Day 36 – Fan behavior
Lesson
Topic Point: The grim reality of any subject which invokes passion (most commonlysports, religion, and politics) is the potential for violence. The sport offootball (Soccer) started as a notoriously physical, and sometimes violent,game. The rules of the game were enhanced to improve player safety, yet thegame remains very physical (see day 13). More concerning is violence betweenfans of the respective teams. Typically contained to club matches, there isalways security preparation for the World Cup.
On regular occasion, there are tensionbuildups for matchups that have theoretical political implication. This is usuallydue to tension between two countries politically, and then the national teamsof those countries are set to play. In modern history, the World Cup has beenmanaged well to provide a safe and enjoyable environment for fans and playersdespite political turbulence.
Ted Lasso: Poorfan behavior was depicted in S3E5 with Richmond’s losing streak, and later wasa substory in an episode resulting in physical altercation (S3E9). This poorfan behavior was a Richmond fan berating the team he supposedly supports, andnot the typical altercation that occurs between two opposing fans.
While no competing club fans exhibited badbehavior, there was a light-hearted jab in S3E4 when Baz (one of the Richmondfans frequenting the Crown & Anchor Pub) invited a West Ham friend to watchthe match at the pub. Similarly, in S3E8, Mae is offended when Ted and Beardtake Henry to a West Ham match, and Henry is wearing a West Ham jersey whenthey go to the pub for dinner. Finally, some young Manchester City fans teaseJamie Tartt in S3E11.
Soccer-related note: The history of fan violence is a difficult one to explain. It ismore common within the domestic professional leagues, potentially due to longand sometimes complicated history of the neighborhoods. When consideringrivalries (Day 8), Derbies are highly anticipated matchups against ageographical rival. Often there are socio-economic divisions within thoseneighborhoods, which then cross-over when their respective clubs meet. As istrue for crime in the United States, alcohol and groups of young adult men tendto be the magic elixir for violence.
American Sports comparison: There is a less hostile animosity between fans of various Americanteams. Red Sox-Yankees; Cubs-Cardinals; Blackhawks-Red Wings; Bears-Packers;Georgia-Auburn; and on and on. While poor behavior is reasonably commonplace atAmerican football games, it is tame relative global football (Soccer).Drinking, profanity, and arguments occur regularly at NFL games, but thererarely is physical violence. This may be due to the relative youth of theUnited States compared to other countries. The history in European boroughs candate back several centuries. Also, our sports team represent cities that arerelatively further apart geographically with no direct conflict compared to thefootball clubs of Europe (see Day 8 – rivalries).
Interactive
Hooliganism was an issue early in the game and seemed to peak in the 1980s. It was a concern for the 1994 World Cup but by this point, hooliganism was on the decline. The roots go back centuries, even before the modern game developed. However, a few references (links below) discuss this ancient history and more recent history.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2001/dec/13/theknowledge.sport
https://www.footballhooligans.org.uk/history-of-football-violence/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_hooliganism
A lot of the hooliganism can be traced to the local rivalries, often in working-class neighborhoods. The close proximity of the clubs and exuberant “patriotism”, along with potentially alcohol and young adult males, is a mix for potential aggression. You can refer to the discussion of rivalries and the relevant maps (Day 8) and see that the proximity of clubs is much more intimate compared to American sports rivals.
However, the distance between rival teams in the United States has not spared us from our own share of hooliganism. In fact, the problem of poor behavior at American sporting events is more common than we realize. Instead of sporting events being family-friendly, many feel uncomfortable with children and/or female family members being at certain sporting events.
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