Where are the Hooligans, in the U.S.

After listening to Dr. Geoff Meek share stories about soccer hooligans overseas, it was pretty obvious that the class was more shocked then surprised. We all know that soccer fans over in England and Asia are extremely passionate when it comes to their favorite team. However, I learned that they take it to a whole new level compared to us Americans. Fans on the other side of the world root for their favorite teams or country by taking extreme measures such as using racism or fighting. In class we saw fans throwing bananas at African American soccer players that were on the other team. We also heard about fans meeting up to fight the other teams fans. It has gotten to the point that instead of brawling inside the stadium and getting security involved, they choose to meet on neutral grounds and battle it out. Hearing about this and finding out that it is not just adults, but children as young as their early teenage years fighting for their favorite team is just insane! How can you consider them fans? Those are Hooligans. In America, the perspective of a fan is someone who wears their favorite teams apparel, attend their games, talks about them, cheers when they win and maybe cries when they lose. Nothing to the point where we bust out in gang fights. Now I'm not saying you don't see a pissed off fan fight with a fan of the opposing team, I'm just saying it usually is not done in groups or without alcohol. 


Think about it, the only time you see or hear about fans going out of control for their team is when a city wins a title/big game. Philadelphia is a great example, the Phillies were World Series Champions in 2008 and fans had raging parties in the streets, damaging their cities property. Another example, I know it is the World Cup and soccer is not as huge here, but Americans still got into the hype and cheered for the U.S. Well once we were eliminated by Ghana, we did not go out and try to hunt down any fans of Ghana and kick their ass. That's just not America's thing. Soccer across the world is our Football over in America, and when comparing each others fans, I think it is a fair consumption that we have more class. When our NFL team losses a game we don't go out looking for a fight to relieve our anger. Going to Cincinnati last year in all of my Steelers gear did not get me jumped, beat down or shot. I lived, and even though jokes were made I was still treated fair. That is not the case with soccer in other parts of the country. Maybe Americans need to be more thankful that they do not have to worry about their life being at stake when heading to a professional game.