Spectator Violence
Almost everyone has seen or been involved in sports violence. Anything from a fight at a hockey game to a brawl after a soccer game is sports violence. There is an extremely fine line between rough and violence and most players and spectators dont know where rough play ends and violence begins. An increase in both frequency and seriousness of acts of violence in sports has been well documented. Violence is most prevalent in team contact sports, such as ice hockey, football, and soccer. While most occurrences of violence come from players, others, including coaches, parents, fans, and the media, also contribute to what has been described as an epidemic of violence in sports today (Leonard, 1988). ... They are also the factors affecting the degree of spectator violence. Therefore the blame for spectator violence can be attributed to whoever has power over the sport. ... Then there will be the steps owners and institutions have taken to try and control fan violence. ... Today, in an attempt to reduce violence, stadiums have also limited the sale of alcohol - which is often the fuel for aggressive behavior. ... There is an increase in violence following sporting events promoting rivalry as compared to regular promotion, as seen in professional boxing following a highly talked about match. ... Excessive promotion of rivalry changes crowd cheers to jeers that can lead to violence. ... Some fan violence is considered traditional. ... "Hooliganism" is a term used by security officials in Europe, where soccer inspired violence is a well know phenomena (Marsh 1996). It is used to describe those that use a soccer game as an excuse to commit act of unmitigated violence against fans of the other teams, or for no reason at all. In fact, crowd violence is almost a commonplace occurrence in England, Ireland, German, and other countries where soccer is the national game. ... It follows then that there will only be a reduction in fan violence when the payers themselves decrease their aggression. By studying the occurrences and causes of fan violence over history, owners and institutions are able to decrease the incidents of fan violence while maintaining profits and entertainment value of their organization.