Hoolinganism in Sport

British people are really fond of sports. Whether is it an individual or a team sport, they always like to take part in it, and they perform it with real enthusiasm and sport loving spirit. Their passion for sports started already few centuries ago; the public schools started to organise competitive games, which had their established rules. In those times, winning a game was not the only thing what you tried to achieve. Since there must be also a loser in a game, there was put more emphasis on being able to take a defeat.
However, times have changed. Sports, played those times for fun, have developed into a serious business, and the famous saying “it’s only a game” has completely vanished. Whether we talk about cricket, tennis, or football, the idea of winning the game is the most important one; however, during the last few decades it goes even far beyond that. Beauty of many sports, and namely football, is being constantly spoiled by rising hooliganism. Hereby I have come to my thesis statement, which says: The increasing violence on football stadiums has been becoming a major problem, since it endangers the original spirit of sport.
1. Reason: There are many “supporters” who tend to act violently just because there are people who support a different team. Lots of riots break out during derby matches where two teams from the same city play against each other. Supporters of a particular team apparently cannot bear the fact that there are also people from the same city who fancy a different team than they do. There are countless incidents published in newspapers about people who were beaten up the supporters of the other club, just because they were wearing a shirt of a different colour. Even more alarming is however the fact that British supporters tend to be violent also during international matches. Their bad reputation is known worldwide; they have even been given a lot-revealing nickname; and they are called rowdies. Before the World Cup in 2002 in South Korea and Japan, hundreds of British supporters had to hand in their passports in order to prevent their possible travelling to the Far East.
2. Reason: Alcohol. Whether it is before or after a game, pubs all over in Britain are completely overfilled with supporters who are trying to put themselves into a “better” mood by drinking beer or any other alcohol-containing beverage. Being encouraged by the effects of alcohol, the possibility of getting involved into a fight might increase.

I had a chance to read a survey of football hooliganism on the Internet, where more than 76 % of people named the alcohol as a major factor regarding the cause of violence outside the stadium. By this statement I have to state a rhetorical question: How is that possible that people do not take the necessary measures to push the violence back, if they are more or less aware of its roots?
3. Reason: In my opinion, the Football Association, the governing body of the British football, should reconsider the correctness of its financial investments. Hereby, I would like to point out the complete destroying of the Wembley stadium and its planned rebuilding. The demolition of the stadium was not necessary, it was serving well for all the sports events since 1880, and it was certainly what England could be pride of. Its renewal will however cost several millions of Euro, whereas this money could have been invested into security forces or any other measures that could provide the decreasing of the violence.

To conclude, football is a fascinating sport. It provides its spectators everything what they want: excitement and entertainment, however sometimes also pain and tears. Well, that is acceptable, since sport is also about emotions. However, violence has no place there, and the competent people should do everything to decrease it.