Football Violence
The Social Approach – Key Issues
Football Violence
Football violence (also known as football hooliganism), is the unruly, destructive behaviour which is caused by football fans. It can involve a wide range of behaviour, such as vandalism, fighting, taunting (eg abusive chanting), intimidation and spitting. The behaviour is commonly caused due to rivalry between teams and often occurs before or after football matches.
Due to football violence being so common, there are so many examples, which have occurred in different parts of the world. In May 1998, three fans were killed in a shootout between gangs and police outside a stadium in Buenos Aires. In the last five years, there have been eighty deaths revolving around football violence. In February 1997, more than a hundred people were arrested in Moscow after two clashes between fans, who were armed with iron bars and bottles. In the previous year, in Italy, a teenaged AC Milan supporter stabbed a twenty-four year old Genoa fan to death. Three months later, two police officers were stabbed attempting to disarm a fan.
Football violence can be explained through prejudice and obedience. The social identity theory suggests that people identify with their in-group and think of their group as being superior, as this enhances their self-esteem. There is, therefore a need to see the members of the other groups inferior, which can lead to prejudice and violence against the out group members. It states that just being in a group (supporting a team), and the acknowledgement of an out group (the other team), is enough to cause prejudice.
There are three processes involved in becoming prejudiced against out-group members. These include, social categorisation - seeing oneself as part of a group (any group will do and there doesn’t have to be conflict with other groups), social identification – the process of moving from categorising oneself as part of the in group, to identifying with the group more
Football Violence
Football violence (also known as football hooliganism), is the unruly, destructive behaviour which is caused by football fans. It can involve a wide range of behaviour, such as vandalism, fighting, taunting (eg abusive chanting), intimidation and spitting. The behaviour is commonly caused due to rivalry between teams and often occurs before or after football matches.
Due to football violence being so common, there are so many examples, which have occurred in different parts of the world. In May 1998, three fans were killed in a shootout between gangs and police outside a stadium in Buenos Aires. In the last five years, there have been eighty deaths revolving around football violence. In February 1997, more than a hundred people were arrested in Moscow after two clashes between fans, who were armed with iron bars and bottles. In the previous year, in Italy, a teenaged AC Milan supporter stabbed a twenty-four year old Genoa fan to death. Three months later, two police officers were stabbed attempting to disarm a fan.
Football violence can be explained through prejudice and obedience. The social identity theory suggests that people identify with their in-group and think of their group as being superior, as this enhances their self-esteem. There is, therefore a need to see the members of the other groups inferior, which can lead to prejudice and violence against the out group members. It states that just being in a group (supporting a team), and the acknowledgement of an out group (the other team), is enough to cause prejudice.
There are three processes involved in becoming prejudiced against out-group members. These include, social categorisation - seeing oneself as part of a group (any group will do and there doesn’t have to be conflict with other groups), social identification – the process of moving from categorising oneself as part of the in group, to identifying with the group more