World cup 2006 Euro Hooliganism
By European Football March 25 2006
It currently seems to be Spain’s turn to suffer what has been refered to as the blight of the English game. But to be honest I have often wondered about it being entirely down to the English to be held responsible for the export, of what is in my opinion a global phenomenon.
By European Football March 25 2006
It currently seems to be Spain’s turn to suffer what has been refered to as the blight of the English game. But to be honest I have often wondered about it being entirely down to the English to be held responsible for the export, of what is in my opinion a global phenomenon.
The English hooligans of the 70s and 80s, received quite rightly condemnation for the actions of a few mindless thugs, the world looked on and shook its collective head at the violence and the sheer ingrained idiocy of the English footballing contingent.
I remember being at a boxing match in the late 80s and a riot broke out, and I was calmly assured that it was caused by ‘football hooligans.’ My response that surely at this present time they were boxing hooligans was merely brushed aside.
The idea that all trouble was caused by football hooligans was so deeply ingrained upon my usually very sensible friend’s psyche that he could simply not see the irony of blaming football for trouble at a boxing match.
I would also like to challenge the fact that it is originally an English phenomenon, I have spent a good deal of my life in Italy, and I can always remember matches in the Belle Passé having a fair share of trouble, Lazio- Roma for instance caused at least as much bother down the years as Celtic- Rangers, but until comparatively recently you seldom heard about it.
If I am honest the worst violence I have ever witnessed at a football match was during a visit to South America, and there it was structured, perhaps even political in its inception.
Recently the eye of the press has turned from the shores of Britain, and focused more on the continent, in the last few months alone, there have been riots at or around games in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, yet there has been none at an English game.
Still though the insistence runs that the English are the major problem, perhaps the perception of my adoptive countrymen abroad is not helped by the representatives it has at various tournaments around the world, swilling lager, singing loudly and basically becoming a pain in the arse wherever they are.
But here is the thing, they are no different from their European cousins, all the countries I have listed have groups of people that like to get drunk and cause trouble and they all do it at football matches.
For everyone that is causing trouble there will be 20 that are not, yet still it is the English that are tarred with the hooliganism brush, other countries have ‘incidents’ England has a ‘culture of violence’.
The main trouble is that men like to get together and basically have a good punch up, it’s sad but there we have it, at the moment football is used as the excuse, in previous ages it was politics or religion.
It has very little to do with the support of a team, it is more to do with the collective group consciousness, modern life with its microwaves and jet travel, is very nice very handy, and frankly I am not entirely sure how I coped before I got a laptop, but for all its benefits it takes away freedoms.
I do not mean in the sense of CCTV camera’s (which is a side issue and could have me going on all day) I mean in the sense for the basic human component which is the tribe to meet.
If we were Romans, we would be cheering the gladiatorial games, Huns and we would have been exchanging prowess on the field of battle or the hunt, we are not we are modern men, for all that implies.
None of it excuses violence for its sake, it is just worth bearing in mind that violence has always been a part of our society; Homo sapiens are by nature essentially a violent organism.
There has always been trouble at matches. Right?
Well no actually there are two periods in history when they were not, the inter-war years and the decade following the Second World War.
My own opinion is, the men and women that watched these games had seen enough true horror to last them a life time.
Societies may become more technology dependent, and our lives become further and further removed from the land that used to feed and cloth us, but the tribal instinct will still find a way through eventually.
It has nothing to do with being English, or Spanish or Italian or anything, it has to do with being human.
I remember being at a boxing match in the late 80s and a riot broke out, and I was calmly assured that it was caused by ‘football hooligans.’ My response that surely at this present time they were boxing hooligans was merely brushed aside.
The idea that all trouble was caused by football hooligans was so deeply ingrained upon my usually very sensible friend’s psyche that he could simply not see the irony of blaming football for trouble at a boxing match.
I would also like to challenge the fact that it is originally an English phenomenon, I have spent a good deal of my life in Italy, and I can always remember matches in the Belle Passé having a fair share of trouble, Lazio- Roma for instance caused at least as much bother down the years as Celtic- Rangers, but until comparatively recently you seldom heard about it.
If I am honest the worst violence I have ever witnessed at a football match was during a visit to South America, and there it was structured, perhaps even political in its inception.
Recently the eye of the press has turned from the shores of Britain, and focused more on the continent, in the last few months alone, there have been riots at or around games in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, yet there has been none at an English game.
Still though the insistence runs that the English are the major problem, perhaps the perception of my adoptive countrymen abroad is not helped by the representatives it has at various tournaments around the world, swilling lager, singing loudly and basically becoming a pain in the arse wherever they are.
But here is the thing, they are no different from their European cousins, all the countries I have listed have groups of people that like to get drunk and cause trouble and they all do it at football matches.
For everyone that is causing trouble there will be 20 that are not, yet still it is the English that are tarred with the hooliganism brush, other countries have ‘incidents’ England has a ‘culture of violence’.
The main trouble is that men like to get together and basically have a good punch up, it’s sad but there we have it, at the moment football is used as the excuse, in previous ages it was politics or religion.
It has very little to do with the support of a team, it is more to do with the collective group consciousness, modern life with its microwaves and jet travel, is very nice very handy, and frankly I am not entirely sure how I coped before I got a laptop, but for all its benefits it takes away freedoms.
I do not mean in the sense of CCTV camera’s (which is a side issue and could have me going on all day) I mean in the sense for the basic human component which is the tribe to meet.
If we were Romans, we would be cheering the gladiatorial games, Huns and we would have been exchanging prowess on the field of battle or the hunt, we are not we are modern men, for all that implies.
None of it excuses violence for its sake, it is just worth bearing in mind that violence has always been a part of our society; Homo sapiens are by nature essentially a violent organism.
There has always been trouble at matches. Right?
Well no actually there are two periods in history when they were not, the inter-war years and the decade following the Second World War.
My own opinion is, the men and women that watched these games had seen enough true horror to last them a life time.
Societies may become more technology dependent, and our lives become further and further removed from the land that used to feed and cloth us, but the tribal instinct will still find a way through eventually.
It has nothing to do with being English, or Spanish or Italian or anything, it has to do with being human.
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