Sports Violence by Anne Wallace Sharp

Author:Anne Wallace Sharp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Greenhaven Publishing, LLC.

VIOLENCE BY NONATHLETES: SPECTATORS, COACHES, AND PARENTS

The athletes who commit violent acts on and off the field are not the only people involved in sports violence. Spectator violence, for instance, has become a significant problem in many sports. Fans have been known to engage in violent acts against athletes, other fans, coaches, and referees. In numerous incidents, spectator violence has also escalated into riots in the stands and around athletic arenas. Parents of young athletes have also committed many acts of violence, as have coaches at all levels of athletic endeavor.

Hooliganism

One of the most extreme forms of spectator violence has been occurring with increasing frequency since the early 1960s in Europe. Called hooliganism, this form of spectator violence is common to international soccer matches. The term hooliganism was first used by English security forces to describe the violence that was happening in soccer games in that country. Writer Rit Nosotro elaborates: “In Europe, fans of the winning team would walk around chanting ceaselessly, ‘we’re number one!’ Then they might set fires or overturn things from garbage cans to cars.”76

Soccer is unique in sports today in that it is the only sport where violence among spectators is often worse than among players. International soccer attracts tremendous crowds around the world; it is not unusual for as many as two hundred thousand people to attend big soccer matches. Soccer fans take their teams and the games very seriously, and the threat of violence is always present. Writers Lynn M. Jamieson and Thomas J. Orr explain: “Hooligans often travel to the opposing teams’ city to vandalize their opponents’ town. The Hooligans representing each team . . . square off and fight their battles . . . What started as a battle of fists sometimes has become a battle of weapons. . . . Many times the police who attempted to stop the fighting or vandalism was victimized and even killed.”77

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