Hooligans: the Psychology of soccer hooligans

Soccer hooligans: why are they violent?

By definition, hooligans hooligans (ultras, hooligans, etc.) are people who display aggressive behavior at soccer events. Over the last few decades, social psychologists and sociologists have paid attention to this phenomenon, which was at its peak in the 1980s in Europe, but which is still at the center of controversy today because of frequent altercations, such as those that occurred only a few weeks ago between radical fans of Deportivo de la Coruña and Atlético de Madrid. 

On this occasion, one person lost his life after being thrown into the river following a mass brawl. These violent encounters between hooligan groups have led to numerous deaths and tragedies throughout the history of soccer. One of the most notorious of these occurred in 1985 at the Heysel (Brussels) where 39 people were killed during the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus. Since 2004, the level of violence by these groups seems to have decreased somewhat, but has not completely disappeared.

Hooligans: group psychology and consensual violence

Police units specialized in these issues and collaboration between security forces at the international level have made it more difficult for these violent groups to organize. However, street clashes after matches are still frequent.

Fan violence has also affected other sports, but "hooliganism" has traditionally been associated with soccer as it is the sport with the largest number of followers in the world. Ángel Gómezprofessor of Psychology at the UNED, states that "In Spain, between 1975 and 1985 there were 6,011 violent acts related to sport, 90% of which were directly related to soccer"..

The term "hooligan" was born in England in the 60's and seems to come from a song of 1899 inspired by Patrick O'Hoolinhanan Irish bouncer (security) and burglar who lived in London. He and his family were famous for their frequent fights. According to reports from the London Metropolitan Police, O'Hoolinhan was the leader of a gang of youths. The young men who belonged to his gang were baptized as “hooleys” (Irish for wild).

After its beginnings in England, the rise of the hooliganism in the 80s due to the public notoriety that hooligans reached in different European countries, in addition to their high colorfulness in the animation of sporting events and the violence they generated inside and outside the stadiums. Depending on the collective and the country of residence, there seem to be certain differences between these groups. For example, in Spain and Italy they often share club colors with political ideology (fascism or left-wing radicalism). In England, however, many groups are apolitical.

It should be noted that the political ideology is only in the display of symbols, since these groups do not aim for social change, it is a symbolic ideology that is part of its recreational component. Another example of the differences between these groups of radicals are the "zulus". The "hooligan firm" associated with the team of Birmingham Cityis one of the most heterogeneous groups of English ultras. Among its members coexist a multitude of different ethnicities, something that is not common among hooligans.

Hooligans and group behavior

These groups offer their members the possibility of accessing a rolethat of ultras or hooligans. The young hooligan finds in the group an already predisposed identity with a set of norms, values, sensations, beliefs, reasons and models of action.reasons and models of action. Through a process of "culturalization" and assimilation of the role, the member of a group makes his own the images and rules of conduct through which he can be confirmed by others and approved by the group.

It may seem that their actions are a spontaneous manifestation of exaltation of the team's colors but they are, in reality, the result of a meticulous organization and many hours of work. Ultras are organizations. As such, they are financed in different ways (sale of merchandising, etc.). merchandisingThe ultras are financed in different ways (sale of merchandising, magazines, etc.) and require an organizational work that the leader and the ultras with responsibilities carry out during the week.

Hooligan violence and its ludic component

One of the characteristics of hooligan behavior that has attracted the most attention from sociologists and social psychologists is the playful violence violence employed by these groups. The truth is that soccer becomes a set of rituals, chants, symbols and expressions that define the radical fan. In the stadium, emotionality moves away from rationality, soccer is a complex ritual that includes two parallel worlds: one on the field and the other in the stands. When fans gather to go to the stadium, they do so en masse. A series of intragroup and intergroup processes are then initiated.

The actors produce behaviors about their identity or passion for the team, conflicts arise with the hooligans of the rival team, they seek self-affirmation (that of the group) and build a self-image that is recognizable by the "others", who are denigrated. Fans perceive malicious intent in every action of their opponents (or rival fans), even when it does not exist. They react with hatred and rage because they see themselves as innocent victims of the unjust referee or the intimidating police.

Violence, identity and group reinforcement

This violence is aimed at maintaining the internal cohesion of the group itself.o. Hooligans function as closed social systems and have to displace aggression towards other social groups. The mechanisms involved in this type of tribal violence have been analyzed by the Social Identity Theory of Tajfel and Turner. It is a violence born from the group and its purpose is group reinforcement. The presence of another group triggers a self-regulatory mechanism that tries to reduce internal differences by reinforcing the internal norm of uniformity. This is an apparently gratuitous violence, which has no other objective than to humiliate the opponent in order to proclaim the superiority of one's own group.

Marsh, Rosser and Harré in "The rules of Disorder" (1978) call this phenomenon "ritualized aggression". (1978) call this phenomenon "ritualized aggressiveness". For these authors, confrontations between fans, apparently disorderly, are in reality orderly confrontations and not exclusively real violence. María Teresa Adán Revilla, researcher at the University of Salamanca and expert on violence in soccer states:

"Two rival groups of fans exchange insults until, for each side, an individual steps forward, confronting each other in the open space left between the two sides. There, new insults are exchanged and threatening gestures are made, until one of them loses ground and withdraws. The result of a successful 'fight' is the retreat of the enemy and the rise in reputation of the protagonist of the side that has forced the other to back down.". 

Ritualized aggression is symbolic because it involves the deployment of weapons, but not their use. It is about humiliating and entrenching the submission of their opponents, but not physically harming them. However, the ritual can be interrupted to give way to real violence. This happens when a member of one of the groups accidentally violates the unspoken rules of the ritual or when an external factor, such as the police, intervenes.

Most of the "aggressions" exercised by hooligans, therefore, do not have an ideological origin, but a playful one. Their purpose is to create a fun and festive atmosphere, to break the monotony of life and to access intense emotions.

Hooliganism and hooliganism

A hooligan is a person who enjoys himself noisily, makes a disturbance or causes scandals in public places and, in general, acts with disregard for others. What characterizes the hooligan, and thus differentiates him from the typical criminal who acts for utilitarian motives, is the use of violence for playful purposes. Elias and Dunning, in their article “Sport and Leisure in the Process of Civilization” (1992) believe that the behavior of hooligans is best understood as a search for excitement in an unexciting society. The social repression of emotions would constitute an essential part of the civilization process.

Playful emotion has grown in importance in recent decades as a compensation for the rigid social control of emotional expressions. Emotional manifestations are allowed in sports, shows, parties and, in general, in leisure time events. A society has been created that has imposed emotional restraint and, in the words of Elias and Dunning, "Communities have been built that are capable of satisfying all material needs, stable and secure. Communities where daily work is often repetitive and where everything is intended to be planned, so that the stimulating emergence of the new and surprising is unlikely."

The sociologist Pilz points out that this is a This is a favorable context for compensatory phenomena to emerge, such as the love of risky sports, the exciting character of the new and the surprising.The sociologist Pilz points out that this is a context conducive to the emergence of compensatory phenomena such as the love of risk sports, the exciting nature of much of today's film production (thrillers, films of violence, sex and catastrophes), the sensationalist bias of the media, the success of celebrity magazines or the rise of lurid reality TV shows.

Psychologist John Kerrtries to explain the hooligan phenomenon through Apter's Theory of Inversion. (1982, 1989), which focuses on the phenomenological analysis of human motivations and emotions. This theory focuses on three concepts: metamotivational states, hedonic tone and protective frames.

Motivations of the hooligan

The metamotivational metamotivational states are those basic mental states of a transient nature that underlie a specific motivation. There are four pairs of metamotivational states, telic/paratelic, negativism/conformity, dominance/comprehension, autolic/alloic, which coexist separately within a bistable system, such as the switch from on to off in a household appliance, on and off.

In the telic state, we tend to act in a serious and planned way, while in the paratelic state, which is more common in the hooligan, we tend to behave in a spontaneous and playful way, being oriented towards the present. Another metamotivational state that predominates in the hooligan is that of negativism, which is defined as resistance or rebellion against established norms. At a given moment, the influence of various factors, such as the occurrence of an unexpected event, may induce us to make a reversal, and move from one state to another.

The concept of hedonic tone refers to the degree to which a person feels aroused at a given moment. The greater or lesser level of arousal that a person experiences can elicit very different emotions depending on the metamotivational state in which he or she finds him or herself. In the paratelic state, high arousal produces arousal that leads to pleasurable feelings (i.e., high hedonic tone) while low arousal generates boredom and unpleasant feelings (low hedonic tone). In the telic state, emotional reactions change: high arousal causes anxiety and displeasure, low arousal produces relaxation and pleasant feelings.

In studies using the Telic Dominance Scale, such as that of Murgatroyd (1978), which measures the metamotivational state that predominates in an individual, it has been found that people with paratelic dominance are more likely to participate in risky situations. According to Kerr, there is empirical evidence associating delinquent and hooligan behavior with a paratelic orientation.

Finally, the concept of protective framework refers to the fact that negative emotions (anxiety, anger or fear) can be interpreted positively and experienced as pleasant if they occur in the paratelic state. This seems to explain why some people enjoy a horror movie while sitting in an armchair where they feel safe or are able to throw themselves into a parachute because they are well equipped.