Football Fans’ Views of Violence in British Football

Abstract

1 Football Fans' Views of Violence in British Football: Evidence of a Sanitized and Gentrified CultureThis article draws on the responses of 1,500 fans from across the United Kingdom to an online survey posted from August 2013 to November 2013 regarding their experience of football violence. Reflecting the 2013 Home Office report that indicated a continued long-term decline of football fan violence in England and Wales, 89% of fans illustrate a decrease in violent behavior from the 1980s with 56% indicating this is due to better policing, 56% attributing it to improvements in stadia, 50% highlighting the deterrence provided by CCTV, and 49% ascribing it to a civilized supporter base. Overall, fans reflect on a more sanitized and gentrified culture emerging out of measures introduced since the 1990s (including changing police strategies, banning orders, alcohol bans, higher ticket prices, and CCTV).

Fans for diversity? A Critical Race Theory analysis of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) supporters’ experiences of football fandom

“…Previous research had observed that overt forms of racism and racist violence in football stadia, initiated by football fans typically on the far-right, was seemingly in decline in the 2000s (Kassimeris 2007, p. 86), leading to what some have interpreted as a more 'sanitised' and less violent fan culture (Cleland and Cashmore 2016). However, this 'decline', owing in some part to a number of anti-racist campaigns -Fans for Diversity, a joint initiative launched in 2014 and run by the Football Supporters Federation and Kick It Out, being one such example in England -has not naturally translated into a significant increase in BAME fans on the terraces at men's professional games.…”

Determinants of Persistence in Collective Violence Offending

“…Consequently, future research may conceptualize collective violence around the motivations for violence identified in the QVT and/or the recently proposed initiation-escalation model of public disorder, which argues that collective violence may also arise by the mere presence of a rival group (Adang 2011). The fact that groups known for their frequent participating in collective violence are also involved in arranging confrontations with like-minded groups (Cleland and Cashmore 2016) further substantiates this reasoning.…”

Why Would You Referee?

“…Although Friman et al (2004) advocate that similar hostilities are typically the result of others lacking knowledge of football rules, due to the nature of his miss-treatment, it may be effective to associate the supporter actions with confrontational spectator's behaviour normalised in professional football (i.e. modern fan culture) (Cleland & Cashmore, 2016;Razavi et al, 2014;Slabbert & Ukpere, 2010).…”