Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Why is there so much fan violence with soccer?

It’s beyond my comprehension why there is so much violence at soccer games around the world. It’s a great game but I can’t understand what brings people to blows at a sporting event. The key words would be sports and game. I’m beginning to think it’s a national pride thing and it’s viewed as us against them mentality. It’s kind of like a war to some of these people and when they’re losing or they feel they’ve been wronged they get violent.

Soccer the "beautiful sport"

maybe the extreme boredom has something to do with it

I dunno.

We just had a big game in Cardiff - a cup final, between Chelsea and Arsenal. Working on trains and two big London teams, we get the 'joy' of taking them to Cardiff and back. But as it's a Sunday, we don't have to work. It's outside our working week... So most of us refused to work. Every time there's a big game we get big hassle.
If I work my normal trains (like later on at night) I see football related hassle at least once a week.
I don't understand it either... just want to avoid it...

It's pretty simple. People are just plan crazy. Always have been always will be. I include myself in this as I am cleary nuts. At least according to wives, x wives, and children. My doctor tells me Im doing much better these days.

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It’s beyond my comprehension why there is so much violence at soccer games around the world.

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This is a question that people have been trying to answer for years, and i doubt if they will ever find the true reasons.

I can think of a few reasons, all of them stupid. Religion plays is part. To use two teams as an example. In Glasgow there are two top teams. Rangers and Celtic. One team has deep Catholic roots while the other is Protestant. This also applies to Liverpool and Everton, but there are other reasons for this as well.

Some of the teams in England (and this applies to other countries as well) has rivalries with local teams that go back years, my team Arsenal for instance. Our closest rival is Tottenham. They are within 3 miles of each other. In the Premier League alone there are 7 London teams. Growing up i would never go to an Arsenal Tottenham game. Way to much violence for me. Its not as bad as it used to be now. There is still the local rivalry between fans, but now some of that rivalry has been replaced with on field rivalry. The last few years it has been between Arsenal and Manchester United. It had got to the point with these two teams that the players would be at each other in the tunnel before the game started. That has died down a bit now.

In general, the English game has cleaned itself up. There isnt much violence these days.

One major thing i can think of, and this word gets banded about all the time in soccer, for the good and the bad. But soccer has Passion. REAL PASSION, i know some of you will argue that Football has passion, Bassball has passion and all the rest of the sports, but i believe it is different.

Soccer is unique. Dont ask me to try and explain because i cant. But i can tell you this. If Arsenal win i am happy for a week. If Arsenal loss im an depressed until the next game. Yes, i have cried when Arsenal have lost a cup final, (not this last one on sunday Gina, thats just a Mickey Mouse Cup). I remember as a kid, if Arsenal lost i would not go near my dad for three or four days, nor would my mum.

I also think that for some of the South American teams, and African teams, for 99% of their supporters that live in such poverty that the soccer match is their only release for lifes tensions, and when things are good at the game then they fell good about themselves. But when things go bad, it just compounds the way they feel about everything. MAYBE??

I dont know for sure, people have been trying to figure this out for years. Havent managed it yet, and i doubt if they ever will.

One last thing i would like to mention, because i think this is important. Particually for the american reader.

Every saturday in England there are lots of soccer matches being played, there are 92 pro teams alone and each of them play. England fits inside Tennessee. There are literally hundreds of semi-pro and amateur games. This is the same for all of the countries in Europe, South America countries (Brazil has ten times as many teams as England).

So every weekend there are literally thousands of soccer matches being played around the world. And when a couple of matches have some violince the media is all over it. Some times it is REALLY BAD, but often it is just some fisty cuffs between a few druken louts. But the media blows it out of all proportion. Does this justify it, no of course it doesn't. I hate it, it pisses me off no end when this happens. But it also pisses me off when i hear people talk about how violent soccer matches are. I have been to hundreds of soccer games. I have seen violence at a few games and but have only been caught in the middle of a scary situation one time. And it was very very scary. I hope i dont ever get caught in that again.

A couple of extra little tid bits for you. A war has started over a soccer match. Two central America countires has a 30 day war after a game between the two of them irrupted into a fight.

In World War 1, German and English soldiers suspended hostilities and had a soccer match in No Mans Land. After the match they went back to their trenches and continued with the war.

I think it was Bill Shankley who responded to a reporter who said to him "Soccer is Life and Death to some supporters" he responded to him "I beg to differ, it is much more important than that"

And i have to agree with him. For me, soccer is everything. My life revolves around Arsenal. First thing i do in the mornings is check the news about Arsenal. Last thing i do before i go to bed is check the news about Arsenal. When they are playihng it is all i think about. Summer without Arsenal is a 6 weeks of boredom waiting for the schedule and then for the first match.

And now i am passing that onto my two children. They know who Arsenal are, they wear their Arsenal shirts, and they stay up at night to watch the games with me. My little boy was watching the Arsenal Chelsea game last night with me (he's four), the same game that Gina mentioned here.

Sad isnt it?

I grew up on soccer. We didn't even have football when I was a kid! Heck, living in Manchester VT, we were Manchester United! Didn't know what it meant at the time, but hey... Love the sport! But it is the only sport I can think of that has its own hooligans.

Fishercat,

Just to add to what Arsenalfan has already said, it is only a minor segment of each team's fans that are actually hooligans and violent.
They of course, spoil it for all others.
We have them here in Greece too and from what I have noticed, they sort of belong to a club within the Football club waiting for each match in order to clash with the opposite team's "corresponding" hooligan segment.
For them, the "clash" each week is the event and the game itself is just the excuse.
Similarly, you will find segments (destructive and violent) in all sorts of demonstrations.
The bigger the teams the more fanatical and larger these segments are.
The clubs are now clamping down on this (the clubs in England having already started a while ago) because governments are severely penalizing them (the clubs) and are now (at least in this country) forcing them to bear their own costs for security etc. (which is quite a severe cost that no club wants).

For the most part, any sport-loving spectator/fan can avoid these probably less than "1 percenters" and enjoy a match.

The movie "Green Street Hooligans" kind of explained the whole idea of each team having its own gang and their mentality. Pretty good movie..... Ride safe...Gordon

"the football factory" is a much better movie imo .
soccer violence ,it,s just a bunch of wankers who dont paticularly care for the game or the team just the opportunity to fight .tough as a gang but effing clueless solo. we are the celts we are the celts we are we are we are the celts

three hour game with no half time and all of the beer you can drink. i think they all need the bathroom.

When I was a kid I went to a riot and a soccer game broke out !!!!

Here in australia there was ethnic divisions through the clubs and there was riots and fights just about every week, two years ago the new league started with all new teams that have no ethnic background just one team per city, the team i support is melbourne victory, they have been averaging crowds of around 25000 per week and there are less arrests and less trouble than the cricket, even the Tennis. so from my view it's the people not the sport that crates these idiots.

Post deleted by Grump

Soccer is just a vehicle for the hooligans. There are a number of books on the topic. I read the one about the Zulus.....Birmingham City hooligans, who never bothered going to games, just went to rob stores and fight. It was more of a fashion thing than a sport thing.

They called themselves Zulus because the leaders were predominantly black, and in the days when Black players were rare, Birmingham was one of the few clubs where the colour of your skin wasn't important, it was the club you supported. If you wanted a fight you could have one... the same anywhere. If you didn't then you were generally left alone.

They eventually became embroiled in the ecstacy generation and grew up.....in the words of the main man, "one day a copper said to me "you're a bit old for this sort of stuff aren't you" and it made me realise how stupid it all was."

A similar book by our rivals, Aston Villa was due to be launched at a Pub near our ground a few months ago. They had to cancel it because the old firm threatened to come out of retirement and settle a few old scores.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/6161440.stm