BRITISH FOOTBALL DISORDER SINCE 1984

British Football Disorder Since 1984



Introduction

Football hooliganism has no legal definition; neither is it a social scientific nor social psychological concept. Instead, it is a socially constructed generic term that is popularly used—especially by the police, politicians, and the media—to describe the disorderly behaviour of football (soccer) supporters. This behaviour ranges from verbal abuse and aggressive posturing, to vandalism and the throwing of missiles, to more violent actions (with more severe consequences); such as fighting, rioting, assaults, and even murder. However, as well as being a populist political and media label, the term is also used as a self-referent by those involved, as evidenced by numerous “hooligan” Web sites and autobiographies (Tsoukala, 2009, 11).

While the term can encompass a range of behaviours, there are two broad forms of public disorder that are labelled hooliganism. One form is spontaneous and usually low-level disorder caused by fans at or around football games prompted by, for example, results or officials' decisions, provocation by stewarding or policing strategies, incitement by opposition supporters, or inebriation. The other form is highly organized disorder and involves intentional, often prearranged violence (via the Internet or cell phones) by organized gangs (or “firms”) who attach themselves to football clubs and fight hooligans from other clubs.

Hooligan groups tend to have strong spatial and locational attachments (not just to their football club but also to their neighbourhood, town, region, nation, etc.). These attachments are activated on the basis of the nature and level of external challenges. Some hooligan groups may also have religious or political allegiances. This is particularly the case in southern and eastern European countries where some firms are linked with far-right politics and racism while others have leftist associations (Pearson, 2007, 212).

Organized football hooliganism tends to be targeted at other hooligans and so “victims” are rarely innocent bystanders, and instead are more usually rival firm members or police officers and security personnel. Spontaneous acts of “hooliganism” may inadvertently embroil more innocent victims due to their indiscriminate nature. Also of relevance to students of criminology and victimology are the debates surrounding civil liberties that have arisen following the introduction of legislation and policing strategies to combat hooliganism in some countries, as well as some miscarriages of justice involving those wrongly charged for football-related offenses (O'Neill, 2005, 76). What follow is a brief history of football hooliganism and a consideration of the scale and nature of the phenomenon across the world. An outline of some of the pioneering British responses and strategies to combat the problem will then be presented, followed by some supranational preventive measures.

Soccer hooligan is the violating public disorder, linking their actions with the football loyalties and justifying them. Football hooligans themselves regard their movement as a subculture. As a general rule, crimes motivated by hooliganism committed before or after football matches, and in places where large gatherings of football fans (Giulianotti, 2008, 112).

History of the Movement of Violence in England

Like football itself, the origins of the movement of violence has its ...