A question of sport?
Football, tribalism and the media
(JPR Newletter, Winter 2002)

A JPR seminar for academics and sports writers examined the issues concerning antisemitism, xenophobia, racism and violence that frequently surround football. The seminar questioned the role of the media and the implications of cultures of racism for football clubs, especially those with traditions of support among minority communities. Held in the framework of JPR's Civil Society Programme, it was chaired by Dr Paul Iganski, JPR's Civil Society Fellow and Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Essex.

From Left: Dr Paul Iganski, Les back and Jon Garland

A presentation by Jon Garland, Research Fellow at the Scarman Centre, University of Leicester and co- author of the book Racism and Anti-Racism in Football, focused on the press coverage of England games in the 90s. He highlighted the use of jingoism, linked to nostalgia for the Second World War, with the 1966 World Cup and the Falklands War operating as recurring themes.

Les Back, Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths' College, University of London and co-author of The Changing Face of Football, said he had gathered testimony about 'all kinds of racism going on inside football, from training grounds to boardrooms. There is a racism of whispers, mutters and asides'. For Back, watching football was a form of 'theatre of identity'. Sport had become an entry ticket to a type of culture, characterized by the repetition every Saturday of a ritual representing the power of continuity and tradition. However, there was also an implicit 'cultural passport'; black and other minority fans may feel uncomfortable in a stadium since the cultural passport does not include them.

Les Back distinguished between the 'ludic' and the 'literal'—whereby racism in football is often dismissed as 'just playing', or, on the other hand, defined as purposefully hateful. Between these two extremes, he said, there was an ambivalent space. Abuse occurring within the football ground must be understood within its own social context.

Back cited Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, with its reputation as a 'Jewish' club. He singled out the reappropriation of the term of abuse Yid and the hissing 'gas chamber sounds' used against Spurs fans at away matches. He emphasized that this form of abuse was very complex and specific to the football ground.

Paul Iganski pointed out that sportswear companies profit from and perpetuate a form of tribal identity. Barry Kosmin observed _similarities between the fascist garb of the 1930s and football shirts worn by fans today. Both conferred a sense of belonging. Asserting the power of language and the impact of stereotyping, he urged the media to take a more constructive role and to avoid playing into the hands of the 'yob culture'.

JPR Chairman Peter Levy OBE cited the increasing importance of black players in English football. In response, Les Back described them as seeming to play 'with their shirts over their heads', making them invisible as blacks, if not to fans looking for _opportunities for race-baiting.

Kenneth Chapman, Safety Officer of Millwall Football Club, quoted recent research which showed that 12% of Millwall fans were single mothers who took their sons to matches.

JPR's Development Officer, Judith Russell, expressed the hope that the growing 'feminization' of football as a spectator sport would have a civilising effect over time.

Jon Garland speculated whether an emerging pan-European culture might eventually help transform British football culture, since many clubs consist of a majority of European players. He regretted that anti-racism initiatives had largely ground to a halt in football.

Les Back concluded that this was an urgent conversation; practical solutions had been too narrow in the past. Things were changing, but slowly. He recalled the most shocking thing he had heard while researching in this field - a former England manager told him that a member of the Football Association had complained that there were 'too many niggers in English football…'

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