Football media has been given a status that is real but also inflated. From the earliest days of hooliganism being prevalent at football matches, the media by way of television, and in particular newspapers, has played its role in both amplifying and deamplifying events.
Often the debates as to the rise or fall of hooliganism can be traced to how much coverage the media has allocated to this phenomena. A correlation in newspaper reporting of hooliganism during the 60s, 70s and 80s, will accompany the general public's awareness of disorder during those decades, and equally the recent feeling of the decrease in disorder during the 90s, leading to the perceived rise in disorder in the last few months, can be seen as correlating with a lack of coverage of hooliganism during the 90s and the plethora of coverage leading up to the World Cup 2002. With the BBC and Channel 4 getting in on the act with the 'hooligans' and 'football's fight club' episodes respectively.
Media organisations have a huge influence on all aspects of our lives, but in particular on the entertainment and sports sides of our lives. There are certain 'sexy topics' that immediately draw the eye to a headline, these would include specific names, such as; Diana (princess of Wales), Elvis, Oasis, Blur, Star Wars, Catherine Zeta Jones, Becks, Beckham, Posh, Sven, Erikson. And then there are the attached or individual buzz-words, these include; war, terrorism, murder, affair, death, corruption, liar, treason, rape, battle, sex, porn, paedophilia, homosexual, homophobia, addicts, corruption, jailed etc.
Then there is the British, or specifically regional slant, 'England take on the Hun' angle, firing up passion is an indesputable part of media related nationalisation.
Unfortunately, English people in general, and in particular the youth, do not have the historical knowledge and pride of our ancestors, so the control over that passion and discipline that was there after real wars, becomes the biggoted attitude that is normally displayed prior to exposure to real war, which is dangerously premature and unrepresented by the majority of informed people, and this is inveriably translated into fascist confrontation abused frequently but not in any real sense effectively by right-wing groups such as the BNP, Combat 18 and other groups that take nationalism to the next stage, that of racism.
Interestingly, we all, to one degree or another got it wrong. Football violence
did not die at the World Cup 2002. It was the best and worst gap in fotball violence. We will see the worst violence in 2004 because they have waited a frustrating 4 years rather than the usual two and it is local. Wake up!
The media has an undisputable affect on this subject and can change the face of nationalistic moments in a flash. It is not only the concept of Scottish, Welsh, Ireland, English, Northern Ireland nationalistic reporting but also the media tend to have a political disposition, this can be seen as both classist and at its extreme racist, but most importantly it is 'controlling'.
Robin Manser 29/05/2002
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