
The ends featured fans of individual clubs that watched their teams from behind a particular goal. With time these ends came to represent territories to be defended and to be attacked by rival formations (p. 90). Moreover, the same authors also maintain that taking the end, that is invading the territory of a rival team through fighting, was then perceived as a great accomplishment among hooligan groups (p. 90). Most hooligan formations of the time were basically organized on a very loose basis and communication and planning essentially entailed the word-of-mouth method since it usually consisted of meetings and discussions in local drinking establishments.
However, as Murphy et al further point out since the authorities and clubs stepped up their effort to curb fan violence at the football grounds, the fans most committed to hooligan activities started organizing themselves into what became to be known as
“fighting crews” or “fighting firms” (p. 91). These groups of extremely violent football fans gradually recognized the biting effect of the preventive measures introduced by both the police and clubs themselves and responded by planning and organizing their activities in a more sophisticated way. Perhaps most importantly confrontations with opposing formations were to take place away from the football grounds and beyond the developing controls.
It was in the early 1980´s that named “superhooligan” gangs emerged (Football on Trial, p.91). One of the first and most recognizable British “superhooligan” gangs was the
“Inter City Firm” of West Ham United, chosen to be dealt with since it inspired the
18 formation of Chachari, arguably the most feared football firm in the Czech Republic, and since it displays the same underlying basis of solidarity as does the Czech formation.
It is important to note that football hooliganism is a relatively new social phenomenon in this part of the world. Although it has pretty much followed the British pattern of development, it has done so along a different timeline. Because the political regime of the former Czechoslovakia considered football violence a dangerous social issue with potential harmful effects on the mainstream society, it did everything it could to contain football hooliganism. Therefore occasional displays of disorganized fan violence appeared entirely spontaneously and were swiftly and resolutely dealt with by the police.
The emergence and subsequent persistence of modern football hooliganism in the country can only be sensibly rendered as the result of the social and cultural transformation the country and more specifically North Moravia has gone through since the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
However, it is unfortunate that because there has been virtually no systematic recording of football-related violence it is very difficult to produce a reliable assessment of the variations and similarities between any two countries that have had to cope with the issue of football hooliganism. Nevertheless, based on the available evidence and fan testimonies, general conclusions can be drawn when approaching a rough comparative study of two hooligan formations on the basis of their similar social and cultural characteristics as well as extremely passionate commitment to the football club they are affiliated with.
To all intents and purposes the following proposition will attempt to illustrate the impact that the extent of the football hooligan subculture has had on the football fan culture in the Czech Republic, not long ago a country that ostentatiously boasted its classless social system devoid of any serious social issues. As has already been 19 postulated the social and economic development of the post war era greatly contributed to the emergence and subsequent evolution of football hooliganism in Britain. Crucially the underlying motives that tend to be involved in football hooligan behavior that reflects the complexity of the British society, the principal aspect of which is Britain´s complex class structure, appear to be also closely tied in with the dynamically developing class structure within the Czech Republic. Although the football clubs of
Banik Ostrava and West Ham United represent apparently distinct geographical entities, a closer look at the social and economic circumstances reveals a striking pattern of commonalities.
To begin with, both the area of East London and that of Ostrava have traditionally been associated with industries. Thanks to this link both places attracted and absorbed not only large numbers of rural people, but also successive waves of foreign immigrants as well as semi- and unskilled laborers willing to work for low wages in poor working conditions. The social composition of both places is then reflected in the specific mentality of the local people with violence comprising an important factor of behavioral pattern. And since both East London and Ostrava are football crazy, it is not surprising that this traditional working class pastime has become the main focus and pride and joy of the communities.
Apart from a very similar social composition, the areas also share another common trait- they both have been hit hard by the recent economic transformations. These once flourishing industrial centers have in the last few decades had to deal with substantial economic restructuring that primarily led to massive unemployment and also to the subsequent decline in population. However, despite the structural and social changes that affected both East London and Ostrava and ultimately led to an identity crisis, the latest trends show promising signs of identity recovery with the football clubs and their
20 highly partisan fans being at the center of social and cultural life. This has, as a long time Banik Ostrava supporter Josef (30) admits, helped to reinforce a supporter´s sense of identity:
They (the rest of the football fans around the country) need to be aware of who they are dealing with.We don´t mess around. Until fairly recently the country banked on our hard work in the coal mines and steel mills. Now they belittle our region for its unemployment rate and permanent pollution. This is where it gets personal with us. We are Chachari and proud of it. They´d better watch out. We may not have the best team in the country, but we sure have the toughest and most loyal fans and we are ready to prove it any time there is a chance!(April 10, 2014)
It is partly because of this mentality that is inherent to many local football fans, but also to a large degree due to the inspiration drawn from the most notorious firms in Britain that North Moravia and particularly Ostrava has become a bastion of the most fanatical football hooligans in the country. Many hooligans openly admit that they greatly admire the British hooligan scene and that they try to emulate all the different elements of the
British hooligan subculture as Josef adds:
Those Inter City fellows just kick ass. I´d do anything to be part of that fabulous outfit.
Nevertheless, for the time being me and the local boys will do our best to be the closest this place has to offer in the hooligan department. To be honest, there is not much competition around here, apart from the Sparta lads (April 10, 2014).
For its own part the ”Inter City Firm” (ICF) is a hooligan formation of West Ham
United, a Premier League team from East London. The ICF chose their name to symbolize the fact it was the first firm to travel to away games using the regular “Inter
City” train service instead of taking “football special” trains, a common practice among
21 football fans at the time. Not only did the ICF pioneer a new mode of travel to games, it also embraced the idea of wearing casual clothing with no club colors and paraphernalia/memorabilia to avoid police detection (Football on Trial, p. 91). It was not long before these successful tactics were espoused by most major firms.
According to Murphy et al (2002) most members of the ICF tend to be in their late teens and twenties, key leaders and organizers are sometimes older. They also make use of younger fans who they call “the Under Fives” but who are, in fact, mainly 14- and 15- year –olds, in order to reconnoiter the numbers, locations and dispositions of opposing fans and police. The ICF use complex strategies to avoid police controls and to infiltrate home territories on their visits to away grounds. Before matches away from home, they typically roam the streets and pubs of the town they are visiting, seeking out local fans that can be identified as the opposition´s equivalent to the ICF. At home matches, the
ICF seek to attack and intimidate the members of visiting ends who show sufficient
“nerve” to visit West Ham United´s ground at Upton Park. Sometimes frustrated by the lack of opposition or as a means of effecting a pre-emptive strike, the ICF have been known to travel to other parts of London in the hope of engaging rival London fighting crews on their own territories (p.92).
Although the core membership of both hooligan formations is estimated at about 150,
“occasional / part time” hooligans travel with the cores when a major confrontation looms. The only obvious major difference between the ICF and Chachari is the fact the
ICF is a racially mixed formation with some of the members being black while
Chachari remains, on account of specific local circumstances, purely Caucasian based.
Most importantly both formations display the same kind of organization and solidarity that stems from the fact that the bulk of their core members are united by bonds of close or common residence in specific communities.
22 It would not be accurate to draw conclusions regarding distinctive factors that inevitably help produce football hooliganism based on a brief comparison of an English and Czech hooligan formation. Nonetheless, it is evident social class and economic circumstances seem directly interact despite its obvious regional differences.
In order to enable the reader to attain a better understanding of motivational factors that are closely tied to hooligan identity the following part will deal with social as well as psychological elements that seem to constitute the basis of a football hooligan profile.
23 5 Motivations in football hooliganism
It is interesting to observe that over a period of over 40 years sentiments expressed by self-confessed former as well as current football hooligans show remarkable consistency in exposing the underlying motives involved in football hooligan behavior.
These motivational patterns reveal a complex of processes which help perpetuate the norms of aggressive behavior. As early as in 1974 in an account that appears in Football on Trial a self-confessed 26-year old lorry driver named Frank expresses his sentiments for his own hooligan involvement:
“I go to a match for one reason only: the agro. It’s an obsession. I can’t give it up. I get so much pleasure when I’m having agro that I nearly wet my pants… I go all over the country looking for it” (p. 86).
Another testimony to this quest for excitement and emotional arousal is further demonstrated by a member of West Ham United’s “Inter City Firm” who further elaborates in an interview for the Thames TV program “Hooligan” held in 1985 which also appears in Football on Trial:
We don’t-we don’t go-well, we do go with the intention of fighting, you know what
I mean…(W)e look forward to it… It’s great. You know, if you’ve got, say 500 kids coming for you, like, and you know they’re going to be waiting for you, it’s-it’s good to know like. Like being a tennis player, you know. You get all geed up to play, like. We get geed up to fight… I think I fight, like, so I can make a name for meself and that, you know. Hope people, like, respect me for what I did, like (p.87).
Decades later and in a country that has seen a dramatic increase in football related violence a seasoned Banik Ostrava hooligan offers his motives for his involvement in violent confrontations in a personal interview conducted in the aftermath of the latest
24 hooligan marred football game between North Moravia’s Banik Ostrava and Sparta
Prague, its arch rival from the capital played on March 22, 2014:
I grew up in a housing estate where physical violence was a way of life. You just needed to be able to scrap to stand up for yourself. The ability to fight also gained you respect and that’s what mattered. However, cops gradually had us all mapped out so
I decided to look for a venue that would allow relative anonymity. One day I went to a football game at Bazaly (FC Banik stadium) when Sparta came to play in town. I will never forget the adrenalin rush when I got to hit the first bastard from Prague that had the balls to show up his face on our home turf. Those sissies around the country need to know what us guys up here are made of (Jan B., 30 March 2014).
All three interviews shed light on football hooligans’ characteristic values and motives that remain relatively stable over time and which reveal the common norms at stake- norms of masculinity. A shared cultural practice of such self-styled hardcore soccer hooligans is their involvement in violent confrontation with opposing hooligans. And as
Armstrong (1994) claims “ a key aim of all hooligan groups is to successfully challenge their rivals through intimidation and violence as a way of securing and enhancing their status as a good “ firm “ in the hierarchy of hooligan oppositions “ (p. 299). The perceived status subsequently determines the actual size and intentions of specific hooligan formations.
When examining causes of football hooliganism it soon becomes apparent that there is no single direct or indirect cause that lies at the roots of the phenomenon. Instead a series of processes which help to perpetuate the norms of aggressive masculinity seem to be centrally involved.
Originally it was alcohol that hooliganism was primarily associated with and blamed for
25 in any display of disorder or fan aggression. Often seen as a common norm of masculinity in many European countries, the ability to drink heavily and hold one’s ale has always been a valuable asset in demonstrating oneself a worthy man. After all, a proof of masculinity is one of the things that football hooliganism is all about.
A typical game day for an average British as well as Czech fan begins well ahead of the kickoff time in one of the local pubs where other fans are met, spirits are lifted and loyalty to the club forged over pints of beer and shots of hard alcohol. Drinking has also been part of the game experience, although some clubs in the Czech Republic have recently introduced the “no alcohol on the premises” approach hoping to reduce the potential for fan violence. FC Banik, in particular, banned the sale of alcoholic beverages at its new home grounds at Vitkovice. Nevertheless, once the game, the focal point in the sequence of ritual events, is over it is common for most fans to go back to the pub, ending the day at the football well into the night. This is a testament to the fact that alcohol consumption and football are culturally inseparable both on the Isles and in the Czech Republic.
And even though there exists undoubtedly a strong connection between alcohol consumption and hooliganism at least when it comes to hooligan behavior in the United
Kingdom as well as the Czech Republic, it must be dismissed as the primary cause since not every fan who consumes alcohol in a football context gets involved in football related fights and by the same token not all hooligans drink before fighting.
Nevertheless, as stated above it must also be conceded that especially in the case with
British and Czech supporters alcohol does play an important role as part of the socializing / bonding process since match day rituals entail meeting in designated pubs/bars/taverns for pints of ale and often rounds of hard alcohol as well. This ritualistic drinking before as well as after football matches is typical for football fans in
26 both countries, possibly owing to similar drinking patterns that exist within the male populations of the two countries.
It is a well-known fact alcohol is an agent which lowers people’s inhibitions. In addition to lowering inhibitions in people it also helps to produce an environment of an intensified camaraderie as well as help reduce fear of getting injured in a fight or getting arrested by the police. Inadvertently, when alcohol is involved within a large group of people, there is a very good chance things may get rowdy sooner or later. But while alcohol surely plays an important role in the bonding/ socializing process, the most important building block of the entire football hooligan subculture appears to rest in the formation of the collective identity.
5.1 Formation of collective identity
Although alcohol was for some time believed to be the main motivational factor behind football hooliganism, new research and subsequently the findings it produced has led to the idea that it is in fact the concept of collective identity that appears to be the dominant element of the hooligan subculture. Crucial to the perception of collective identity is Armstrong´s (1998) belief that central to the construction of hooligan formations’ collective identities are the perceived differences between self and the other where the other is commonly represented by rival hooligan groups as well as non- hooligan supporters and the authorities, in particular the police. In order to understand better the nature of the interaction involved between various hooligan formations it is necessary to consider what Freud describes as the “”narcissism of minor differences in his 1917 work Das Tabu der Virginitat. The basic premise of Freud’s idea is that in an environment within which people are alike in most respects, there is a tendency to use the minor differences as the basis and rationale for the aversion to otherness. Also, according to Bordieu, in this process, minimum objective distance in the social space 27 coincides with maximum subjective distance (1990, p.137).
And as King (2001) proposes in his article on collective memory in football hooliganism the dislike is then directed toward potential adversaries and subsequently expressed through violent confrontation with rival formations. It is this key characteristic of football hooliganism, which is the use of violence and the willingness to be game which constitutes the compelling form of social intercourse out of which their social group arises (p.571-572).
Over the years it has become obvious that it is through this shared identity which bonds hooligan formations not only within one country, but also across different societies that a kind of “imagined community” (Anderson, 1983) is created. Even though members of such a community will never know most of their fellow members, meet them, or even hear of them, their explicit interest in violent confrontation provides them with an image of their communion. To support this notion Giulianotti and Armstrong (2002) argue the hooligan network is an informal and increasingly transnational phenomenon… In most instances, it comprises individual hooligans from different formations who have met
(usually fortuitously) and exchanged personal details, with a view towards sharing sub- cultural information regarding fan violence or other common interests. (p.218)
To facilitate interaction among various hooligan networks modern technologies are used on a daily basis. Websites featuring hooligan ideology offer an easy and convenient way of advertising transnational hooligan networks, promoting a medley of cultural styles and action repertoires as well as spreading and exchanging information. Photographs, fanzines and video clips can all help disseminate ideas espoused by regular as well as prospective hooligans.
Armstrong (1994) also suggests that a key aim of all hooligan formations is to
28 successfully challenge their rivals through intimidation and violence as a way of securing or enhancing their status as a good “firm” in the hierarchy of hooligan oppositions (p.299). The perceived status of a particular hooligan formation is likely to determine the size and intentions of the group. When questioned about the actual size of their hardcore formation, Banik hooligans themselves acknowledge the involvement of many of them in football violence is not consistent and to a large degree it depends on the challenge it faces from an opposing group. Jan Z., a hard core Chachar (hooligan group following FC Banik Ostrava) explains,
“Not everyone here is cut out to scrap hand to hand. It is obvious some guys do not have the physical predispositions/attributes needed to challenge the opposition. There are guys who plan and organize and there are guys who dish out and take the hits. In the long run it is a team effort and that is why we are the best of the best in this country”
(April 10, 2014).
When a challenge and subsequently threat is deemed big, many peripheral and occasional hooligans are recruited. These “part time” hoolies are often males with a reputation for being tough. It is not uncommon for males involved in martial arts to be approached and recruited to ensure planned confrontations are successful.
It is important to point out the fact that even among hooligan formations there exist unwritten rules of engagement in violent confrontations. Such informal rules are often negotiated prior to particular incidents. However, this informal code, although occasionally broken in the midst of the confrontation, usually features a broad agreement that competitive violence is a matter of hooligans only, that is hooligans should fight only each other (or the police) and not non-hooligan supporters (women, children and non-violent fans). This informal code of conduct also determines how masculine honor can be claimed. As personal interviews with local (Banik based) 29 hooligans reveal and official fanzines corroborate “clashes”, as violent confrontations among Czech hooligans are called, observe a set of unwritten but kept rules such as hand-to-hand combat only and no kicks at opponents downed ( Vochovcova, Treti polocas, 2007).
“Speaking of status and honor”, a hard-core Banik hooligan named Jaroslav further elaborates, “there is a fine line between being tough and ready to fight and … fighting someone who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
“What I mean is that we fight rival hooligans, that´s guys who are willing to engage in violence. None of us would ever attack anyone who just happens to be walking by or attending the match with their kids, even if the guy happened to be a Sparta fan. That would definitely be underneath us, some things are just a plain NO, NO” (July 4, 2014).
By the same token such an informal code of legitimate action also dictates that challenges be directed at opposition of equal status and quality. Confronting a formation of inferior quality and reputation would mean a loss of respect and credibility within the subculture. It does happen occasionally and definitely spontaneously, but in the long run such confrontations are not worth the while. If anything they just cause rifts and fragmentation within the group.
Despite the fact that the issue of football hooliganism is undoubtedly a complex one,
Spaaij (2008) claims that even within different social and historical contexts there exist specific features that are universal to the formation of hooligan identities. Although excitement and pleasurable emotional arousal and demonstration of hard masculinity seem to be the central building blocks of football hooligan identities, it has become obvious that territorial identifications as well as reputation management issues and a sense of solidarity and belonging also play an important role in forming hooligans´
30 collective identity (p.375). Interestingly enough the set of features Spaaij presents as universal to hooligan formations appears to be perfectly applicable to the local hooligan formation chosen for closer scrutiny.
A number of informal interviews with current Czech football hooligans as well as participant observation bear out the proposition made by Spaaij who bases his findings on his own fieldwork carried out in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.
It is true that on one hand the overwhelming majority of sports spectators are satisfied with the excitement and emotional arousal a sporting match offers. On the other hand, however, there are still quite a few fans who still strive for more intense experiences, especially those associated with symbolic or physical violence in the football context.
This “quest for excitement in unexciting societies” as Elias and Dunning (1970) call it stems from the fact that in contemporary Western societies opportunities for risk taking have deteriorated, and sporting events provide individuals with a need for excitement that is often lacking in other aspects of life (Apter, 1992).
Although the pleasurable excitement associated with violent confrontation used to be perceived as something traditionally associated with lower working class culture and only confined to adolescence and early adulthood, the fans´ attraction to hooliganism has become a more complex phenomenon affecting a wider variety of male fans seeking to experience a buzz or adrenaline rush. Fighting becomes one of the main acts to counter boredom and experience high emotional arousal (Spaaij, p.376).
Studies that have been carried out in an attempt to clarify the hooligans´ social circumstances as well as motivational patterns have produced findings that show remarkable consistency. Harrington´s findings for the 1960´s,Trivizas´ data for the
1970´s as well as the work by Williams et al for the 1980´s suggest the majority of
31 hooligans come from towards the bottom of the social scale (Football on Trial, p.89).
The surprising thing is that the findings still hold true for the internal composition of contemporary hooligan groups. Out of the 27 Banik hooligans that have been involved in data collection, 22 work manually, holding jobs in the skilled as well as semi-skilled employment situations, ranking therefore in the lower half of both social and economic standings, and all of them are young males in their physical prime.
However, despite the fact that hooliganism is still considered a phenomenon that attracts mainly male members of the lower social strata, there are cases of individuals getting involved who do not fit the usual hooligan mold. A good example is Jan W. (28), a well-dressed and clean shaven IT consultant who by his own admission claims to be a die-hard Banik Ostrava supporter since birth. Asked why he gets involved in hooligan confrontations, Jan openly admits fighting at games or rather before or after games gives him an opportunity to experience adventure and thrills in an otherwise boring and unchallenging conventional lifestyle,
I have a good job that pays well and a sweet girlfriend I may marry one day.
Nevertheless, for now I still feel something is missing in my life. Every day I deal with stress on and off the job. With that in mind it´s no wonder I need to let off some steam.
Unfortunately Big Brother keeps an eye on us, so going scrapping gives me an absolute high and an escape from reality. The buzz I get when fighting rival fans is awesome.
I hope circumstances allow me to stay involved as long as possible (July 4, 2014).
A very interesting element of motivation can be seen in the case of another atypical soccer rowdy that joins the Banik crew during their clashes. Although initially his involvement in confrontations was moreless limited to those involving Banik and Sparta supporters for reasons given below, the excitement and emotional satisfaction he began to experience, however, has eventually made him an indispensable part of what he 32 refers to as a “brotherhood of just cause”. An apparently accomplished local entrepreneur who does not just stand out because he drives around in a flashy sports car and owns and runs a number of successful businesses , but more importantly because he is also university educated and well travelled, he explains the motivation for his involvement with the crew,
See, I have been doing business all around the country and I have had my ups and downs. I have also come across a lot of honest as well as dubious business partners. But some time ago I happened upon a couple of lads from Prague who I did business with and who ultimately screwed me over like nobody else had done before. I should have listened to my gut feeling and steered clear of them since from the beginning they made it pretty clear they were big Sparta fans, making fun of the guys out here, calling us idiotic names, mocking our dialect etcetera. I initially made an effort to overlook the invectives ´cause I believed the potential gain was worth it. But oh well, you live and you learn. Being a huge football fan from that time on I have been settling my personal grievances every time an opportunity knocks, that is when Banik plays Sparta. I always look for those two bastards hoping to settle the old score. Oddly enough, the fighting has provided me with a sense of excitement and gratification that enriches my lifestyle
(Jiri N., July 4, 2014).
Evidently what emerged and used to be the domain of lower working class males is now being transformed into a somewhat classless culture. It is still a source of identity for many hooligans but as Spaaij (2006) asserts the element of danger, of overcoming fear and venturing the liminal has come over time come to attract a wider variety of males who adopt a similar aggressive masculine style (p.377).
Demonstrating hard masculinity is another key element hooligans´ identity is built around. And since it is predominantly physical prowess that is revered and celebrated 33 among individual hooligan formations, it is often through ritual denigration of the masculinity of the other (rival hooligan formations) that an unambiguous sense of one´s own masculinity is constructed (Free&Hughson, 2003, p.151). This notion is further supported by Mosse´s work on nineteenth century bourgeois respectability, in which he argues respectability operates around the binary of normal and abnormal (1985, p.10).
Mosse also claims the European bourgeoisie highly valued respectability since it was considered the means by which the security of the nation was to be achieved, reflecting
Darwin’s thesis of each nation’s survival resting on the fitness of its men. Thus, in
Mosse´s words respectability and its division of the world into normal and abnormal was designed to ensure the production of males who were sexually controlled, that is of those males who were the masters of their passions (King, p.580).
The abnormal, on the other hand, referred not only to those who indulged in licentious practices, but also to such practices themselves. Consequently, masturbation, homosexuality and sexual promiscuity were viewed with horror as emblematic of the beyond in bourgeois sensibility. It was widely believed that the indulgence in any of these abnormal sexual appetites enervated the man, rendering him ineffective in the defense of the nation (King, p.580).
This perception of hard masculinity is evident in the majority of football hooligans to whom football is a central ritual arena in their constitution of their manhood. Through the support of a football team, the male fan affirms his status as man (in the eyes of his peers and himself) and also articulates the nature of that manhood (King, 1997, p.585).
The communal chanting that fans participate in becomes a common practice which helps them reinforce their idea of masculinity. The sexual deviance of the opposition is then claimed through such chants as “Sparta, Sparta- buzerantu parta” and “Prazske kurvy!” heard at great frequency every time Banik Ostrava plays Sparta Prague. And
34 while most of the denigration of the opposition almost exclusively operates around the sexual deviance motives in the Czech Republic, some of the British supporters have historically gone even further by equating racial otherness with sexual deviance. West
Ham supporters have found themselves denigrated as sexual deviants while at the same time abused on racial grounds when sections of their chief rival supporters from Chelsea chant
One nigger, two nigger, three nigger four,
Four make a team and so do many more,
Call them West Ham, paint their faces white,
What a bunch of wankers you made overnight (Jacobson, 1975, p.781; King, p.586).
It is important to keep in mind that the construction of hard masculinity is subject to specific spaces and locations. As Connell (2000) states there is no singular pattern of masculinity found everywhere (p.10). The construction and demonstration of hooligans´ aggressive masculinity is context dependent and is affected by various cultural elements such as geographical locations, interpersonal relationships, political affiliation, the legal system and others.
As far as the hooligan formations at West Ham and Banik Ostrava, formations chosen for a closer scrutiny in the following chapter, both celebrate the core values of their traditional working class communities and industries. Within both groups physical prowess and readiness to utilize it effectively in violent confrontations are the most valued attributes. “A strong cultural connection between admired masculinity and violent response to threat” (Spaai 02/06) is clearly evident in the following narrative by
Miroslav, a charismatic youngster in his late teens:
I love to fight. Ever since elementary school I´ve been looking for opportunities to 35 demonstrate my strength. It is because I´ve always been a big boy. My dad was a miner and a pretty big guy too. He always taught me to take care of myself the best I could.
And I did. And another thing he taught me was to take no crap off nobody. To get some recognition I used to do martial arts competitively, but the payback was small. Now that
I am with the football boys I get looked up to. It makes me feel great when I can prove myself in clashes (August 16, 2014).
It is apparent that there exists a powerful connection between admired masculinity and violent response to threat. Violence is not merely glorified, it is also so closely tied to masculinity that aggression becomes central to the boy´s notion of manhood (Campbell,
1993, p.31).
Fortunately, even though the majority of hooligans undoubtedly seek out a conflict as a source of excitement and actually enjoy fighting, it is also true most of them at the same time are not willing to subject themselves to a high likelihood of serious injury.
As Peter L. puts it, speaking for a group of hooligans in their early twenties, “All of us realize there is a chance of coming out of a scrap with a few cuts and bruises. However, none of us want to end up in hospital or crippled permanently. After all, we are not masochists, right boys? (August 16, 2014)”. The lads themselves later expand on the concept of conflict drawing a line between conflicts that turn really violent and those that are more or less ritualistic and involve limited physical violence. These ritualistic fights comprise taunting, name calling and chasing. What is really astounding and to many people puzzling though is that even when conflicts involve punching, kicking and some cases weapons they seldom result in serious injuries.
Demonstrating hard masculinity may stand in the center of hooligan activity, but both individual and collective reputations constitute another crucial element of hooligan identity. 36 As various sociological studies on football behavior suggest and personal accounts corroborate there are social rules within hooligan formations. Individual as well as collective reputations seem to compensate the sense of alienation their social and economic standing grants them.
Interestingly ,albeit not surprisingly, especially among the hooligans who identify themselves with the lower working class football violence presents an alternative way of having a career, especially since they either refuse or are denied the educational or occupational status as a major sense of identity. Violence becomes a part of route to success and gaining status and prestige through participation in football hooliganism.
“You have to understand”, says Marcel (24),
I come from a single parent setting where being true blue collar neither of my parents stood out intellectually and so logically I was not steered towards educational accomplishments right from the beginning. As long as my school results were good enough to secure decent technical training for one of the existing industrial giants my mom was happy. However, soon it became clear I was to become one of the many ordinary Joes who ply their trade day in and day out in total obscurity. Fortunately my passion for the game and the local team has given me a new focus. Ever since I started hanging out with the fellows (the hoolies) and got involved in a couple of nasty confrontations and stood my ground, people around me starting looking at me in a different way. Now that I have paid my dues I feel part of something very, very special. And I am doing my best to make my little son proud daddy is part of something our city can be proud of (Aug 16, 2014).
Testimonies like the one above clearly show status and prestige help provide a sense of personal worth and identity. Successful challenges of rival hooligans ensure reputations
37 for toughness on individual and group level.
At the same time it is also imperative that the achievements be communicated effectively, both internally and externally. Both word-of-mouth and the Internet facilitate ways of communication. In this way confrontations are discussed and evaluated and reputations are built/reinforced or tainted. Often significant clashes are depicted, dissected and ultimately rated on hooligans.cz, a website devoted to the Czech football hooligan scene. Interestingly a lot of the pre-arranged confrontations boast a catchy preview as well as a post-clash summary.
The status of individual hooligan formations depends on the reputation the group has among the other formations. Moreover, the group´s reputation is central to the evolvement and escalation of intergroup rivalry while past events and disagreements between opposing groups can become important reference points in sustaining great hostility and triggering violent responses (Spaaij, 2006, p.382).
As part of an unwritten rule the most prestigious groups do not seek confrontations with an opposition of a significantly lesser status and only respond to such challenges when directly confronted. Logically lesser formations have a tendency to occasionally challenge formations of high prestige in order to better their standing in the hierarchy of the country´s hooligan organizations. Nonetheless, most such challenges are ignored by the established formations since in the words of a prominent leader nicknamed Sargent:
Those poor bastards just don´t measure up. They should just be grateful they are in the league and keep their cake holes shut and show some dignity. Their stands are empty and the place has the atmosphere of a morgue. What´s the point of fighting twenty pretty boys who try to chant their incomprehensible songs and would even get beat up by our girlfriends (July 15, 2014).
38 Besides enabling its members to acquire and enjoy both individual and collective reputations that ultimately help supporters establish their sense of worth and identity, hooligan formations also offer their members collective experiences that in Spaaij´s opinion support and strengthen their sense of belonging and solidarity (p.385).
Friendships are forged and often ties formed within the formation. These are oftentimes stronger than those found within a family; the hooligan group is thus perceived as an extended family and logically it tends to have a significant influence in the hooligans´ lives as it substitutes the role of the immediate family albeit just temporarily:
I just feel the Banik guys I see on a daily basis are my family. This may sound a bit too presumptuous but it´s really how I feel about the fellows. We´ve gone through so much shit together. We´ve been to hell and back and not once I felt like they´ve let me down.
They mean more to me than my own blood at home. I´ve never been close to my parents, partly because the family has been dysfunctional for quite some time. I suppose it´s the environment we find ourselves in, it´s not very conducive to building strong family ties. On the other hand it is great to be with the fellows ´cause things are happening all the time. Sometimes things get pretty hectic and chaotic (Martin, 24, June
20, 2014).
It is the chaos a lot of hooligans find appealing. According to Katz (1988) it is the unpredictability of actions and reactions that makes “being with the mob” predictably exciting (p.144).
Besides providing its members with an environment of solidarity and belonging, the group also works as what Spaaij refers to a “sanctuary of unofficial protection and remedy for grievances” ( p. 385). And even though there are occasions of intra group conflict, mainly due to issues not related to football and frequently dealt with over drinks, disagreements tend to be usually of lesser significance than intergroup hostilities. 39 It is also necessary to acknowledge the fact there is what King (2001) calls an interdependence of individual action and group fate. Individuals must protect the group´s honor even at the risk of personal injury, if they are to enjoy the benefits that come from membership of the group (p.574). When approached to offer his perspective on the way the formation recruits new members and the way it streamlines their attitude towards the cause, Martin explains:
“Your actions definitely get scrutinized when it goes off. There are a lot of guys who have ambitions to join us and are a lot of talk about this and that. But when it gets down to the nitty- gritty they just shit their pants. We don´t need people who can´t be relied on”
(June 20, 2014).
Finally, it is no secret individual hooligan formations commonly display determination to contest specific places which they often consider as “their stomping grounds”. On one hand they are always prepared to defend these areas they have come to refer to as home turf, on the other hand they may frequently attempt to invade foreign territory, that is spaces controlled by rival formations.
Historically this trend goes back to the 1970´s when exclusive territories commonly known as the ends emerged within the grounds. These spaces were gradually thought of as home turf that was to be defended against the intruders (opposing fans). However, the events discussed above and the subsequent measures implemented to reduce and eventually eliminate opportunities for fighting inside football grounds ultimately led to hooligan confrontations being relocated away from the grounds to places and on to new locales.
Although pressure has been exerted on the part of the local football authorities to prevent hooligan confrontations from happening inside the football grounds in the
40 Czech Republic as well, mainly by demanding that stadiums be equipped with CCTV and by having sufficient security contingency on hand during the games, substandard facilities that keep getting temporary exemptions for Division One and Two games still provide ample opportunities for opposing fans to clash inside the grounds.
A lot of hooligans in the country are well aware of that and, in addition, bank on the lack of legislative measures that would tackle the issue of spectator violence and thus curb the phenomenon.
Nevertheless, the clash, or the “war” in the words of the participants, that took place inside Bazaly (Banik Ostrava stadium) on March 22, 2014 (Hooligans in action,
YouTube) may have very well put a definite end to fighting inside the most notorious venues. Immediately after the incident that once again jolted not only the soccer community but society at large too, the club introduced ticket sales that would involve use of picture IDs and an eventual ban for home games and, more importantly, announced its move to a new facility in Vitkovice, one that is designed to meet the strictest security demands in line with the international standards.
Nonetheless, as has already been stated most confrontations nowadays have been relocated to the areas surrounding the ground, pubs, bars and railway stations. The very latest trend sees rival formations contest places that would originally be considered neutral since they are often a fair distance from the grounds. That the new tactic of relocating hooligan encounters from football grounds to new locals has been espoused be Czech hooligans too becomes obvious thanks to documented clashes such as the one that took place near Ceska Trebova involving the most notorious hooligan formations in the country- those affiliated with Banik Ostrava and Sparta Prague(Sparta-Banik- Fight in the fields, YouTube). When asked why he decided to take part in the particular clash near Ceska Trebova Lukas , 28, rationalizes: 41 A challenge came and it needed to be addressed. You just can´t back down when a glorious opportunity like that presents itself. Sure thing we hooked up in the sticks, but only absolute dimwits get busted by the cops these days. Why scrap and cause trouble at the stadium where you get scrutinized throughout the game? The smart ones take care of business elsewhere (July 9, 2014).
It appears that despite the fact that football hooliganism has evolved over a period spanning several decades to take its current form, the broad social, occupational as well as motivational patterns it entails have been relatively consistent. While fan violence was initially almost exclusively linked to excessive alcohol consumption on match days and was almost associated with the lower social strata, soon it became apparent this view is not completely accurate. Alcohol does contribute to aggressive fan behavior, but it appears it is not the main motivational factor for the majority of football hooligans.
Instead a number of elements which constitute collective identity tend to be involved.
Moreover, fan violence nowadays seems to attract more and more people who do not fit the stereotypical hooligan mold.
Although general, the above mentioned features and social mechanisms seem to be central to patterns of meaning and expressions of identity among contemporary hooligans. In order to fully grasp the nature and dynamics of football violence a more extensive comparative study involving various social and historical contexts needs to be conducted.
42 6 Conclusion
It is evident that fan-related football violence known as football hooliganism is not a new phenomenon. Crowd disorder and violence have traditionally been linked with the sport since the development of the modern game. Nevertheless, the type of deliberate violence that involves well organized groups of rivaling football supporters and that has become synonymous with football hooliganism has only been around for the last several decades.
Initially the label “hooliganism” used to be loosely applied to any violent encounters that had to do with fights between groups of young males taking place on match days at or in the vicinity of football grounds. Hooliganism was also originally almost exclusively associated with the behavior of British football fans only and was soon referred to as”the English disease”. A crucial role in amplifying the issue was played by the media and the British tabloid press in particular that quickly recognized the business potential of the moral panics spreading among the British population. As a result, the phenomenon received widespread attention that on one hand increased circulation numbers, but at the same time exacerbated the problem since it also glamorized and reinforced hooligan behavior through things like publishing of league tables of hooligan notoriety.
It was the sensationalist media reporting along with the actual increase in football related violence that precipitated the implementation of tougher controls over football crowds. Fan segregation in fenced off sections of the terraces known as pens was to reduce incidents of violence. However, the measures, short sighted in hindsight, taken to improve the situation inadvertently led to the worst football related disasters that ultimately changed the nature and dynamics of football hooliganism.
43 Both Heysel and Hillsborough Stadium tragedies marked a milestone in the development of football violence. Following the Taylor Report that was published in the wake of the two tragedies a number of recommendations and specific measures aimed at eradicating hooliganism such as the introduction of all-seater stadiums and closed circuit television addressed the circumstances that led to the ill fated events. However, it soon became apparent football hooliganism was not a mono-causal issue inherent to the
Isles, but a heterogeneous phenomenon that was historically and socially context dependent. It soon became obvious hooliganism was an issue many other countries, the
Czech Republic not excluded, had to cope with.
Many sociological studies have since been produced focusing on the behavior patterns of football hooligans within various social and cultural settings. Taking the conclusions of such studies into consideration and supporting them with the testimonies provided by members of local hooligan formations, it is fairly safe to conclude that hooliganism is a complex, heterogeneous phenomenon that to a large extent depends on different social and historical conditions. Nonetheless, there are astounding commonalities that exist in the collective identifications of hooligan formations within various contexts. These collective identifications are typically constructed around the perceived differences between self and the other and are principally expressed through various features of hooligan identity at the center of which stands the construction of hard masculinity.
Apart from expressions of hard masculinity, which the overwhelming majority of football hooligans like to demonstrate, it is also other important aspects such as emotional arousal, individual as well as collective reputations, a sense of solidarity and belonging and the issue of territorial identification that need to be considered when approaching present day hooligan subculture.
In conclusion, football hooliganism is a historical phenomenon the contemporary
44 relevance of which is evident in its transnational dimensions. The continuing underlying motives that tend to be involved in football hooligan behavior reveal the persistence of the hooligan subculture within contemporary societies.
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49 Summary
This BA thesis deals with football hooliganism, an issue that football as well as law enforcement authorities around the world have had to deal with for several decades.
Although this specific subculture has its roots in post war Britain, it has become obvious the phenomenon has spread beyond the Isles into virtually all parts of the globe. The first part outlines the various stages of hooligan development, presents the role mass media have had in the emergence in this particular subculture and describes the tragic events that forever changed the face of football fan violence.
The second part of the work attempts to analyze contemporary hooliganism within two historically and socially different contexts, that of Britain and the Czech Republic. It provides arguments explaining the curious lack of absence of fan violence within North
American culture. Crucially in the last part the thesis also focuses on the underlying motives that contribute to the emergence of hooligan formations and assesses the elements of the hooligan identity evident trans-nationally.
Thanks to the information available and also to extensive interaction with current members of hooligan formations this paper proves that football hooliganism is a complex, heterogeneous and dynamic phenomenon which, despite the changes in society and considerable effort to control and eradicate it on the part of the authorities, continues to present a persistent transnational problem.
50 Resumé
Tato bakalářská diplomová práce se zabývá otázkou fotbalového chuligánství- společenským problémem, který po několik desítek let nedává spát jak fotbalovým orgánům, tak bezpečnostním složkám. Ačkoliv tato subkultura má své kořeny v poválečné Velké Británii, události posledních let dokazují, že fotbalové chuligánství je problém, který sužuje fotbalovou kulturu většiny zeměkoule.
První část práce nastiňuje stádia vývoje chuligánství, poukazuje na roli, kterou sehrály hromadné sdělovací prostředky ve vztahu k vývoji této subkultury, a také popisuje tragické události, které navždy změnily ráz fotbalového násilí fanoušků.
Druhá část práce si klade za úkol provést analýzu současné formy fotbalového chuligánství v rámci Velké Británie, České republiky - dvou historicky a společensky rozdílných geografických celků.
Závěrečná část se zabývá rozborem motivů, které vedou k projevům diváckého násilí ve fotbalovém prostředí a rovněž rozborem základních prvků identity fotbalového chuligána typických pro uskupení napříč fotbalové kultury.
Díky dostupným informacím a rozsáhlé interakci s aktivními členy chuligánských uskupení tato práce ukazuje, že chuligánství v rámci fotbalového prostředí je velmi složitý a dynamický fenomén vyznačující se svou různorodostí. Navzdory své různorodosti a také navzdory úsilí vyvíjenému ze strany jak fotbalových orgánů, tak orgánů činných v trestním řízení je nicméně zřejmé, že tento společenský problém představuje a nadále představovat bude neustálý společenský problém na mnoha místech naší zeměkoule.
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