Planned hooligan fights: Contributing factors and significance for individuals who take part

Abstract

Several European countries have recently been confronted with mutually arranged confrontations between hooligan groups in a predesignated setting. This article explores the significance of this form of collective violence for those involved and how this relates to existing collective violence theory. In addition to international and national questionnaires and subsequent in-depth interviews with police officials, two case studies were conducted and compared with a ‘regular’ (not mutually arranged) hooligan confrontation. We also assessed the criminal history and psychological traits of individuals participating in mutually arranged fights ( n = 38) and individuals taking part in a regular confrontation ( n = 76). Our results indicate that the meaning of mutually arranged confrontations differs importantly from that of spontaneous collective violence. Furthermore, data indicate that criminal career measures differ between individuals who are involved in mutually arranged confrontations and spontaneous collective violence. Theoretical implications are discussed.

No Pyro, No Party: Social factors, deliberate choices, and shared fan culture determine the use of illegal fireworks in a soccer stadium

“…Observational studies have shown that enforcement by authorities that is seen as too strict or unjust, could lead to more aggressive of unwanted behavior (e.g. Stott & Adang, 2003). This could also be the case when it comes to fireworks, since supporters often reported that they felt that professionals did not understand or appreciate them, consciously tried to thwart them, or even wanted or tried to ban them from the stadium all together.…”

Exploring the Bedouin Syndrome in the Football Fan Culture: Addressing the Hooliganism Phenomena through Networks of Violent Behavior

“…Each of the three head clubs has more the one organized fan base. The crowd violence is ignited to different proportions with different opponents or specific seasons [ 2 , 6 , 10 , 15 ].…”

“…The research by van Ham et al [ 2 ] aims to improve the understanding of the extent to which mutually organized clashes differ from ‘regular’ clashes between fans, seeking to fit this with existing theories of violence in football. Data were collected from different sources through questionnaires, interviews, case studies, comparison of cases, and analysis of offenders, identifying behavioral indicators exploring the existence of significant differences in the relationship between violent acts in sports and measures of psychological traits using t and chi-square tests.…”

“…Hooliganism can be defined as the violent behavior of sports spectators, both in groups and alone [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The modern usage of the term dates back to the United Kingdom hooligan gangs in the late 50s and during the 60s; groups of young supporters of Chelsea, Millwall, Liverpool, and Everton engaged in crowd violence, public disorder, and several train-wrecking incidents, although episodes of riot, vandalism and violent disorder from sports fans can be recognized much before [ 4 ].…”

The Dutch judicial approach to various types of co-offending among members of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

“…Countries have been confronted with crime and violence committed by various types of criminal groups, varying from (juvenile) street gangs to hooligan firms, and from outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) to mafia-type organizations (Barker 2018;Bjørgo 2019;Kazyrytski 2017;Klein et al 2006;Paoli 2003;Van Ham et al 2020;Varese 2020). Countries use very different judicial approaches to membership and crimes committed by such groups.…”