Football hooliganism Essay Example

Football hooliganism Paper Football hooliganism is acts of violence, racism, taunting and vandalism committed by people around football events and during games. These have detrimental effects of the game often giving it bad publicity, but it is not just a modern phenomenon. Hooliganism has been around since medieval times when sport had little if any rules it was played at festivals and just had an aim. During this period sport was occasionally used as an excuse to get even with a rival. Arguments were often settled in these contests which resulted in many players get seriously injured. During the last century sport on the field has become much more civilised and respected, however off the field it can be just as gruesome as in medieval times. In my report I will be focussing on:  The history and development of hooliganism over the years, I will research into the history of hooliganism and how its changed particularly over the nineteenth century  The methods the authorities have developed to stop it, I will research the police initiative and new methods of catching the modern hooligan. The history and development of hooliganism  Hooliganism first started in medieval times, a sport called mob football was played on special occasions it involved the men from two rival villages playing each other, there was no rules just an aim which was to get a object to a pre-agreed place. This game was extremely ruff and was often used to settle arguments, which resulted in many injures and in some sever cases death. We will write a custom essay sample on Football hooliganism specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Football hooliganism specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Football hooliganism specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Over the years hooliganism has moved on, in the supposed gentlemanly pre-war era where one thinks about sportsmanship and gamesmanship little had changed. Riots assaults and general uncivilised behaviour took place. Although no accurate figures are available on the frequency of such episodes, the reported levels of violence and mayhem should be enough to expel any nostalgia about the behaviour of gentlemanly fans. A survey of the reports led Hutchinson to the conclusion that:  Riots, unruly behaviour, violence, assault and vandalism, appear to have been a well-established, but not necessarily dominant pattern of crowd behaviour at football matches at least from the 1870s Most cases of hooliganism occur when players or the crowd think that there have been injustices. Some historians suspect that because there is not many reports of crowd misbehaviour during the pre-war era, relative to the abundance of reported assaults on players and officials. That this points not to the absence of such violence but rather to the lenient attitude toward crowd disturbances that did not actually interfere with the game. This may be explained by the fact that, within the stadium, it was the referee who reported incidents to the FA. If violence tipped onto the field he would consider it a problem; if it spilled onto the streets it became the problem of the town police; but if it was contained within the stands it largely went unreported. During the 1960s there was a surge in the incidences of hooliganism and the Chester report of 1966, incidences of football violence doubled in the first five years of the 1960s compared to the previous 25 years.  The United Kingdom is perceived by virtually all observers in Europe, and by football fans themselves, as having had the earliest and most severe problems with football hooliganism. It is the only nation to have received a blanket expulsion from all European Football competitions a ban that was initially made for an indefinite period following the Heysel Stadium tragedy in which 39 Juventus fans died when a wall collapsed after clashes with Liverpool supporters.