Yeah.
So a significant number of the ultras (ultra/beyond/fanatic — sometimes tragic) who follow Melbourne Knights/Croatia are fascist; tho’ the occasional conflict between rival football/soccer fans in Australia is more often a product of ethnic or national rivalry as it is a ‘political’ (or simply sporting) dispute.
Whatever.
Soccer: dangerous spectator sport
Maxwell Webster
The News Record
January 20, 2010…Across Europe, the story’s the same. There’s the ‘Old Firm’ derby in Glasgow, which pits the predominantly Catholic side, Celtics, against the mostly Protestant side, Rangers.
There are the bands of ‘Ultras’ in Italy who abide by the far right politics of Italy’s Northern Alliance and routinely direct racist chants at black players and maliciously throw them bananas.
Even the United States, so safe from soccer’s influence for so long, is getting into the act. Groups like the New York Red Bull’s Red Skins, a group of socialist-anarchist skinheads, have garnished a reputation for brawling with stadium authorities. Fans of Ohio’s very own Columbus Crew fought with supporters from England’s West Ham United during a friendly match in 2008.
Why soccer and not other team sports? Maybe it is the popularity of the game that causes people to rally. But it is clear that the politics of the game is going a long way into making what is dubbed the “beautiful game” into an ugly sport.
I haven’t looked closely, but I can find no trace of the New York Red Bulls ultras. Still, there’s the New Yawk-based RASH-Northeast, The Partisans in Chicago, redskins in Colombia (Bogota), redskins in Russia and of course St Pauli.
In fact, there’s loadsa ultras, including antifa.
See also : How Soccer Explains the World: an interview with Franklin Foer, Bradford Plumer, Mother Jones, August 3, 2004 | A-SOCCER:
Life may scatter us and keep us apart; it may prevent us from thinking very often of one another; but we know that our comrades are somewhere “out there” – where, one can hardly say – silent, forgotten, but deeply faithful. And when our path crosses theirs, they greet us with such magnificent joy, shake us so gaily by the shoulders! Indeed we are accustomed to waiting. – Antoine Saint Exupery, Wind, Sand and Stars
Bonus Blumio!
PS. Fuck Off You’re Fools.
