Ultras in Denmark. The new football thugs?

Abstract

It is no longer just the notorious 'football hooligans' who appear to behave in a problematic way in connection with football matches. Since the beginning of the 2000s, ultras have increasingly been playing the most acoustically and optically noticeable role in the Danish stadiums. This article looks in more detail at the moderate Danish ultras, who proactively work for a positive, intense fan culture that rejects discrimination and violence and try to promote better conditions for supporters, and the consequences of the criminalization of fan behaviour. The article concludes that there is a lack of knowledge of the specific sub-cultural backgrounds of the various supporters' behaviour, but also of fan culture as a whole among the authorities and clubs.

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

“…However, not all studies are focused on the violent aspects of the interaction between groups of rival sports fans, as is the case discussed by Joern and Havelund [ 18 ]. Their study focused on the behavior of Danish Ultras, who have been playing a positive and proactive role in disseminating a culture rejecting discrimination and violence among sports fans.…”

‘Football fans are not thugs’: communication and the future of fan engagement in the policing of Scottish football

“…Whilst a relatively recent phenomenon in Scottish football, the historical origins of ultras culture, and perhaps its most potent and purest expression, lie in Italian football, where it emerged in the mid-twentieth century (see Testa and Armstrong 2008, Scalia 2009). Yet with the increasing globalisation of the game, catalysed through both mass media and social media, ultras culture has percolated across Europe (see Spaaij and Viñas 2005, Kennedy 2013, Kossakowski et al 2018, Nuhrat 2018, Ziesche 2018, Joern and Havelund 2020 and beyond. In Scotland ultras groups are comprised predominantly, but not exclusively, of young people; and such groups have direct experience of the enforcement-led and surveillance intensive policing practices that were adopted following the passing of the 2012 Act (see Lavalette and Mooney 2013).…”