Class wars among devoted football supporters. Hooligan bourgeoisie and non-hooligan proletariat

ABSTRACT

The paper explores a phenomenon of growing divisions within the Polish football supporters, namely between the hooligans and the rest of devoted supporters. There are three primary aims of the paper: 1) to explain the origin of the more apparent division in the devoted supporters’ community; 2) to characterize the division, and thus – 3) to analyse its potential consequences. The paper draws on 96 interviews with football supporters and a desk research conducted within two different research projects. The analysis shows that divisions occurred as a result of the exploitation of supporters’ cultural, symbolic and economic resources by hooligan groups. What developed as a consequence was a sense of distinct interests between hooligans and the rest of devoted supporters. We interpret this arising awareness using Marx’s categories describing transformation from ‘class in itself’” to “class for itself”.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments that have helped improve the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Giulianotti, ‘Supporters, followers, fans, and flaneurs: A taxonomy of spectator identities in football’, 35–36.

2. Grodecki, ‘Building social capital’, 8.

3. Kossakowski, ‘From Communist Fan Clubs to Professional Hooligans: A History of Polish Fandom as a Social Process’.

4. Spaaij, ‘Understanding football hooliganism: A comparison of six Western European football clubs’, 6.

5. Grodecki, ‘Życie po meczu. Formy wykorzystania kapitału społecznego kibiców piłkarskich w Polsce’.

6. Kossakowski, Szlendak, Antonowicz, ‘Polish ultras in the post-socialist transformation’.

7. Antonowicz, Wrzesiński, ‘Kibice jako wspólnota niewidzialnej religii’.

8. Rookwood, Pearson, ‘The Hoolifan: Positive Fan Attitudes To Football “Hooliganism”’.

9. Perryman, ‘The good, the Bad and the Beautiful Game’; Chiweshe, ‘The People’s Game: Football Fandom in Zimbabwe’.

10. Williams, ‘Who are you calling a hooligan?’.

11. Rookwood, Pearson, ‘The Hoolifan: Positive Fan Attitudes To Football “Hooliganism”’.

12. Testa, Armstrong, ‘Football Fascism and Fandom’, 65.

13. Trejo ‘Violence and Death in Argentinean Soccer in the New Millennium: Who is Involved and What is at Stake?’, 844.

14. Kelly, ‘The Barra Bravas: The Violent Argentinian Gangs Controlling Football’.

15. Grabia, La Doce, La Verdadera, ‘Historia de la Barra Brava de Boca’.

16. Marx, Engels, ‘The communist manifesto’.

17. Lukacs, ‘Historia i świadomość klasowa: studia o marksistowskiej dialektyce’, 163.

18. Marx, Engels, ‘The Communist Manifesto’.

19. Marx, Engels, Lapides, 'Marx and Engels on Trade Unions', 34.

20. Andrew, ‘Class in Itself and Class against Capital: Karl Marx and His Classifiers, Canadian Journal of Political Science’, 583.

21. Lukacs, ‘Historia i świadomość klasowa: studia o marksistowskiej dialektyce’, 172.

22. Andrew, ‘Class in Itself and Class against Capital: Karl Marx and His Classifiers, Canadian Journal of Political Science’, 582.

23. Bourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’.

24. Hochfeld, ‘Studia o marksowskiej teorii społeczeństwa’.

25. Andrew, ‘Class in Itself and Class against Capital: Karl Marx and His Classifiers, Canadian Journal of Political Science’, 583.

26. Lukacs, ‘Historia i świadomość klasowa: studia o marksistowskiej dialektyce’, 172.

27. Kennedy, Kennedy, ‘Football in Neo-Liberal Times: A Marxist Perspective on the European Football Industry’.

28. Cleland, Cashmore 'Football Fans' Views of Violence in British Football.

29. Taylor, ‘Football Mad: A Speculative Sociology of Football Hooliganism’.

30. Dunning, Murphy, Williams, ‘The Roots of Football Hooliganism’.

31. Giulianotti, ‘Social Identity and Public Order: Political and Academic Discourses on Football Violence’; Armstrong, Harris, ‘Football Hooligans: Theory and Evidence’.

32. Taylor, ‘Football Mad: A Speculative Sociology of Football Hooliganism’.

33. Webber, ‘Playing on the Break’: Karl Polanyi and the double-movement ‘Against Modern Football’.

34. Kennedy, Kennedy, ‘Towards a Marxist Political Economy of Football Supporters’, 184.

35. BBC, ‘Portsmouth FC: Michael Eisner Completes Takeover of League One Club’.

36. According to the definition of devoted supporter, the interviewees had to meet the two following criteria: (1) declare an emotional attachment to a football club; (2) be a former or present member of formal or informal group of football supporters.

37. As hooligans, we define supporters who were members of hooligans groups or admitted during the interview that they took part in fights between football supporters. A small number of interviews with hooligans is associated with their distrust of ‘outsiders’. Therefore, it results in reluctance to talk with the researchers.

38. Scriven, ‘Prose and Cons About Goal-free Evaluation’.

39. Kossakowski, ‘Where are the Hooligans? Dimensions of Football Fandom in Poland’.

40. Burski, ‘Od chuligana do prezesa – analiza przemian zachodzących w społecznym świecie polskich kibiców’; Ruban, ‘Z pamiętnika Galernika. Magia lat 90-tych’, Vol. 1, Vol. 2.

41. Spaaij, ‘Understanding Football Hooliganism: A Comparison of Six Western European Football Clubs’, 316–7.

42. Antonowicz, Grodecki, ‘Missing the Goal. Policy Evolution Towards Football–related Violence in Poland (1989–2012)’.

43. Grodecki, ‘Życie po meczu. Formy wykorzystania kapitału społecznego kibiców piłkarskich w Polsce’.

44. ibid.

45. Kłos, Słomczyński, ‘Handel narkotykami w Gdańsku. Grupy przestępcze chcą przeniknąć do środowiska kibiców Lechii’.

46. Pietraszewski, ‘Mafiosi i kibole Ruchu Chorzów’.

47. Kłos, Słomczyński, ‘Handel narkotykami w Gdańsku. Grupy przestępcze chcą przeniknąć do środowiska kibiców Lechii’.

48. Similiar as in England, see Rookwood, Pearson, ‘The hoolifan: Positive fan attitudes to football “hooliganism”’.

49. https://www.kibice.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33905&start=200 (accessed 28.9.2020).

50. https://www.kibice.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33730&start=160 (accessed 28.9.2020).

51. Marx, Engels, ‘The Communist Manifesto’.

52. Lukacs, ‘Historia i świadomość klasowa: studia o marksistowskiej dialektyce’, 172.

Additional information

Funding

The research conducted by Radosław Kossakowski was funded by the National Science Center (Poland), research Grant number [2013/09/D/HS6/00238].