Kinesiology, Vol. 24 No. 1-2, 1992.
Review article
Sport and collective behaviour: football fans between subculture and/or hooliganism
Zoran Žugić
; Fakultet za fizičku kulturu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu
Abstract
Supporting a certain team in sport as one of the forms of collective behaviour in contemporary society represents today one of the current trends among numerous subcultures which can be found among young people in Croatia. The phenomenon of football fans is mentioned today not only in our country, but in other countries as well. It is mostly in connection with the so called football hooliganism ranging from exclusively socio-pathological approaches that recognize in this phenomenon only the dimension of deviation, to anthropological approaches that take a broader insight into this problem, treating it as one of the subcultures of young people, The latest research of the "soccer tribes" (1991), with a special reference to the Zagreb football fans (Bad Blue Boys) has shown: a) that the behaviour of young fans is one of the specific forms of collective behaviour, b)that it is a subcultural phenomenon that has come from the West, not only as a pure imitation of one of the western lifestyles, c) that we are standing in front of the specific phenomenon whose research results can give us an insight into the 'microcosmos' of the society, with the significant predictions of possible tendencies in the development of the society, whose segment these fans represent.
Keywords
sociology of sport, football fans, violence, collective behaviour
Hrčak ID:
252732
URI
Publication date:
20.1.1992.
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