Association football culture
Association football culture, or football culture, refers to the cultural aspects surrounding the game of association football. As the sport is global, the culture of the game is diverse, with varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness in each country. In many countries, football has ingrained itself into the national culture, and parts of life may revolve around it. Many countries have daily football newspapers, as well as football magazines. Football players, especially in the top levels of the game, have become role models.
Football has 160 years of history. The rules were first written in England in 1863, and since then a vast and diverse culture has emerged. The culture of football can be easily divided into how the players, fans and clubs see the sport. Held every four years, the FIFA World Cup is a "month long festival of football", with The Independent adding "its extreme popularity across the expanse of the globe giving it a uniquely universal audience".
Fans
Accessories
The wearing of football kits has been a significant part of football fan culture since the 1973–74 season, when Leeds United's replica kit, made by Admiral, was sold to football fans for the first time. By the late 1990s, this had become a common part of global fan culture. A similar series of events saw scarves become a prominent accessory; having been first introduced in the 1930s, they became much more prominent in England in the 1960s and 70s. These accessories replaced more traditional fan accessories, such as rosettes and rattles.Fair Play
Fair Play is the name of a FIFA programme which aims to increase sportsmanship as well as prevent discrimination in the game of football. This also involves programmes to reduce racism in the game. The programme extends to outside of football, in trying to support charities and other organisations which improve conditions around the world. The principles of the Fair Play programme can be summarised as follows:- Play fair
- Play to win but accept defeat with dignity
- Observe the laws of the game
- Respect opponents, teammates, referees, officials and spectators
- Promote the interests of football
- Honour those who defend football's good reputation
- Reject corruption, drugs, racism, sexism, violence, gambling and other dangers to our sport
- Help others to resist corrupting pressures
- Denounce those who attempt to discredit the sport
- Use football to make a better world
Food and beverages
In the United Kingdom, attendance at football matches is associated with the consumption of traditional football foods such as meat pies and Bovril. Food and beverage sales in stadiums can raise high incomes for clubs, and some clubs make attempts to improve their service and diversify out of traditional foods. In Brazil, sanduíche de calabresa is a popular meal in the surrounding areas of stadiums. In Mineirão stadium, feijão tropeiro, a typical dish from Minas Gerais, is very common. In Germany, many football fans eat bratwurst and drink beers. In Argentina, choripán and grilled hamburgers are commonly served in stadiums. In the past, a variety of pizza without cheese was served, which is now known as pizza de cancha. In Spain and Bulgaria, it is very common to eat sunflower seeds during the match. Although not in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but especially in Sarajevo, ćevapi are commonly seen to be sold around the stadiums before and after the matches, and people can often be seen selling pepita and juices in front of the entrance of the stadium and on the stands during the match.In many countries with drinking culture, football has been associated with alcohol consumption. This can be before, during and after the match, with drinking occurring inside the stadium, sometimes illicitly, as well as in pubs and bars outside. However, unwanted behaviour caused by drinking has led to the banning of the sale of alcohol to general supporters in stadiums across the UK, although most English and Welsh sides continue to sell alcohol within general stadium areas, with only clubs in Scotland being subject to a blanket ban following rioting after the 1980 Scottish Cup Final. Sales of alcohol still occur in executive lounges. Some teams and countries have Supporters Clubs which have friendly drinking reputations. However, some countries are more associated with drunken hooliganism as mentioned in the violence section below. More recently research has cast doubt on the effectiveness of alcohol restrictions on reducing the likelihood of disorder and violence, particularly involving English football fans such as the Heysel Stadium disaster.
Hooliganism
The level of passion with which football teams are supported has from time to time caused problems, and clashes between fans can result in violence. Some violence occurs by people aiming to cause trouble, a phenomenon known as hooliganism. Other fans group together in hooligan firms, which are organised gangs that seek fights with other firms supporting rival clubs. Both are sometimes known as the "English Disease," after the disorder caused by English fans travelling abroad to support either their club or national team in the 1970s and 1980s. However, violent organised supporters' groups surrounding football have been prevalent in other countries, most notably barras bravas that emerged in Argentina in the 1950s, some years before the appearance of significant hooligan firms in England. In addition, ultras, originally emerging in Italy in the 1960s, and in parts of Europe, Asia, Australia and North Africa, and torcidas organizadas in Brazil have become significant.Violence by fans has ranged from small fights between fans to tragedies such as the Heysel Stadium disaster and also the Football War. There have been incidents of fans being murdered, such as the killings of Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, two Leeds United supporters, in Istanbul in 2000 on the eve of the UEFA Cup Semi-Final first leg. In recent years this aspect of the game seems to have passed its peak in England though it has by no means disappeared completely. Specialist police units and information-sharing between regional and international police forces has made it much harder for the hooligans to organise and participate in disorder. CCTV inside and outside stadiums and also at other anticipated "flash points" such as city centres and railway stations now makes it more likely that people involved in disorder can be identified later even if they are not arrested at the scene. However, there are still disruptions surrounding football matches. One example being the UEFA Champions League matches which were played on 12 and 13 April 2005.
Violence by fans has also affected players, including professional athletes, but this is rare. One example includes a message to Christian Vieri, apparently by an Inter Milan fan, which threatened to burn down his restaurant, criticising his attitude towards the team. There is also the notorious incident where the Colombian international player Andrés Escobar was murdered shortly after returning home from the 1994 World Cup. This was reputedly for scoring the own goal which eliminated Colombia from the competition.
Before the 1998 FIFA World Cup, 26 Seaburn Casuals hooligans were arrested in a police raid after a military-issue smoke bomb was let out at a local pub after a fight with bouncers. By the end of the operation, over 60 were facing charges. Some of the Seaburn Casuals hooligans picked up in the raid were also involved with neo-Nazi groups like Combat 18. The operation failed when judge ruled CCTV footage from the pub inadmissible.
In March 2000, the Seaburn Casuals fought with hooligans from the Newcastle Gremlins in a pre-arranged clash near the North Shields Ferry terminal, in what was described as "some of the worst football related fighting ever witnessed in the United Kingdom". The leaders of the Gremlins and Casuals were both jailed for four years for conspiracy, with 28 others jailed for various terms, based on evidence gained after police examined the messages sent by mobile phone between the gang members on the day.
There have been a number of accidents and disasters in the history of football. Some of these, such as the Hillsborough and Ibrox disasters, were due to problems with crowd control. The Heysel Stadium disaster was a combination of hooliganism and poor crowd control. The Bradford City stadium fire was due to poor fire safety in the stadium. Lessons learned from these disasters have led to safer football stadiums and gradual bans on smoking.