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Faculty of Humanities, and Social Science and Education The 12th Man in the Old Firm Rivalry: Understanding Soccer Fan Violence and Football Fan Rivalry Caleb Osaigiade Aluola Master’s thesis in Peace and Conflict Transformation. June 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank my supervisor Mohammed Salehin for his professional guidance throughout the process of this master thesis. I am grateful for his support and patience to have received, read and commented on my NUMEROUS drafts. I would also like to express my gratitude to every staff at CPS. Specifically, I want to thank Kat Hodgson for her earlier support, which was very instrumental to the foundation of this thesis. I also want to thank every member of the Galtung Army, specifically Richie- “the Original” and Chaplin of the Peace Chamber; Marisa- Guardian of the environment, protector of unicorns and everything nice; and Sergio- First minister of Tourism, foreign affairs and outer space relations. I owe my deepest gratitude to my mom and dad for their prayers and encouragements. I am also grateful to Dominic Kalu and Yakubu Abudu for being like a family to me. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his faithfulness and grace that knows no bounds. i ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to present and explain some of the factors that reinforce and intensify soccer fan violence in the context of the Old firm fan rivalry. This study explored the Old Firm fan rivalry as a case study because it is the oldest fan rivalry in football history and is regarded as one of the most intense, fiercely contested and violent rivalry in football. Further, the study conceptualized soccer fan violence as an interplay between macro-level influences and mediating and moderating influences. This approach supports the necessity to engage in an in-depth study of football fan rivalries that avoids a mono-causal approach while considering the lived experiences of the fans into consideration. As a result, the study was able to engage in an analysis of the interplay between religion as the perceived macro-level influence, fan habitus and factors that affect the intensity and direction of fan violence in the Old firm fan rivalry. The study adopted a qualitative method of data collection because it provides an opportunity to analyze fans’ opinions, interpretations and experiences as meaningful properties of social reality. In conclusion, the study comes to the defense of the Old firm fans and states that the role religion play as a macro- level influence in the Old firm fan rivalry is a myth. Further, the study found out that the Old firm fan rivalry is also reinforced mostly by the actions of agents of socialization for example parents, and intensified majorly by the absence of effective laws. The implication of findings points to the fact that religion or football fans are not inherently violent, and that soccer fan violence is ultimately embedded in a particular economic, political, social and cultural context. Keywords: Mediating and moderating influences; Soccer fan violence; Football fan rivalry; the Old firm; Religion; Soccer; football. ii ABBREVIATIONS UEFA The Union of European Football Associations OF Old Firm OO Orange Order NBM Nil By Mouth iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................. i ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. ii ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................... iii 1 Introduction and Background ......................................................................................... 2 1.1 Brief history of the Old Firm (OF) Fan Rivalry ......................................................................3 1.2 Motivative behind this research .........................................................................................4 1.3 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................4 1.4 Roadmap ...........................................................................................................................5 2 Soccer Fan Violence and Football Fan Rivalries ............................................................... 7 2.1 Soccer Fan Violence ...........................................................................................................7 2.2 Football Fan Rivalry ...........................................................................................................8 2.2.1 Identity and the taxonomy of Football Spectators ............................................................................ 10 2.2.2 The Social construction of (fan) identity ............................................................................................ 11 2.2.3 “Everlasting” Rivalries: The Role of Non-State Institution ................................................................ 12 2.3 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 13 3 Methodology and Methods .......................................................................................... 16 3.1 Ontology and Epistemology.............................................................................................. 16 3.2 Research Strategy, Analysis of data and Coding ................................................................ 17 3.3 Data Collection Techniques .............................................................................................. 18 3.3.1 Ethnography and Micro-ethnography ................................................................................................ 18 3.3.2 Direct Observation .............................................................................................................................. 20 3.3.3 Interviews ............................................................................................................................................ 20 3.3.4 Reflexivity ............................................................................................................................................ 22 3.4 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 23 4 Religious and Identity Discourse ................................................................................... 25 4.1 The myth of Religious Violence ......................................................................................... 25 4.1.1 Culture, Politics, Religion and Violence .............................................................................................. 26 4.2 The “Myth” of Football Hooliganism? ............................................................................... 27 4.3 Towards A Moderating and Mediating Framework ........................................................... 28 4.4 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 30 5 Data Analysis and Discussion ........................................................................................ 32 iv 5.1 Religion as a macro-Level Influence of the OF fan Rivalry .................................................. 32 5.1.1 Religious Society, “Secular” Fans ........................................................................................................ 34 5.2 Mediating Factor of the OF fan rivalry: The Habitus of the OF fans .................................... 37 5.2.1 The Construction of the OF fan Identity ............................................................................................. 38 5.3 Moderating Factors of the OF Fan Rivalry ......................................................................... 40 5.3.1 Intervention and Agent of Social Control ........................................................................................... 40 5.3.2 Non-State institutions ......................................................................................................................... 42 5.3.3 Internal and External Communication: Media activity and Practicing Fanatism through Banter, Chants, and Songs............................................................................................................................................... 46 6 Summary and Conclusion ............................................................................................. 54 6.1 Summary of Findings ........................................................................................................ 54 6.2 Concluding Remarks ......................................................................................................... 55 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 58 APPENDIX: SONGS OLD FIRM FANS SING .............................................................................. 65 Table of Figures Figure 1 Taxonomy of Football Spectators .................................................................................. 11 Figure 2 A Conceptual Model of Soccer Fan Violence ................................................................ 29 Figure 3“Celtic fans taunt Rangers at Hamilton clash.” ..............................................................