Why are spectators in English Football generally...

Why are spectators in English Football generally considered to be anti-social?By Casey Bayne-Minta

This article describes the different aspects of Football Hooliganism and get down to the reason of why Spectators in Football are generally considered Anti-Social.

caseyba3/25/2010

2010Why are spectators in English Football generally considered to be anti-social?

1. Introduction

Within the sport of Football, it maintains a notorious image of Hooliganism in the main Footballing

countries i.e. England, Argentina and Italy. Within these countries, organized football violence is

still alive and well with gangs like the ‘Newcastle United Football Club (NUFC) and Sunderland

association football Club (SAFC)’1. In this essay, I will try and uncover the reasoning for peoples

certain beliefs about this particular sport.

2. The Origin of Hooliganism

The word ‘Hooliganism’ itself is of unsure origin but it ‘They were variously described in news

stories as louts, yobs, thugs and ruffians, but the word that was universally employed was

hooligan.’2

1 Football gang leaders jailed , Tuesday, 12 March, 2002, 18:46 GMT 2 http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-hoo1.htm , 27 Jun. 1998

By Casey Bayne-Minta

http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-hoo1.htm


Though one of the earliest mentions of the term was in an 1898 London police report. An Irish

Hood named Patrick Hooligan (possibly originally Houlihan) lived in Southwark (South-East

London) and originally hired himself out as a bouncer. He was Ruffian by trade who gathered a

gang around him and worked his crew as dime store hoods. Patrick and his boys mugged people,

were racketeers of sorts, committing acts of violence and vandalism but were notorious for their

street-fighting ability. A writer named Clarence Rook in 1899 wrote a book called “the Hooligan

Nights” which was a young Thugs story in his own words. Rook wrote “ There was but a few

years ago , a man named Patrick Hooligan, who walked to and fro among his fellow men ,

robbing and occasionally bashing them. “ Patrick eventually killed a policeman during one of his

street fights and was sentenced to life in prison.’3 Hooligan has been a word that has been used

for a long time to describe someone who is doing wrong against society and has been like that for

many years. The term even originated within the British Isles which could also be another factor

against the portrayal of England as such an anti-social country when Football is concerned.

Today, The Most popular use of the word Hooligan is used for European Football Fans who

gather in groups to support ,often violently, their favorite team. Football Hooliganism is mostly a

violent disorder involving the fans that occurs before, during or after a Football Match. Much

Football Crowd Disorder is spontaneous, but a lot is prearranged by gangs, or firms, or crews.

These Firms attach themselves to Football Clubs and arrange to meet and fight other Firms from

other clubs. Football Hooliganism peaked in the 1960’s, 70’s, & 80’s, but remains a big part (or

tradition) of Football matches today. While closed circuit television, increased security and police

presence have seemed to quell violence at the matches, it actually forced Firms to be more

organized and carry out retribution in areas outside the Football Arenas. As Hooligan Violence

has almost doubled in the present day, a lot of the melee goes unreported as Firms meet for

gang warfare far away from the police and security. As the Violence becomes more vicious and

exact, the victims are less likely to report crimes committed against them.4 The progression of

Football Hooliganism to this large scale is something of an enigma to people. But through the

3Hooligan History article, http://soccerhools.blogspot.com/2009/09/hooligan-history-article.html, Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 3:10 PM4 Hooligan History article, http://soccerhools.blogspot.com/2009/09/hooligan-history-article.html, Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 3:10 PM. Also extract taken from the book by Clarence Rook called the “Hooligan nights”


http://soccerhools.blogspot.com/2009/09/hooligan-history-article.html



Liverpool football clubs infamous supporters and that terrible night in Turin, Hooliganism has

been forced to decrease with the level of violence but has then increased the level of organization

within these gangs, firms and crews making Hooliganism a more subtle threat than it once was

before.

3. Catechists of Football Hooliganism

As I have said before, Football Hooliganism within the British Isles is what is widely regarded as

what plagued the beautiful game of football with violence and terror. One of the oldest rivalries

within Football has been between local rival clubs such as: Everton & Liverpool, West Ham &

Millwall and let’s not forget Manchester City and Manchester United. Patrick Hooligan could have

arguably contributed largely to the problem of Hooliganism as previously stated, there is historical

evidence for this and the writer actually wrote this book to re-tell how life was like within London

at the time. So there is a high chance that this man actually lived while there is also a different

account of Patrick Hooligan where is even talks about his family also being involved with the anti-

social behavior. Ernest Weekly, in Romance of Words (1912) says that, “The original Hooligans

were a spirited Irish family of that name whose proceedings enlivened the drab monotony of life in

Southwark about 14 years ago.”5 In conclusion to this section, we can state that there are

historical accounts of the origin of Hooliganism itself and can be tracked all the way to a family or

even one man. Patrick Hooligan. However, there isn’t any precise evidence about there being any

existence of this man so he could even possibly have been a lie so we can possibly assume that

Hooliganism started from Patrick Hooligan and his family or can be completely skeptical about the

whole existence of this man and his family and their involvement within the Hooligan movement.

4. First Recorded incident of Football Hooliganism

5 Weekly Ernest, The Romance of Words, New York, E.P. Dutton, 1912



The first recorded instances of football hooliganism in the modern game took place in the 1880s

in England, a period when gangs of supporters would intimidate neighborhoods, as well as attack

referees and opposing supporters and players. In 1885, after Preston North End beat Aston Villa

5-0 in a friendly match, the two teams were pelted with stones; attacked with sticks, punched,

kicked and spat at. One Preston player was beaten so severely that he lost consciousness. The

following year, Preston fans fought Queen's Park fans in a railway station; the first recorded

instance of football hooliganism away from a match. In 1905, several Preston fans were tried for

hooliganism, following their match against Blackburn Rovers. In the inter-war years there was a

break applied to such incidents, but in the 1950s came a second wave of hooliganism. In the

1955-56 season, Liverpool and Everton fans were involved in several train-wrecking incidents

and by the 1960s an average of 25 hooligan incidents a year were being reported - and

hooliganism as we know it had been born. 6 Contrary to the belief, oddly enough football

Hooliganism wasn’t started by the more notorious club supporters of Liverpool, Manchester

United etc but actually Preston and Aston Villa oddly enough. These are teams that within this

day and age are rarely involved in such controversies which can be considered quite odd.

5. Hooliganism in the Media

The media's coverage of football hooliganism, be it through television or newspapers, is very

significant as it is the media that help construct the public's understanding and perception of the

problem.

6 Carnibella Giovanni, Fox Anne, Fox Kate, McCann Joe, Marsh James, Marsh Peter, Football Violence in Europe, July 1996



However it is difficult to know whether the amount of disorder increased or whether the growing

media interest in (and coverage of) crowd disorder meant it was reported far more regularly.

The tabloid press in particular have found hooliganism to be an easy target and have often, as

some have said, sensationalised the problem to boosts sales of their paper. The tabloid press

therefore may have helped to intensify the problem to a wider extent than the reality of the

situation. Since the 1960s, in fact, journalists have been sent to football matches to report on

crowd behaviour, rather than just the game.

However, although some may claim that the press have tried to create a feeling that the problem

of hooliganism is a larger one than it actually is, the television media cannot help but pick out

instances of violence at football grounds constantly.7. People could possibly argue that the media

did in turn actually blow the Hooliganism incidents out of proportion making it sound worse than it

was actually meant to be. However, Hooliganism on any stage is bad but shouldn’t the Media

report the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth without any embellishment?

Football Hooliganism has been portrayed as almost a way of life within certain films and has

thrived within the movie industry. There have been films such as Green Street (Directed by Lexi

Alexander in 2005) where, Matt, Wood’s character, is seduced by the violence that fuels the lives

of young guys in firms like the GSE, which is clearly based on West Ham’s notorious Inter City

Firm (ICF). The film, shot in just five weeks in April and May 2004 on location in London, was

inspired by the time Alexander herself spent as a hardcore supporter of SV Waldhof Mannheim

football club in Germany as a teenager. Like a British Fight Club, Green Street is suffused with

brutality and blood; it has eight serious fight sequences and not everyone gets out alive. 8From

this, it is shown about the brutality of the Hooligans but it also shows another side of Hooliganism

contradicting what the media in the newspapers usually said about the situation but rather shows

the sort of familiarity and family and/or friendship sides towards Hooliganism.

7 www.footballnetwork.com, The Media, Sunday 3 January 2010 (http://www.footballnetwork.org/dev/communityfootball/violence_the_media.asp)8 The Sunday Times, Kicking The Hobbit, August 14, 2005


http://www.footballnetwork.org/dev/communityfootball/violence_the_media.asp

http://www.footballnetwork.com/


However in the film “awaydays” directed by Pat Holden, A young man makes some new and

dangerous friends in this kitchen-sink drama set in Northern England in 1979. 19-year-old Carty

(Nicky Bell) lives with his father (Ged McKenna) and younger sister Molly (Holliday Grainger) and

has a good job working for his uncle Bob (Ian Puleston-Davies). Despite his loving family and

promising future, Carty is fascinated with "the Pack," a gang of football supporters led by John

(Stephen Graham) who are known in the neighborhood for their drinking and reckless violence.

Carty strikes up a casual friendship with Mark (Liam Boyle), a member of the Pack nicknamed

"Elvis," and while Mark isn't convinced Carty is cut out to run with them at first, Carty's tenacity in

a fight changes his mind. While Carty and his new mates use their muscle to knock some sense

into a short-term boyfriend who mistreats Molly, she doesn't trust the Pack and tries to persuade

her brother that hanging out with them will lead to a bad end. Carty isn't easily persuaded, but his

relationship with the Pack becomes complicated when his friendship with Mark takes an

unexpected turn. This also shows the realism and the other side of these Hooligans besides the

violence showing a more compassionate side thereby possibly causing all the people who are

betwixt by the media to understand that these people are also human.

The Tabloids is what was really and truly behind the image of Hooliganism and what has really

helped construct the public’s understanding and view of the phenomenon. Within Britain the

tabloid press in particular have found hooliganism to be an easy target for the kind of

sensationalist reporting that boosts their circulation. This sensationalist style of reporting often

relies on powerful headlines grounded in violent imagery and war metaphors whilst articles are

regularly 'edited for impact'. This style of reporting has developed over the past 50 years sparked

by the moral panic of the 1950's at the rise of juvenile crime and delinquency. Some argue that

the tabloids’ style of reporting, such as the publishing of league tables of hooligan notoriety (Daily

Mirror 1974) serve to encourage hooligans by placing them in the limelight. The tabloids have

also been accused of helping to incite hooliganism by promoting xenophobia. For instance prior

to England's semi-final clash with Germany in Euro 96 the Daily Mirror ran a headline of 'Achtung



Surrender' whilst the Sun went with 'Let's Blitz Fritz'.9 It’s embellished reporting like this which

contributed to such a bad image of Football in this country and this also contributed to short term

policies which hasn’t benefited football itself or even the people who implemented them thereby

making bad choices for everyone. A prime example of this was the Aftermath of the Hillsborough

disaster. On the 15th of April 1989; because of the less educated decisions of both the

Nottingham Forest supporters and the Liverpool supporters, 96 people died, 766 fans were

injured and 300 fans were Hospitalized because of the Anti-Social violence causing part of the

Stadium to collapse. This caused Margaret Thatcher (who wasn’t very popular at the time for

many reasons) to intervene and put a ban on English teams entering the European Cup. This

caused the talented players like Ian Rush and Mark Hughes to leave the country in this period to

pursue football in other countries such as Spain and Italy respectively. This was a bad time for

English Football.

From this, what the media says can evidently influence the mind of the people as they are the

source of information and putting a certain twist on the information actually being printed or

broadcasted can cause an influence of the thoughts of the readers and or viewers. However in

countries like Denmark in Scotland, the Media have had a positive effect on the situation where

there was a lot of favourable coverage of the 'Tartan Army' and the 'Rooligans' has deliberately

set them apart from the hooligan perspective.10

6. Research Information

9 Pearson, G. (University of Liverpool FIG Factsheet) - www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/hooligan.html, accessed December 2007)- Armstrong, G. (1998) Football Hooligans: Knowing the Score. Oxford: Berg . (Original reference)

10 Pearson, G. (University of Liverpool FIG Factsheet) - www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/hooligan.html, accessed December 2007)



For my project, I decided to get primary information on this subject of Football Hooliganism so for

my First Task; I set out to send e-mails to three organizations. My First organization that I sent an

e-mail was to The London FA, the “Kick it Out” Organization, the UEFA and also Commander

Simon Letchford the head of Police in Newham which all had the same Questionnaire on it which

said:

School Dissertation on Football Violence

1. How would YOU define a Hooligan?

2. How many incidents of Hooliganism have been recorded in England in the year of

2008 compared to Spain, France and Germany?

3. What has been done to decrease the number of reported incidents of Hooliganism in

England?

4. If Hooliganism has decreased at all, whqat are the perameters to imply this decrease?

5. Do you think Hooliganism will ever be completely stamped out of Football?



From this, I then received a reply from Lorraine Kelly at The London FA saying:

RE: School Dissertation on Football Violence

From: Lorraine Kelly ([email protected])

Sent: 01 February 2010 12:13:02

To: casey minta ([email protected])

Hi Casey,

We are The London Football Association,

Thank you for your email would you like me to forward your email onto my colleagues.

I will get them to reply back to you with their answers.

Kind regards

Lorraine Kelly

Governance Team

London Football Association

11 Hurlingham Business Park,

Sulivan Road, Fulham,

London SW6 3DU

Phone no: 020 7610 8360

Fax no: 020 7610 8370

www.londonfa.com


http://www.londonfa.com/


From: Casey minta [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 01 February 2010 11:46

To: Lorraine Kelly

Cc: [email protected]

Subject: School Dissertation on Football Violence

Dear UEFA,

I am currently doing a Disseration for my A/S Level which I am doing in Year 11 about

Hooliganism within Football and I would particularly appreciate with gratitude if you could possibly

answer some of my questions. :


2.How many incidents of Hooliganism has been recorded in England in the year of 2008

compared to Spain, France and Germany?

3.What has been done to decrease the number of reported incidents of Hooliganism in England?

4.If Hooliganism has decreased at all, whqat are the perameters to imply this decrease?

5.Do you think Hooliganism will ever be completely stamped out of Football?

She then then sent me this reply:

RE: School Dissertation on Football Violence

From: Lorraine Kelly ([email protected])

Sent: 01 February 2010 14:36:27



To: casey minta ([email protected])

From: casey minta [mailto:[email protected]]


To: Lorraine Kelly



Dear UEFA,




1. How would YOU define a Hooligan? A fan who is usually at the game to get involved in a fight

with a rival club.


compared to Spain, France and Germany? 35 incidents?

3.What has been done to decrease the number of reported incidents of Hooliganism in

England? Better control by the Football Clubs,

4.If Hooliganism has decreased at all, whqat are the perameters to imply this

decrease? Increase in Police at the games.



5.Do you think Hooliganism will ever be completely stamped out of Football? No.

The e-mail was then in turn sent to her colleagues (Please don’t take notice of her mistake in my

gender):

FW: School Dissertation on Football Violence

From: Josie Clifford ([email protected])

You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as junk

Sent: 02 February 2010 09:25:08

To: [email protected] ([email protected])

1 attachment

image002.jpg (20.6 KB)

Hi Casey,

Please see my answers below.


Some one who is unruly and destructive. Could be youth or adult!



In most European countries , football violence is an internal problem. Majority of

incidents occurs at club level matches; supporters of the national teams are better

behaved.I would guess at 20 reports?



3.What has been done to decrease the number of reported incidents of Hooliganism in

England?

Attempts to prevent hooliganism have seen draconian legislation such as the

Football (Disorder) Act 2000 introduced to prevent suspected hooligans travelling

abroad

4.If Hooliganism has decreased at all, what are the perameters to imply this decrease?

Not too sure


2. I doubt it unless the Law changes in this country!!

Good Luck

Josie Clifford

London FA

Development Manager

07779781467

Let us know your opinions on the London FA, and you could win a signed

England shirt or tickets to a forthcoming England match at Wembley Stadium!

Just click on the banner to complete the survey (closing date 14th February 2010)

From: Lorraine Kelly


To: David Fowkes; Andy Porter; Adrian Shorter; Neil Fowkes; Shirin Ahmad; Sarah Langford;



Cressida Carter; Sue Gill; Summer George; James Kennedy; Darren Smith; Daniel Gayle; David

James; Andrew Homent; Emma Barnes; Natalie Huntley; Josie Clifford; Keeley Bromfield

Subject: FW: School Dissertation on Football Violence

Hi guys,

Please see the email below, when you have a few minutes to spare would you be able to answer

a few questions for Casey, please reply to her email address.

Many thanks.

Lorraine Kelly

Governance Team

London Football Association

11 Hurlingham Business Park,

Sulivan Road, Fulham,

London SW6 3DU

Phone no: 020 7610 8360

Fax no: 020 7610 8370

www.londonfa.com

From: casey minta [mailto:[email protected]]


To: Lorraine Kelly





Dear UEFA,







3.What has been done to decrease the number of reported incidents of Hooliganism in England?

4.If Hooliganism has decreased at all, whqat are the perameters to imply this decrease?


After these replies, I sent the email to the Head of the Newham police in order to actually see

what has been done to actually control the fans at matches and whether there is actually a



statistic that has been released to show whether an increase if any has occurred has actually

caused the fans to behave at Football matches. Also, I would like to know from this man about

what the actual football clubs have done in order to try and curb the football violence and also

what has been done to co-operate with the police after these unfortunate incidents have

happened. In addition, I would also like to get a view from the Commander on whether this

Draconian Legislation on The Football (Disorder) Act 2000 has actually helped to largely reduce

the amount of Hooligans who are actually causing anti-social behavior to occur and also the

people involved in it to think twice because of the fact that they will not be allowed to leave the

country due to the fact that they are a “Suspected” Hooligan. Hopefully this will help me draw

closer to my conclusion of why spectators in Football are generally considered to be anti-social. I

will also do a questionnaire and hand it out to people of all ages in order to get a broad view but

with a fairly small sample of 50 in order to find out whether people do actually stereotype

spectators of Football to generally be anti-social in the Questionnaire takers view.

Unfortunately, some of my endeavors were met by brick walls as I unfortunately did not

receive a reply from the Head of the Police in Newham as I was hoping to receive I assume that

he was a very busy man so was unable to reply to my e-mail. I also unfortunately didn’t receive a

reply from the “Kick It Out” campaign and also the UEFA but I would probably put this down to the

fact that these are extremely large organizations meaning that they most likely didn’t have the

time to reply to the e-mails in which I sent to them or felt that they weren’t of as much importance.

Also, I was planning to attend a football match that took place on 10th February 2010 in which I

did attend however; cameras or any kind of film device wasn’t allowed to be used within the

stadium for numerous reasons; so one of my primary research ideas was forced to be scrapped

due to the inconvenience of not being allowed to film within these areas. From what I did see

within the match, anger was evident along with passion which could have possibly been argued

as a stimulant along with alcohol to the atmosphere going around the stadium. As I left the

stadium along with my journey home, there was no signs of anti-social behavior after the match

despite a comprehensive 2-0 via the hosts West Ham against the visitors of Birmingham causing



me to actually think that maybe football violence isn’t as much of a problem as was previously

depicted from incidents such as the West Ham match against Millwall where scenes of anti-social

violence caused reckless behaviour to occur.

On a positive note, I was able to conduct a Questionnaire into my enquiry about football

Hooliganism in order to find out what other people think about it and whether they actually feel

that this is a big problem.

This was the Questionnaire that I created in order to find a result:

1. What Gender Are you? Male Female

2. What Age range do you fall into? 0-10 11-15 16-24 25-30 30-40 40-50

51+

3. Do you watch football? Yes No

4. Are you familiar with the term Hooligan? Yes No

5. Have you ever had an encounter with Hooliganism? Yes No



6. Do you feel that the English caused Hooliganism to be spread over Europe?

Yes No

7. Has your answer been influenced by the Media i.e. : Films, Newspapers and Television?

Yes No

8. Do you feel that Football teams, the Government and the Police have done enough to crack

down on Football Hooliganism?

Yes No

9. Do you feel that Hooliganism will ever be stamped out of Football permanently?

Yes No

7.The Results of the Questionnaire

These are the results of my second questionnaire that I gave out to people of all ages in order to

gain a result on what people besides myself of all ages think about the problem of Hooliganism



within England and I hoped that this sample may possibly show a projection of what people think

if not within England or London then at least East London.



Yes13%

No87%

Do you feel that Hooli-ganism will ever be

stamped out of Football permanently?

8.Could Hooliganism ever be stamped out completely?

Within the sport of Football, the Spectators are part and parcel of the game itself as the

spectators help to add to the atmosphere of the match and a lot of the time, spectators help to

win games. So you could possibly argue that to try and clamp down on what could possibly

stimulate ant-social violence before, during and after the match could actually take away a large

part of the sport which makes it worth watching



Live. Many if not all Football managers would say that the fans win the games as they are what

can be the motivation for an inspirational win when all odds are against you.

There’s also the fact that alcohol is a catalyst for such anti-social behavior but the sale of alcohol

is unlikely to stop so as long as there is alcohol being sold, it is very likely that Anti-social

behavior of Hooliganism may not die completely.

In addition, there is a Draconian Legislation which is the Football (Disorder) Act 2000 which

restricts suspected Hooligans from travelling abroad. Such moves obviously have serious civil

libertarian consequences for innocent fans. Furthermore, there are serious concerns about

whether Banning Orders have any serious effect in reducing disorder involving English fans

abroad in the light of evidence suggesting it is not "known hooligans" who actually become

involved. However, disorder in and around English stadia has reduced spectacularly since the

1970s and 80s, and English football grounds are now certainly safer than the average town

centre on a Saturday night. Furthermore, disorder abroad can be reduced by appropriate

methods of policing: It IS possible to police a crowd of drunken football supporters in a way that

prevents serious disorder, as was demonstrated at the 2004 European Championships in

Portugal and the 2006 World Cup in Germany.11

Personally speaking, I do feel that football violence will be able to be stamped out completely

from football but unfortunately there isn’t enough within the law to actually cause the football fans

who are anti-social to divert from their ways as was mentioned within my e-mails. Also, the law

that has been put in place such as the Draconian Legislation has substantially decreased the

incidents of anti-social behaviour on mass levels but one of the repercussions about the

crackdown on disorderly behaviour at Football matches is that during events such as the 2006

world cup, the fans had to be caged off from the pitch in order to stop unsportsman like behaviour

to occur within these matches. In addition, the government and large organisations need to grasp

11 Pearson, G. (University of Liverpool FIG Factsheet) - www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/hooligan.html, accessed December 2007)



the concept of Gracefulness as petulant acts are constantly done within football matches for

numerous reasons such as projectiles being thrown at players which does not benefit the game

or the players whose sole purpose is to entertain the spectator; so I do think that Football

Hooliganism can be stamped out completely but only from work done by everyone to eliminate it.

9. Conclusion

Within this dissertation, I have attempted to discover why Spectators of English Football are

generally considered anti-social and why this tag has been put onto them as well as what aspect

of what they do does give them the stereo-typical that has been instilled upon them.

1. The main reason for English Football Spectators being generally considered as being

anti-social is through the problem of Hooliganism. The whole Football Hooliganism saga

within England began a century before the first case was even reported. From Historical

accounts, there is evidence to suggest that a man called Patrick Hooligan was the man

who was the forefather in some sort of way for the problem of Hooliganism. This man

was of Irish decent and was known for being a street fighter while other accounts

suggested that it was actually his whole family who was notorious for anti-social events

occurring around London in comparison to another account that talks of just him.

Hooliganism then eventually peaked within the 80s after starting within the 60s which

caused unfortunate mass deaths such as Hillsborough disaster killing numerous people.

There was then a slow decline after this when Margaret Thatcher intervened at the peak

of Hooliganism after the Hillsborough disaster to ban English teams from competing

within European Competitions this then contributed towards the decline of Football

violence. However, incidents such as what happened within August of 2009 when a

match between long time rivals Millwall ended in mass violence mainly against the police.

Splurges of violence along with the notorious era of the 80s are part of the reasoning

behind the stereo-typical views of people towards football spectators.



2. The media also had a large part to play within the perception of Football spectators as

the Media is what controls the information released to the public. The newspapers of the

ages were glamorizing the whole concept of Hooliganism through Newspapers such as

the Sun Newspaper and the Daily Mail who made insensitive comments after major

footballing events within the 80s mainly while they also used Hooliganism as a cheap

target and a way to gain Newspaper sales embellishing on scenes that happened within

these incidents which also played a major role in the way that Football spectators are

viewed by the public.

In addition, films have also played a part within the view of the public as Films such as

“Green Street” and “The Firm” have dramatized the years of Hooliganism or what goes

on while also portraying the commonly depicted British working class man in a way that

makes them look like a brute which I also feel may have caused such a high amount of

people within my questionnaire to state that their opinion HAS actually been manipulated

by the media.

3. The law has been of minimal benefit towards the cause of eliminating the problem of

Hooliganism as despite the Draconian Legislation (Disorder) Act 2000 being initiated,

there are still incidents of Football Hooliganism occurring every now and again but is still

substantially less than compared to the 80s.

In Conclusion, my opinion on the reasoning behind why English Football Spectators are

generally considered anti-social is because of the Media. I personally feel that the Media

are behind the public depiction and stereotypical views that the public has of Football

Hooliganism as: the Media controls what the public is informed of while there was an

eagerness for news stories about this causing unnecessary and insensitive coverage of

the topics while also practically molding the view that the public despite news in my view

meant to be impartial coverage of events without glamorizing the event.



Bibliography

1. www.bbc.co.uk , Football gang leaders jailed , Tuesday, 12 March, 2002,

18:46 GMT

2. http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-hoo1.htm , 27 Jun. 1998

3. Hooligan History article, http://soccerhools.blogspot.com/2009/09/hooligan-history-article.html, Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 3:10 PM

4. The Hooligan Nights, by Clarence Rook, Victoria London, 1899

5. Weekly Ernest, The Romance of Words, New York, E.P. Dutton, 1912

6. Carnibella Giovanni, Fox Anne, Fox Kate, McCann Joe, Marsh James, Marsh

Peter, Football Violence in Europe, July 1996




http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-hoo1.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/


7. www.footballnetwork.com , The Media, Sunday 3 January 2010,

(http://www.footballnetwork.org/dev/communityfootball/violence_the_media.asp)

8. The Sunday Times, Kicking The Hobbit, August 14, 2005

9. Pearson, G. (University of Liverpool FIG Factsheet) -

www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/hooligan.html, accessed December 2007)-

10. Armstrong, G. (1998) Football Hooligans: Knowing the Score. Oxford: Berg . (Original reference)


http://www.footballnetwork.org/dev/communityfootball/violence_the_media.asp

http://www.footballnetwork.com/

Why are spectators in English Football generally...

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