Football World Cup And Football Violence

Sports is perceived as one of the ways, if not the only one, to build bridges between nations and cultures. But the World Cup history goes hand in hand with ugly incidents between fans and players, to say the least. Since the very first Football World Cup championship in 1930, there were numerous reports of violent situations from spontaneous and low level disorders during the match to organized gang fights between football clubs, sometimes a long way before a match.

It is often claimed that the peak of football and soccer hooliganism came about 1970’s and 1980’s, with more reported wide-scale violence at matches. However, it is difficult to know whether the amount of disorder increased or whether the growing media coverage of crowd disorder has meant it is reported far more regularly.

In 2005 in Istanbul, the match between Turkey and Sweden ended with the players clawing and kicking one another and objects being thrown from the crowd. The outcome of a supposedly sporting contest was Turkey’s elimination from the 2006 World Cup.

In June 1998, during the FIFA World Cup finals, police fired tear gas to control fights involving English and Tunisian fans. There are 49 arrests, including 27 English fans, with 30 people injured.

In Sydney, during the World Cup 2010 qualifying game where Australia beat Uruguay, the winning penalty was converted in a shootout and throat-slitting followed by opposing players’ grabbing one another by the throat.

But the most famous incident occurred in 1969. It is known as the “Football War” or “Soccer War”, that was caused by political conflicts between Hondurans and Salvadorans and exploded during the second North American qualifying round for the 1970 FIFA World Cup. The first game took place in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras; the second game took place in San Salvador, both times home teams won. Later on, both nations exploited existing tensions, reporting beatings, the burning of cars and attacks in their countries by the soccer fans of the other team. On July 14, 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras, which was resolved on July 20 after the interference of the Organization of American States. 

However, disorder in and around English stadia has reduced spectacularly since the 1970s and 80s, and English football grounds are now certainly safer than the average. Furthermore, disorder abroad can be reduced by appropriate methods of policing: It is possible to police a crowd of drunken football supporters in a way that prevents serious disorder, as was demonstrated at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and will hopefully drum into this year football World Cup in South Africa.