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Rethinking Football Hooliganism from an International Perspective: The Case Study of England and Russia
Rethinking Football Hooliganism from an International Perspective: The Case Study of England and Russia
Friday, 20 July 2018: 15:45
Location: 202B (MTCC NORTH BUILDING)
Oral Presentation
The World Cup summer of 2018 seems an appropriate place to revisit the issue of football fan violence in sport. Despite being a topic which has received plentiful academic commentary throughout the social sciences, recent events in the 21st century illuminate ever-broadening gaps within the predominantly Western European based literature which require further sociological exploration. Hooliganism is a global phenomenon that can be seen to mutate and adapt alongside changes related to both the sport of football and to the particular societies in which the game is played. This research looks at the development of contemporary hooligan cultures in the countries of England and Russia, and uses the case study of the spectator violence at the UEFA European Championship tournament in France in 2016 to demonstrate what can happen when two extremely different but high-profile fan subcultures collide on the international stage.
The English and Russian case not only highlights the potential problem of sports fan violence at International Mega-Events, but also illustrates how key differences can form between football hooligan subcultures globally. This paper uses observational data from the Euro 2016 tournament and the Russian and English domestic leagues, interviews with English and Russian hooligans, and secondary data analysis of mainstream and internet media coverage of football hooliganism in both nations, to explore issues such as differences in contemporary hooligan identities, the impact of internet technologies on hooligan cultures, the role of nationalism, and the dissimilar ideological frameworks that hooligan groups create in order to legitimise their sports-related violence. Ultimately, this project aims to add to academic literature on this topic, to challenge the commonly held assumptions within the social sciences that hooligan cultures are the same globally, and to provide a rethinking of the use of the label ‘football hooliganism’ from an international perspective.
The English and Russian case not only highlights the potential problem of sports fan violence at International Mega-Events, but also illustrates how key differences can form between football hooligan subcultures globally. This paper uses observational data from the Euro 2016 tournament and the Russian and English domestic leagues, interviews with English and Russian hooligans, and secondary data analysis of mainstream and internet media coverage of football hooliganism in both nations, to explore issues such as differences in contemporary hooligan identities, the impact of internet technologies on hooligan cultures, the role of nationalism, and the dissimilar ideological frameworks that hooligan groups create in order to legitimise their sports-related violence. Ultimately, this project aims to add to academic literature on this topic, to challenge the commonly held assumptions within the social sciences that hooligan cultures are the same globally, and to provide a rethinking of the use of the label ‘football hooliganism’ from an international perspective.