Football hooliganism

[supermariner]

Just to clarify right from the off, i'm talking about 'Soccer' Football
not American football

A few threads in the past few weeks have gone off topic slightly onto the subject of Football fans being mindless idiots
and i'll admit this is true for at least some of them
but consistant themes of violence and enjoyment in vandalism seems to re-occur

now i'm a massive Football fan
and i'd like to ask these people on the Escapist
how many of you who accuse Football fans of being mindless thugs have actually been to a game?
and furthermore, how many just get their information about how fans MUST behave in real life from films like Green Street or Football Factory?
because i'm protective of this sport and protective of it's fans
and for them to be called idiots really makes me aware of a lot of ignorance and over-generalisation about the subject

and the point of this thread is for
A) anyone to make a point on the subject generally (so long as it's well informed which i trust you good people are)
and B) if anyone has any basis to say these things other than it being their opinion

 

[C95J]

I love football I go to watch my home team play every week they are at home. And apart from a lot of swearing and insulting songs (which is expected in every game really) there is nothing more serious than that.

 

[Wadders]

Whenever I've been to see City play, theres not been any violence, the amount of police around the stadium helps I guess. Theres a lot of swearing and shouting during the game, but thats all in my experience, so who gives a damn?

I suppose some violence happens away from the stadium, but I think it's probably not too widespread, and its rarely, if ever, newsworthy these days.

 

[spudz47]

My kind of thread.
I'm a native Bulgarian and in Bulgaria we may not have the best football, but we have hooligans which have proudly proven themselves to Beshiktash, Roma and even Chelsea supporters on a number of occasions.
I myself don't consider myself to be a hooligan in it's truest form - meaning people who brutally beat anyone who isn't wearing their colors or isn't chanting their chants, but I consider myself to be a very big fan of my local team. An Ultras, if you know what that means. Last season for instance I visited each and every home game and I was on most away games, which isn't that suprising since I live on one end of the country and still can reach the other end by train in a matter of hours, which makes visits to rival cities pretty easy. I don't know what it's like for developed countries like England or Italy, but in the Balkans hooligans are a common thing. Nearly every season there are fights between rival fans, there are curse chants for rival teams, players, civilians, referees, whores, normal girls, specific persons, the mayor, the police, your mom, your dad, your sister, celeberties, etc.
Hooligans over here are so used to getting their own way that you have no idea what mind-boggling stupidities they do. Every match they light ridicilous ammounts of flares, throw bombs like it's New Years every day, and by bombs I mean large quantities of chemicals mixed in a way they should never be mixed, if they get mad for something like hearing a 60 year old grandpa who along with his grandchildren quietly cheers for his team, they will throw any inanimate object they can find raging from broken beer bottles to stadium seats. I sometimes wonder if the reason I'm watching every game differs from the reason they do.
I was personally captured by the team when I was 7 or 8 years old and I watched a game with my dad for the first time. 10 years later I don't miss a game, I love the team so much that if they are playing and I'm not on the stadium watching then I feel empty inside. Plus the away tours are so much fun - you have no idea what can happen when you cram a bus or a train full of crazy people, then after a long trip, you finnaly arrive near the stadium, you have time to kill before you enter the stadium, you start walking around the city watching the faces of bystanders as you all start screaming chants at the top of your lungs.
All I can tell you with certainty is this - each and every man on the stadium, from kids to grown-ups, from ultras to hooligans are all there because they want to watch football. The latter two love the local team so much they feel obliged to show their love any way they can. That's the whole magic! And I'm not a hooligan myself, but I'm a friend of a lot of hooligans that have so much stories to share they can fill an entire library.
If you have more questions, feel free to ask as I'm knowledgable on the subject and I'm also eager to share a lot about it.

 

[El Poncho]

Well I support Rangers and we have had some Hooliganism in recent years however only at away games!

Although those are the minority of fans, most respect the club and don't ruin it's name.

 

[vrbtny]

This is England!! Home to the best Football hooligans in the world.

Listen to some Old Harry's Game. There's a good episode about Football Hooligans.

"I nutted him. I could have taken him." Football hooligan.

"Yes. If it hadn't been a rhinoceros." Satan.

 

[RatRace123]

To be fair, drunken public rioting is not exclusive to just Football.
Football fans do it best, no one's arguing that, but you are not alone.

 

[spudz47]

I've always wanted to ask Yahtzee if he has something to share with us about football hooliganism. He has mentioned it a couple of times in his reviews, and he also made refrences to football scores in the past if you remember (Half Life 2 Episode 2 - Manchester United 0, Team Fortress 2 - Liverpool 3, etc.)

 

[emeraldrafael]

Just to clarify right from the off, i'm talking about 'Soccer' Football
not American football

I figured that out when I saw you say football and hooliganism together. XD

OT: I've been to the local Pittsburgh Soccer games (Yes, I'm from America, I'll call it Soccer here. We have a football. And its awesome.) and they were drunken bastards. ubt then again, these are the same drunken bastards that go to Steelers games.

But yeah, I know that most people who act like pricks at games are either drunk, retarded, or just plain pricks. SO I dont call anyone thugs unless they are rightly so.

Though I will say this. that Vuvuzela crap at the World Cup was bullsh-- and everyone who did it hsould be put do death by beaten by Vuvuzela.

 

[Communist partisan]

i don't mind them, I am even planning on joining a hoolingan group than I'm older, I may not like football but I sure like fighting.

 

[Trucken]

Fuck hooligans.

... yeah, that about covers it.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Have you ever witnessed two people get into a fight about almost nothing? I bet you have...alot of people are angry, and want to take it out on someone/something.

The role football plays (by frankly being bigger than Jesus) is in simply providing a convenient means of deciding who to fight, there are many accounts of mass brawls being organised ahead of time...like it was a sport in itself.(that means that they had to swap contact details...)

My experiences of going to football matches are positive. It's mostly just overweight men singing...and that doesn't scare me.