Hooliganism in England

Professional football is the most popular sport in Britain. Though most spectators are male, about 12% who attend football games are females. Crowds at popular games are so huge they can be as big as 30,000 people; some crowds are even as large as 50,00. In the 1995/96 season there were approximately 21 million fans that attended football games in Britain (Sports Council). An estimated four to five million people attend football games in Britain each year.

In the 1960’s hooliganism was considered a ser

ious problem. Historically hooligans were called “roughs.” The caused trouble at matches throughout the 19th century. Some extreme cases the roughs attacked referees and visiting players. In the 60s football as a sport began to get more media attention, so did the fights and disorder. In the 60s hooliganism was more organized than it is today. Fans defended their local “territories” and a sort of gang rivalry started between opposing fans. Sometimes these rivalries were more important than the actual football games. Often incidents of hooliganism would happen outside the stadiums before or after games. There were fights and brawls in parking lots. By the year 2000 the serious problem had lost the spotlight, and wasn’t considered a threat.

Hooliganism is only a concern in football not in other sports. This has to do with the working class roots of the game, and the territorial and masculine values in the areas and of the fans. Most football fans in Britain have a strong emotional attachment to their areas and teams. So the games are a struggle between areas to defend themselves. It become about more than a game. Most of the time the hooligans are the biggest fans of the roughest and most violent players on the teams. They like the aggressive players. Poor refereeing causes some hooligan disturbances. People disagree with calls and decisions made by the refs and they react according to their feelings.

Some socialists mention drinking and alcohol in their discussions about hooliganism. In areas where hooligans are common men are sometimes encouraged to drink and it’s accepted and considered masculine. Men are encouraged to celebrate special occasions with drinking. At the football games people drink heavily and drinking is often related to problems, fights and disturbances. Alcohol at the games is easy to get and pretty cheap. Most situations get out of hand when the hooligans are in a situation that isn’t what they are used to and it might be considered threatening. That, and the fact that they have often had too much to drink can lead to these problems. In 2000/2001 there were a 1186 reported drinking related arrests and charges total in all the British matches (QUOTE). But drinking does not cause hooliganism. Some times hooligans remain sober on purpose to have an advantage over the drunken opponents. People drink at rugby matches in Britain, but there are many less reports of hooliganism at this sport. Also

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