Last Thursday's class was an eyeopening experience to what seems in a word, problematic at football clubs all across Europe. An associate of Dr. Spencer's came in to discuss hooliganism and the effects it has on the players, cities and people following their favorite football clubs. The professor was from England and was a former soccer player who has grown up witnessing the effects of hooliganism first hand. I couldn't believe some of the stories he told us about when he experienced this type of behavior first hand. We also watched a video on the different ways fans in Europe display racism. It is very open and very shocking to see fans throwing bananas and chanting like monkeys when black athletes touch the futbol.
It was really crazy to hear about some of the players personal accounts of times he had been affected by the tauts and harsh reality of racism. In the soccer game fifa sold on all console worldwide, there are billboards in plain view while you are playing the game that say "say no to racism." Before I wondered why they would have all those signs because in the United States, open racism on the soccer field/stadium like that is unheard of. So to see that it is such a big problem overseas really opened my eyes.
Dr. Meeks was presentation very interesting. Like you, I'm very surprised the amount of open racism that opened in soccer. Gangs from different areas on opposing teams actually set up formal brawls. FIFA implemented rules to limit racism and hooliganism that occurs in the stadium, but the brawls occur in local areas. I never had a clue that this type of activity would be associated with soccer. Dr. Meeks defiantly made the class more aware about the culture differences and violence in soccer.
ReplyDeleteI also was taken back by the high amount of prevalent racism that occurs in international soccer. Probably the most astonishing factor in the whole thing is that a majority of the videos Dr. Meek showed the class were so recent dating back to the mid 2000's. This kind of behavior may have been tolerable in the United States in the early and maybe middle 1900's but not anywhere thinkable in the century.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely an eye opening experience! Like you, I had no clue as to what goes on with soccer/racism, as it is not heard of over here in the states. I thought racism was a thing of the past (50's and 60's), however, this made me realize that different parts of the world have different social issues that we dont have in the U.S. It was truely shocking to me as well to see the planning and complexity of the organizations that head all the different groups of hooligans.
ReplyDeleteNick,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately there is a lot of hooliganism and racism around sport (especially soccer) in Europe. I grew up with this part of sport and of course, I hate it and sometimes I'm ashamed for other behaviours.
For me it was very interesting to see the reactions during Dr. Meek's presentation and read now all the blogs and comments. I thought that hooliganism in Europe was well known all over the world.
The way how sport fans experience the games in the U.S. is very different than in Europe. The fans in Ameria are in my opinion reactive. The European fans shows more their passion.
To conclude: hooliganism is a bad behaviour in Europe, but the most fans shows a good behaviour and support their team with all the passion!