Geoff Pearson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780719087219
- eISBN:
- 9781781706145
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719087219.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This is an ethnographic account of English football fans who travel home and away with their team, based upon sixteen years’ participant observation. The author identifies a distinct sub-culture of ...
More
This is an ethnographic account of English football fans who travel home and away with their team, based upon sixteen years’ participant observation. The author identifies a distinct sub-culture of supporter – the ‘carnival fan’ – who dominated the travelling support of the three clubs observed - Manchester United, Blackpool and the England national team. This accessible account follows these groups home and abroad, describing their interpretations, motivations and behaviour and challenging a number of the myths about ‘hooliganism’ and crowd control. An Ethnography of English Football Fans identifies the primary motivation of these fan groups to be the creation of a carnival – a period of transgression from the norms of everyday life based upon congregating in groups, alcohol consumption, humour and tomfoolery, and expressions of identity. In achieving these aims, the fan groups were frequently brought into conflict with the football authorities, police and ‘hooligan’ groups and this account includes explanations of some of the most serious instances of crowd disorder involving English fans in the last two decades. The book also looks at issues such as attitudes to gender, sexuality and race, and the impact of technology upon football fandom.Less
This is an ethnographic account of English football fans who travel home and away with their team, based upon sixteen years’ participant observation. The author identifies a distinct sub-culture of supporter – the ‘carnival fan’ – who dominated the travelling support of the three clubs observed - Manchester United, Blackpool and the England national team. This accessible account follows these groups home and abroad, describing their interpretations, motivations and behaviour and challenging a number of the myths about ‘hooliganism’ and crowd control. An Ethnography of English Football Fans identifies the primary motivation of these fan groups to be the creation of a carnival – a period of transgression from the norms of everyday life based upon congregating in groups, alcohol consumption, humour and tomfoolery, and expressions of identity. In achieving these aims, the fan groups were frequently brought into conflict with the football authorities, police and ‘hooligan’ groups and this account includes explanations of some of the most serious instances of crowd disorder involving English fans in the last two decades. The book also looks at issues such as attitudes to gender, sexuality and race, and the impact of technology upon football fandom.
Robert C. Harvey
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9781628461428
- eISBN:
- 9781626740778
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628461428.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
This chapter talks about Frederick Burr Opper—the first cartoonist to draw a comic strip in its definitive form, and his long-lived Sunday comic strip Happy Hooligan. Opper was the only one in his ...
More
This chapter talks about Frederick Burr Opper—the first cartoonist to draw a comic strip in its definitive form, and his long-lived Sunday comic strip Happy Hooligan. Opper was the only one in his generation to achieve success in all three forms of the art being practiced during his lifetime: magazine single-panel gag cartoon, editorial cartoon, and comic strip. In early 1900, he began producing his longest-lasting creation Happy Hooligan, a Sunday comic strip about a pathetic but ludicrous Irish hobo with a soup can for a hat who could be relied upon to lose at every opportunity. In the strip, Opper used speech balloons exclusively and in the modern manner before anyone else did, proving that he was more adept at fashioning strips in the modern manner than any of his contemporaries at the time—many of whom were still dabbling in the medium while searching for its essential form.Less
This chapter talks about Frederick Burr Opper—the first cartoonist to draw a comic strip in its definitive form, and his long-lived Sunday comic strip Happy Hooligan. Opper was the only one in his generation to achieve success in all three forms of the art being practiced during his lifetime: magazine single-panel gag cartoon, editorial cartoon, and comic strip. In early 1900, he began producing his longest-lasting creation Happy Hooligan, a Sunday comic strip about a pathetic but ludicrous Irish hobo with a soup can for a hat who could be relied upon to lose at every opportunity. In the strip, Opper used speech balloons exclusively and in the modern manner before anyone else did, proving that he was more adept at fashioning strips in the modern manner than any of his contemporaries at the time—many of whom were still dabbling in the medium while searching for its essential form.
Geoff Pearson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780719087219
- eISBN:
- 9781781706145
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719087219.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter introduces ‘An ethnography of English football fans’ and the concept of the ‘carnival fan’. It identifies that football crowds are made up of numerous different sub-cultures. It provides ...
More
This chapter introduces ‘An ethnography of English football fans’ and the concept of the ‘carnival fan’. It identifies that football crowds are made up of numerous different sub-cultures. It provides a brief literature review of previous work on football fandom and ‘hooliganism’, focussing particularly on the work of Marsh, Armstrong, Giulianotti and the ‘Leicester School’. It also contains a discussion of the role of the media and fan confessionals (or ‘hoolie-lit’) in the construction and presentation of football crowd behaviour.Less
This chapter introduces ‘An ethnography of English football fans’ and the concept of the ‘carnival fan’. It identifies that football crowds are made up of numerous different sub-cultures. It provides a brief literature review of previous work on football fandom and ‘hooliganism’, focussing particularly on the work of Marsh, Armstrong, Giulianotti and the ‘Leicester School’. It also contains a discussion of the role of the media and fan confessionals (or ‘hoolie-lit’) in the construction and presentation of football crowd behaviour.
Geoff Pearson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780719087219
- eISBN:
- 9781781706145
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719087219.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter considers the issue of ‘football hooliganism’ and the differences between carnival fans and hooligans. It problematises the definition of ‘hooligan’, investigating how fans understood ...
More
This chapter considers the issue of ‘football hooliganism’ and the differences between carnival fans and hooligans. It problematises the definition of ‘hooligan’, investigating how fans understood the term. It details and accounts for crowd disorder witnessed abroad involving English teams, most notably at Marseilles (1998), Charleroi (2000) and Rome (2007), highlighting the key role of the police in whether disorder occurred and escalated, considering social psychological theory and the ‘elaborated social identity model’. It also investigates fan attitudes to ‘hooligans’ and violence more generally, establishing that there was a continual perceived risk of violence around matches, and a clear set of social rules surrounding when and how violence was acceptable, but that actual instances of inter-personal violence between fan groups from rival teams were rare.Less
This chapter considers the issue of ‘football hooliganism’ and the differences between carnival fans and hooligans. It problematises the definition of ‘hooligan’, investigating how fans understood the term. It details and accounts for crowd disorder witnessed abroad involving English teams, most notably at Marseilles (1998), Charleroi (2000) and Rome (2007), highlighting the key role of the police in whether disorder occurred and escalated, considering social psychological theory and the ‘elaborated social identity model’. It also investigates fan attitudes to ‘hooligans’ and violence more generally, establishing that there was a continual perceived risk of violence around matches, and a clear set of social rules surrounding when and how violence was acceptable, but that actual instances of inter-personal violence between fan groups from rival teams were rare.
