Alcohol definitely holds a part of the responsibility for all this. It’s also known that people behave in different way when they are in a crowd. They don’t feel responsibility for their acts.
Nowadays, hooligans started using new technologies. They use the Internet and mobile phones to organise fights. The idea is to meet on a pre-arranged place, to avoid police intervention. But if these fights are arranged away from the stadiums, is it still a football violence?
Hooligans are active on the Internet, too. There are numerous web sites with photographs, comments on various fights, chat-rooms. And again, hooligan web sites on the Internet it’s not only English specialisation.
Who is a football hooligan actually? It could be anybody – age and class does not matter. It’s not only adolescent boys who search for identity, there is also quite a large number of older hooligans who are involved in this activity since their teens. Mainly young fans wear casual, designer clothes, but not necessarily.
The British government policy to football hooliganism changed after 15th April 1989. At the FA cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest happened a tragedy that is known as Hillsborough disaster. The stadium became overcrowded and people got crushed on the steel barrier. Even though the match was stopped after 6 minutes 95 Liverpool fns died. The Football Spectators Act 1989 was introduced, The Football (Offences)Act 1991, The Football (Offences and Disorder) Bill 1998 and The Football (Offences and Disorder) Act 1999 followed. The last one changed the definition of football-related offences. Only disorder that happened immediately before and after match used to be considered a football-related. The Football (Offences and Disorder) Act 1999 changed the period to 24 hours either side of the match. The National Criminal Intelligence Service consider also drunkenness, running on to the pitch, ticket touting, obscene gestures and offensive chanting to be an offence. Drink-related offences includes to be drunk or in possession of alcohol on the football coach or train, to enter a stadium drunk and to drink alcohol within a view of the pitch. After EURO2000 in Belgium, new and even more strict law (The Football (Disorder) Act 2000) was introduced. It was because of the riots in Belgian Charleroi. Censorship of chanting and singing occurred as well. No racist chants are allowed and also those containing sings of sexism, ageism and illiteracy.