Steps to stop hooliganism

Below are some methods that were tried out to stamp out Hooliganism:

• Sophisticated Policing
• New and more surveillance and monitoring techniques
• Segregation of fans and increased Stewarding
• Restrictions on alcohol before and during games

If alcohol is restricted before and during football matches then the amount of vandilisim and abuse caused by hooligans will be minimised.  Hooliganism does not apply to all individuals who consume alcohol but for those who do it makes there intentions a whole lot worse.

• Spotter system assisted by the local Police

This is a system that is used throughout the year in the to penglish football leagues.  A Police liasion officer is attatched to a particular club and has the responsibility of identifying and monitoring hooligans, usually travelling to away games and assisiting the local Police forces with the detection of Hooligans.  Identified Hooligans would be banned from viewing all of their teams games, and before European and international games take place, their passports would be confiscated so that they wont travel to these games to cause trouble.

• Hooligan Hotlines

Another scheme introduced by local Policing Authorities in the UK and England was known as the Hooligan Hotline.  Whereby supporters who had witnessed hooliganism taking place would call the authorities and the perpetrator would be taken from the stadium.

Hooliganism in the US

There's all kinds of talk saying that there is only hooliganism in EU. What about all the riots, terrible fans, fist fights with players. There's not much soul-searching about sports hooliganism within the US - and what little there is tends to focus on the behaviour of African-American basketball players rather than predominantly white football fans. For no matter how many college games end in drunken mob violence (as many do), no matter how many American city centres see running battles between sports fans and riot police, the US sports media continues to present hooliganism as something utterly un-American. 
When it comes to hooliganism, the US media really is the pot calling the kettle black. Riots at US sports events occur far more frequently than they do in the UK. And yet, in American popular culture, the "hooligan" is almost without exception portrayed as a soccer fan (and nearly always as English).

In 1997, Veterans stadium - the Eagles' old stomping ground - had a fully functional court inserted into its basement after a game against San Francisco saw an estimated 60 fights. The judge, who actually heard cases during the game, was seldom less than fully employed.

Whenever American football fans riot or ice hockey fans beat the hell out of one another, whenever the supporters of basketball or baseball teams go on a cop-taunting, car-torching, window-smashing victory spree, the violence is invariably treated as a local disturbance or an historical anomaly. And whenever college football fans engage in riotous behaviour that would be considered a national scandal if it happened in Britain (as they frequently do), no one seems terribly inclined to call it hooliganism.

Worst Football (EU) riots

Millwall vs. Luton — 1985

The most memorable (for the wrong reasons) FA Cup quarter final of all time. Fans clash before, during and after the game, tearing up seats and fighting with police.

Rangers vs. Zenit St. Petersburg — 2008

The 2008 UEFA Cup final, held at Manchester City’s Eastlands Stadium, was memorable for Zenit St Petersburg’s impressive win. But also for the behaviour of a number of Rangers fans outside the stadium. Trouble brewed as drunk fans rioted in the centre of Manchester, clashing with police and trashing cars and shops.

Sparta Prague vs. Dinamo Zagreb — 2008

A UEFA Cup tie between Czech side Sparta, and Croatian outfit Dinamo, descended into mayhem. 150 Croat supporters were detained as they rioted with police and home fans in the centre of Prague.

Dinamo Zagreb vs. Red Star Belgrade — 1990

“The match that started a war” according to some experts. Red Star’s “Delije” & Dinamo’s “Bad Blue Boys” clashed at Zagreb’s Maksimir stadium in 1990. This riot is famous for Dinamo’s 21 year old captain Zvonimir Boban, who reacted to seeing one of his side’s fans being beaten by a police officer by launching a roundhouse kick to free the fan. Madness.

Danubio vs. Nacional — 2008

The riot that stopped a season. Nuff said.

Liverpool vs. Juventus — 1985

The most high profile on our list, due to it’s significance, and the tragedy involved. 39 Juventus supporters were killed when a wall collapsed at Brussels’ Heysel Stadium ahead of the 1985 European Cup final.

Catania vs. Palermo — 2007

The Sicilian derby proved to be fatal, as 40 year old police officer Filippo Raciti was killed after a homemade bomb was thrown into his patrol car as rival fans of Catania & Palermo clashed before, during and after their side’s meeting in February 2007. Serie A football was suspended for three weeks as a consequence.

Wroclaw — 2003

Poland is a country plagued by football hooliganism, in 2003 the city of Wroclaw was the setting for an organised brawl between fans from Wroclaw, Poznan, Krakow, Gdynia & Lubin. One person died, whilst 229 were arrested.

FC Zurich vs. Grasshoppers — 2006

Switzerland is another country with football violence issues, here we see why the Zurich/Grasshoppers derby is not known as the friendly derby any longer.

Birmingham vs. Leeds — 1985

1985 was when football reached its lowest point in England. Not so much the standard of play, but the behaviour of its fans. At this second division game, Leeds & Birmingham clashed before, during and after the match, ripping St Andrews apart, and killing a fourteen year old fan when a wall collapsed on top of him. When analysing football’s problems, Lord Justice Popplewell described the scenes as “more like Agincourt than a football match”

Measures taken to prevent.

After World War II, attendance at the top 4 divisions of football in England were around 40 million. In 1985 problems with hooliganism caused attendance to fall dramatically. There was a huge concern and and after English teams were excluded from European competition for 5 years they decided to make some changes.

The football authorities introduced membership-only areas in grounds and the football in the community scheme was started to build bridges between the clubs and their local communities and to promote better behaviour by spectators. However, the Government’s plan was to introduce a 100% identity card system for all football fans wanting to attend matches. This was in the process of being developed when the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster occurred in April 1989; the ensuing Taylor Report persuaded the Government to shelve its plans for an ID card scheme due to concerns raised in the report about possible safety issues arising at the stadium turnstiles. Coming so soon after the Bradford Fire and the Heysel Disaster, the Hillsborough Disaster and the recommendations made in the Taylor Report changed the face of football grounds in this country.

The Government has established a UK Football Policing Unit which is jointly overseen by the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers. It brings together various strands of the football policing infrastructure, including the Football Banning Orders Authority, the former NCIS football intelligence section, UK National Football Information Point and the ACPO football policing support team. The UK Football Policing Unit specialises in the monitoring of football related disorder and the collation of intelligence to help prevent it. Police forces across the country have developed a great deal of expertise in dealing with footballrelated disorder. The Association of Chief Police Officers has produced a best practice document with guidance on the policing of football matches. There are training courses for police match commanders and for football intelligence officers and there is an annual conference of match commanders which helps further to share best practice. Representatives of the football authorities meet regularly with ACPO and attend the annual conference.

Hooliganism in European Football

Hooliganism in European Football
"Hooliganism" is the term used broadly to describe disorderly, aggressive and often violent behaviour perpetrated by spectators at sporting events. In the UK, hooliganism is almost exclusively confined to football.

Disorderly behaviour has been common amongst football supporters since the birth of the sport, but it is only really since the 1960s that it began to be perceived as a serious problem.

Although football hooliganism only rose to widespread public attention in the 1960s, it had been with the sport since its earliest development. In the late 19th Century, concerns were frequently voiced about groups of "roughs" causing trouble at matches by attacking not only opposing supporters, but also players and referees. Many sociologists point to football's origins in working class Britain as a factor distinguishing it from the majority of sports popular today, and contributing to its links with aggressive and disorderly behaviour.

Some people claim that hooliganism "causes no harm" or is just fans letting off steam. Hooliganism has declined and has been steadily becoming something that players and organizations have been concerned about. The major incident that brings alarm is in April 2000 C. Loftus and K. Speight were stabbed to death before a UEFA Cup semi final game. 

Hooliganism has resulted in many incidents and is a phenominon that has to be kept in check. You will notice that a lot of stadium are now keeping a closer eye on spectators as the enter the stadium.

Hooliganism in Golf

One sport where you will hardly ever find acts of hooliganism is the game of golf, unless of course, you turn on Happy Gilmore.  The only time where acts of hooliganism might take place during gold is when  fans take a picture with their cell phones, or a drunk fan yells out, or cheers rise above the sound of a polite "golf clap".  Many people argue that golf needs more fan involvement, especially because of how slow and quiet of a game it is.  How entertaining would it be see fans of Rory and Speith going back and forth about who's the better golfer.  Debates about golf and their athletes don't even get heated.  Golf just may be one of those sports where no forms of hooliganism will ever be present.  It would be entertaining though!

Why Doesn't Soccer Hooliganism Exist in the USA?

Click here to read a interesting article on why Soccer Hooliganism doesn't exist in the USA.  This is all opinion based, but there are significant factors that may contribute to the lack of hooliganism in American Soccer.  After reading this article I definitely feel the third point made is the most significant, and that is patriotism.  The fact that America above all else is is illustrated with the playing of the national anthem, plays a big role.  Another factor that wasn't mentioned is the fact that soccer was not created in the United States, it's a sport that other countries had before the United State adopted it.  It's homegrown in other countries.  In Europe you grew up playing soccer and maybe basketball.  In the United States people grew up playing baseball and eventually basketball if they even played sports.  Obviously, American Football was adopted here so that's why I feel you see more acts of Hooliganism in the Unites States across those sports than in soccer.