Essay on hooliganism

In this essay I will discuss why hooliganism exist, what makes a person become a hooligan and what characterizes a hooligan and hooliganism as a whole? They hunt in packs like wolves, fueled by drugs, hooked on violence. Some are as young as 15. They make a plan to arrange showdowns against other rival ''firms'' at agreed locations. This is a quotation from the French documentary ''Fucking Hooligans''.

But why does hooliganism exist in general, there are a lot of reason to it, but the main ones are mentioned. In the text ''Among the Thugs'' and the film ''Fucking hooligans'' it expresses the lifestyle of a group of lads who have a lot of things in common. They drink a lot, smoke a lot and foremost they love to fight, the typical formula for a hooligan. They're the most dangerous. They're the ones who start most of the fights.(p.4-l.12-13). The hooligan culture is not just a culture for some people but a bond between brothers, or in other words it is another family for them.

There are plenty of reasons why ''someone'' becomes a hooligan. People normally become involved through two ways, either through friends and family or their choice of a new lifestyle. The main reason why people decide to become a hooligan is that it is just fun when it kick's off. It's an adrenaline thing, you cannot get that kind of buzz through anything else. But half the time it's not even about fighting, it is about being around your mates, having a laugh on a match day and knowing that what ever happens, you'll deal with it. In the film ''Fucking Hooligans'' we meet Mark along with other people who tells the viewers the reasons why they became a hooligan. He explains that isolation in his family has formed him into a hooligan, it all started when he was isolated in his bedroom watching football matches. Gradually he got the idea that he wanted to become one, to become a part of the hooligan culture. Mark points out that he loves being in the situation where he feels so frightened that he knows that the only way to survive is to use his fists. Tony another hooligan, explains that the way he got raised was the way of football. After school it was playing football with friends. Tony informs the viewers that after all the fighting with rival firms such as '' The mill wall bush whackers'' that it is his passion to become a hooligan and compares it to fishing. Ian who after being done with the hooligan culture dedicated his life to be a poet, and musician. He have had a dream to become a famous football player and to play for his hometown, but that will never happen. Whenever Ian hears the word ''Hooliganism'' he sees lost souls, and broken hearts, it will tear his heart apart if one of his son ever joins a firm. Because then he will have no one to blame but him self. One of his most emotional moments was when he watched the heysal tragedy and it made him cry. ''I hope hooliganism dies out'' Andy who not just was a hooligan, but also a drug addict was addicted to hooliganism. Andy was in jail several times and got fired from his well-paid job and got into several divorces. He explains what the hooligan culture does to him, when he goes out to fight against his rivalry he returns home after 3 weeks without telling anyone anything. But Andy is a changed man now, he tells the viewers that he thought it was a risky way of life to live as a hooligan, and dying was not his option. He has a website now which he tells young people the consequences of becoming a hooligan and guides them instead of encouraging them.

Another character named ''Bill Buford'' who we meet in the text ''Among the Thugs'' has a complete different reason to join a hooligan firm. He is an American student who studies in England, he accidentally observes hooligans in action on a train. And experiences hooligans' violent behavior close by and personally turned against innocent people. Later he meets the electrician Mick who also is a part of the hooligan firm at a football match In Mick, I felt that I had finally met one of "them". At the same time, I felt that perhaps he wasn't the best one of "them" to have met (s.2.l.20) Because of his good relation to Mick, his drawn into hooliganism himself. But finally Bill decides to end being a part of the hooligan culture as it is all just stupid.

Based of the text and film that has been watched indicates that the things that characterizes hooliganism as a whole is quiet simple, its fifty-fifty. Without football and the football team there would be no hooligans to walk on the streets, to fight the police and to steal and break the neighborhood. There is some sort of connection between these two terms, ''Football'' and ''Hooliganism''. But as it is mentioned several times in the film and the text, its not about the football matches but instead about the fights. And there wouldn’t be any fights if there were no enemy who dislike the other football team, which leads back to the other half.

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[ 2 ]. Buford, bill ''Among The Thugs'' 1992