Football Hooliganism Essay

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Football hooliganism is a global phenomenon that developed in England during the late 19th centuries, which has lead to it being dubbed as the “English Disease”. Today, it is very significant part of the game and is a monumental burden on the countries in which it is most rampant. Hooliganism can be defined as extreme fanaticism, where support for one’s team is taken to a much higher, as well as violent, level. Similarly to how Montrealers frown or “boo” when the Canadiens have conceded a goal, football supporters will riot within the confines of the stadium and viciously attack the supporters of the opposing team in a heat of passion that is well beyond our understanding. For example, one of the worst cases of football hooliganism that ever took place is known as the Heysel Stadium Disaster, which occured in May of 1985 during a UEFA Champions League final match between Liverpool FC, a club from England and Juventus, a club from Italy. Before the match even started, the Liverpool fans attacked the Juventus side of the stadium and instigated a clash, which resulted in the deaths of 39 Juventus supporters. Fortunately, this event opened England’s eyes after UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, banned all the English clubs from any European competition, as well as an additional one-year ban for Liverpool FC. (King) However, despite England’s rather successful attempt on cracking down on its hooligans, fan violence has been on a dramatic increase elsewhere around the world and particularly in Europe. The central focus of this paper will be to explore the various areas of research that deal with the aspects and characteristics of European culture that produce such intense and radical behaviour. In other words, how such civilized countries are responsible for such uncivilized behaviour. In addition, this paper will investigate, although it is only of secondary

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