Citation

Joern L. Sport Soc. 2009; 12(10): 1269.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17430430903204777

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Ever since the 1980s hooliganism has been one of the major recurring sources of political and juridical concern; attempts to impose control have been constant, through legislation, new policing strategies, and media excoriations of disorderly supporters. Football hooliganism has made it possible for the police to introduce and normalize new far-reaching strategies of control enabled by new surveillance technologies. While there has been a traditional antipathy to surveillance, the creation of a moral panic around football-related disorder served to market a solution that has symbolic rather then pragmatic utility. The population at large seems to have welcomed the movement based on the motto: if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. The creation and refinement of new technologies has intensified surveillance of football supporters - capturing violent as well as non-violent supporters alike. The aim of this essay is to reflect on the implications of the increasing surveillance.

Keywords: Soccer; Violence; Crowds