Rethinking the issue of stadium football violence in Greece: A theoretical- empirical approach

Abstract

The issue of violence on the soccer field in our time is a very complicated sport-social phenomenon. The subject has already been extensively researched, but there is still room for further inquiry. In accordance with internationally accepted theoretical tendencies, previous studies examining the issue of violence in soccer in Greece have focused on the understanding of this phenomenon as it relates to either the social conditions in society in general, or to the social characteristics of the spectators of the soccer clubs that are involved in that violence. This study looked at the issue from another point of view. Specifically, it focuses on the understanding of the phenomenon as it relates with the space, the time and the structural conditions under which it is produced. For that purpose, a questionnaire was administered to 696 subjects divided into four different groups of individuals related to soccer. The results, divided in three categories, indicate that, when we examine issues of violence in soccer, we should consider how a variety of socialcultural and emotional conditions inside football stadiums are shaped, keeping in mind that those conditions are specific in each game. This would enable us to differentiate violence in sport from other forms of violence and would assist in understanding the limits of responsibility of football institutions and organizations.Key Words: violence, football stadium, emotional energy, structural characteristics and conditions, expectations.R Re et th hi in nk ki in ng g t th he e i is ss su ue e o of f s st ta ad di iu um m f fo oo ot tb ba al ll l v vi io ol le en nc ce e i in n G Gr re ee ec ce e: : A A t th he eo or re et ti ic ca al l-e em mp pi ir ri ic ca al l a ap pp pr ro oa ac ch h INTRODUCTIONIn accordance with internationally accepted theoretical tendencies research of football violence is usually based on common theoretical perspectives. However, the social-cultural conditions under which this phenomenon occurs may not be the same across all cultures. In Europe for example, research focuses either on broader external social factors comparing data from different European countries (7, 53), or on the particular demographic and social characteristics of the participants in violent situations-events before football game, during, or after it (16,30,48).The causes of football violence demonstrated inside football fields may be attributed on broader social issues and circumstances. So it seems that the problem of violence, within historical, economic, sociopolitical and cultural contexts, is not of the same nature, or is not influenced by the same causal factors. However, most research reveals cross-national similarities in the stages of development of the problem (7). In Greece, research related to violence in football stadiums has grown in scale since the early 1990s. Much of this research is based on British and North American theoretical perspectives with the purpose of containing and preventing sport violence (28,29,31,35). It is limited mostly to exter...

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