Soccer Hooligan

First of all, what is “Hooliganism”? Per definition Hooligans are people who show aggressive behavior at sport events. While many hooligans perhaps are under the influence of alcohol when they begin to provoke other like-minded people, it has become an increasingly form of rowdy sport alongside sports.

The origin of the word hooligan is said to be from a music hall song from 1899, ‘Hooligan Nights’, that claimed the word came from Patrick O’Hoolihan (or Hooligan) who was an Irish bouncer who lived in London. He and his entire family were so often in fights that they got such a bad name they were even sung of. Another theory is of the Irish Patrick Hooligan who, according to an 1898 London Police report, was the leader of a youth gang. The London Police then began to call other members of the gang “hooleys” as they were following Hooligan. The word “hooley” is Irish and means “wild”.

Hooligans are most prominent for their appearance in football games; however they are also existent in all other sports as the term hooligan needn’t be football alone. Basketball, baseball, American football, hockey and many, many other sports have hooligans as well. The Hooligan movement began in England in the 50’s and 60’s and expanded quickly throughout Europe and the world.

The celebration of brutal rituals and the cultivation of the aesthetics of aggressiveness are prime elements in Hooliganism. Hooligans claim that they do this for the “kick” out of being physically stronger than their enemies. The fact that they are able to band themselves together with other “strong men” is a reason for many to join the hooligans.

There supposedly is also an unwritten hooligan codex: non-hooligans are not to be attacked only other hooligans. People who are on the ground should be left on the ground unharmed, which means not to attack someone who is on the ground. The usage of weapons is forbidden as well as other objects (bottles, cans, sticks and stones). The groups should be numerically more or less equal, although this is rarely the case. As of late however, the abiding of the ‘hooligan codex’ has come short as many hooligans attack and injure people in excess and there are cases of the use of knives, guns and other weapons.

Usually hooligan groups arrange meeting beforehand to get together and beat each other up outside of the stadium, to make sure they are outside of the view of the stadium cameras and police. There are also rivalries and friendships amongst hooligan groups and the least of them are politically motivated. The demographics of hooligans are quite social as the age range of hooligans goes from 14 to 40 and all ranks, from the worker to the academic, are present in hooliganism.

Hooligans are not definable in the classic sense of a fan, as they, contrary to a fan, do not usually wear the teams clothing but prefer casual clothing that doesn’t draw a lot of attention, but is characteristic amongst them.