Hooliganism In The US

Hooliganism is used to describe disorderly, aggressive and often violent behavior committed by spectators at sporting events. This type of behavior is rarely seen here in America during regular season contest but once the playoffs and tournaments start, that is a different story. Often times once a teams wins a big game or the championship, fans gather out at a popular gathering spot to celebrate. Last month, the Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in the past six seasons. As they did the previous two championship seasons, fans gathered at Clark and Addison to flood the streets and to celebrate. Although the behavior is not all violent, the crowd was reportedly aggressive with their celebration and behavior was described as a disorderly. As you can see in the video, CPD horses were brought in to contain the celebration.

Another example would be in 2008 when the Kansas Jayhawks won the NCAA tournament with their victory over the Memphis Tigers. As you can see in the video, there are students climbing on top of building fixtures, street fixtures, and parked cars. Again, nothing violent about the celebration but disorderly and aggressive.

Often times the most extreme examples of hooliganism happen when two rivals face off head to head. Things often get disorderly, aggressive, and violent during a headed game between two rivals. Many times teams from Chicago have a strong following no matter where they go. I have attended Bulls and Blackhawks games while they were the visitors and the hometown fans absolutely hate it when they are in town because they know there is going to be a lot of Chicago fans in the building. I attended game four in the first round of the NBA playoffs in 2010 when the Bulls played the Pacers in Indianapolis. As a Pacers fan, I was upset to see that close to 75% of the fans in Bankerslife Fieldhouse were wearing black and red. Not only do the fans come over to take over opponents building physically but mentally as well. If you closed your eyes and listened to the chants and cheers, you would of thought that you were at the United Center. Many Pacers fans were upset throughout the game you would look and see fights breaking out between fans. Things only get worse once games are over and fans are outside the building as things tend to get worse. Groups of people start fighting in a disagreement over the game or because they like the wrong team.

These are only a few examples of hooliganism when it comes to United States terms. This is nowhere near the definition of hooliganism if we compare examples from Europe. Hooliganism is ten times worse in Europe than it is in America.