History of Soccer Violence

Violence has been associated with soccer since its early beginnings in 13th century England and has continued on in the professional game up until this day. It all got started off with village/town disputes being settled by two large groups of men trying to get a ball, which at that time was in the form of a leather bound inflated pig’s bladder, and the aim was to kick it against a designated church door. This mob game was closely associated to the church calendar of holy days and wakes and was a chance for the people to meet as a community and let off steam (Van Mourik, 2004). There were very few rules and really you could do what you wanted, meaning you could be violent. This is now a tradition in England called ‘the annual Ashbourne Football game’ which is played once a year on Shrove Tuesday.

People in the 13th century found nothing strange or sinister with these rituals of the modern game and violence was just a part of the sport along with extended bouts of drinking resulting in serious injuries and even death (History of football violence).

The acceptance of violence in the sport was not widespread and by the 14th century there were calls for regulations to be placed into the game. These requests only arose because on m

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The game had such a bad reputation among English royalty that King Edward III banned the game and players got jailed for up to a week.

Although with these rules now in place soccer was not free from violence and the number of incidents multiplied.

The development of stadiums produced more people attending soccer games and later on became identified as a place where fights could easily take place. However, most recently there has been a move away from this idea of fighting in stadiums and groups arrange to meet outside grounds before or after matches. Boys took the rural sport into the schools and with some adaptation carried on the sporting tradition of an upper-class gentleman. Although violence does remain, most occurs outside the grounds. Soccer was so popular by this time that it received official sanction in England in 1681.

As games started to get broadcasted around the continent many sociologists placed the blame on television for the increase in spectator violence and the decline in match attendance. The object was to chant at supporters of the rival team to drive them away from their viewing area of behind the goal, capture as much of their team gear as possible and land a few good kicks and punches before the police stepped in. This came about at the beginning of the nineteenth century when public schools transformed the sport into an organized regular game with rules. These troublemakers would use match days as venues for confrontations with rival groups. Modern technology has become a vital weapon for hooligans and is used to organize fights between different groups. In particular the internet and mobile phones have become the main usage. In the end, moral guardianship of the game has gone to those who shout, chant, clap and cheer the loudest for it – the supporters. The first major incident involving soccer took place in 1909 when fans demanded for extra time to be played to settle a draw between Glasgow and Celtic.

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