Publisher's Synopsis
The culture of the soccer terrace is changing. Commentators are now as likely to refer to the carnival or 'party' atmosphere at football matches as violence and disorder. This does not mean, however, that 'football hooliganism' ? as the media labelled it for the last thirty years ? has somehow disappeared. It is manifestly on the rise in countries such as Italy and Holland and especially in Germany where it has ugly associations with the neo-nazi right; it may be marginalised in countries like Scotland and more lately England, but public disorder around professional football has deep historical roots in such heavily masculinised national cultures. - - Nevertheless, the football crowd ? and moreover football fandom in general ? is undergoing significant change which reflect wider shifts in gender, popular culture, modernity and postmodernity. On the one hand there is a greater degree of active participation and even democratisation, amongst fans. This process is evident in the increase of numbers of women in football, the rise of independent supporters? organisations, fan magazines (fanzines), the increasing role for football in other art forms (music, theatre, video, film, television) and the mixing of football ? as low or pop culture ? with 'high' arts such as opera and classical music. A contradictory process is also detectable, however; the redefinition of football for a passive, 'respectable' audience sitting in either executive boxes, all-seater stadia or in armchairs at home watching the game on TV. The 1994 World Cup to be held in the land of the mediascape, the USA, will hasten such change in European football culture which itself is hurtling towards continent-wide super leagues controlled by international media moguls. - - Steve Redhead and his colleagues together with Alessandro Portelli from Italy and Christian Bromberger from France, portray this cultural change on the European soccer terrace in a readable book which will be of interest to the general reader and to the specialist in cultural studies, sociology of sport, leisure studies and popular culture. The research reported here draws on specific new studies of the fans of the best known European clubs such as Juventus, Napoli, Leeds United, Marseilles and Manchester United. Some of this research was submitted, on request, to the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons and has attracted wide media interest.
