Global History of Football

Global History of Football
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Global History of Football
Football is among activities that resonate with many people. Few cultural activities have inflicted international histories than football. In the late 19th century, football was a simple sport in Britain (Goldblatt, 2014). It, however, started spreading to other parts of Europe, South America, and even Africa. Football has become the most popular game, and millions of people watch it across the world. Fans fill stadiums to watch matches, with millions in front of the television following with passion. The sport has witnessed commercial success with brands advertising during games. Successful clubs have generated a lot of money for the owners and players. At the same time, football fan cultures have emerged over the years. They keep on changing to adapt to the current circumstances. The last three decades have seen the shift from the culture of hooliganism to ultras, then to online fans.
Football fans have always been passionate about the sport. Rivalry between fans of opposing sides has enhanced the popularity of the sport. However, in the 80s, these rivalries were dreaded, and football fans were considered dangerous. For example, in European football, there were three incidents that defined this dark decade of football for the region. According to the BBC (1985), English teams were banned after the stadium tragedy that happened in Heysel. In this tragedy, 39 fans died, and 400 others were reported injured. In the Hillsborough incident, 96 fans died, and this cast a dark cloud on the footballing world. Hooliganism in the 80s was quite rampant, especially in European football. Unfortunately, this spilt over into the 90s.
The 90s marked a period of hooliganism. The culture of hooliganism constituted barbarous behavior during associated football events (Strang, Baker, Pollard & Hofman, 2018). The conflicts would take place before, during, or after the matches. Hooligans would sometimes disrupt live matches, especially where they were not satisfied with a particular outcome, say a referee’s decision. Other fans would engage in violence away from the event venue to avoid arrest by the police. Less harmful acts included spitting and name-calling but would eventually transform into fighting. The use of objects and weapons would enable rival hooligans to overpower each other. The 90s eras marked a period where hooliganism was a common occurrence. Governments started taking measures against the culture, like requiring all-seated stadiums to minimize disorderly crowd movement. Opposing fans would be banned from specific games to reduce the incidence of violence breaking out. Although these measures did not prevent hooligans from perpetuating violence, they minimized incidences of violence in matches.
However, it is crucial to point out that even though hooliganism was a constant during the 80s and 90s in European football, it was no match to what was being witnessed in Italy, where hooliganism was much more organized. Italy saw the rise and spread of ultras back in the 70s. Ultras were a more serious fanbase, and they operated with more organization than hooligans from England or other European countries. According to Cooper (2021), Ultras were different in how they dressed and operated. They would wear club colors and other clothing that was branded whichever Ultra group they belonged to (Cooper, 2021). One special difference was in the way they planned everything. Apparently, Ultras could organize for the painting of banners and flags, the songs they would sing while in the stadiums, and also hand out leaflets to other fans. The goal of ultras was to create an impossible atmosphere for the opposing team with all manner of intimidation. From time to time, ultras could get violent, but their main aim was to support their teams (Selvam & Sudhan, 2019). In Italy, a majority of these Ultras were also politically aligned to either the far-right or the far-left (Girard, 2020). Girard (2020) also indicates that many of them found themselves involved in violent acts as, sadly, they started to care more about their political alignments than football. Furthermore, many of them are associated with organized crime, and this has tainted their image. In Spain and Portugal, the presence of Ultras was also felt. In both countries, Ultras were involved in some of the most violent and gruesome deaths of other fans. However, in both countries, the government has been directly involved sin banning and instituting measures to help avoid more fan deaths. In Spain, for example, it took the death of a Deportivo La Coruna ultra at the hands of a violent encounter with Atletico Madrid fans for the government to intervene (Corrigan, 2014).
Surprisingly, even though Ultras have spread to North Africa, they are not as violent or aggressive as their counterparts in Italy and formerly Spain and Portugal. In North Africa, the Ultras are highly political, with many of the fans simply trying to communicate their frustrations with their governments. Mekouar (2020) notes that youths in Tunisia and Algeria who have beco...