| Abstract: |
The great interest in Asia for European, male football is an expression of
globalised sports. Here globalisation and processes of globalisation stands
for the economical, social and cultural processes, which link and affect
globally. Global capitalism created a world hegemony. As a consequence the
hegemonic power of the western world (including Japan) until now will be the
norm of interpretation. A precondition for the development of globalised
sports as an industry of entertainment is the developing of a global
infrastructure - especially in the shape of cable and satellite television.
This infra structure, developed in the 80s and 90s, made it possible to
worldwide watching of Olympic games, European Championships and World
Championships in male football. The expansion of media played an important
role for especially European football being global. The heavy interest was
capitalized in the rights of broadcasting, which rapidly became substantial
costly as the requests on the market grew. Global attention made well-known
athletics as the British footballer David Beckham becoming symbols of public
relations twinning sports, entertainment and advertising in their brand names.
Also the leading football clubs (or entertainment enterprises) as Manchester
United and Barcelona became actors on a global commercial market. The season
1992/93 the Champions League became a formidable success. On the expanding
broadcasting market the prime European football soon became a global matter.
The combination of TV-rights and the logic of competition and success resulted
in strengthening of the already economically strong clubs, which made them
even more successful both sporting and economically. The broadcasting rights
play an important role in the formation of the leading clubs as profitdriven
companies. Financially strong interests of owners now compete of purchasing
clubs in the British Premier League. Another consequence of the global infra
structure were the effects on the conditions of the labour market of sports.
The new economical preconditions created assumptions for them to buy the best
players on the market. The direction of the mobility from the economical
periphery to the economical centre implies that the players move to Western
Europe and the leading leagues there. The processes of globalisation got many
cultural consequences. Traditionalistic reactions in the Western World
resulted in growing national and specific local identities. Sports are
important fields for the interpretation of these identities. The use of
national symbols connected to sports has been more common. Firsthand
supporting the national team has become more common. The interest from media
has increast distinctly. The national celebration of the successes has
increased - especially in the form of celebrating the heroes in a
carnivalesque way. The local identities are mostly expressed as the cultures
of supporters. Hooliganism is an extreme form of this, which heavily has
affected European male football. Hooliganism is a social problem, but when
comes to the audience's behaviour it is a relative marginal phenomenon.
Historically the male football interpreted class and local identities. As a
result of this processes the audience was considered as an uncontrolled mass,
which express community, carnival and ritual with tifon's, supporting chants
and songs. Hooliganism has existed all through the football's history, as one
undercurrent. It got increased attention after England's victory in the World
Championships of 1966. As a consequence of the mediated interest modern
British style of football hooliganism in 1971 came to Sweden. In the 90s the
problem grew, when the hooligan firms expanded. But, the historical
perspective shows that the western problem with hooliganism is old and cannot
be distinguished from the practice of football. The violent European fans
treat the British hooligans as role-models, which inspired them and told them
how to develop their own culture. The hooligans also are inspired by the
increasing media coverage of football related violence. |