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I am doing my special interest topic on Hooligans because it is very interesting for me to find out something about this group of people. If people talk about Hooligans a picture of a violent, male person with shaved head, wearing a bomber jacket, tattooed, always drinking beer and showing a rude behaviour occurs to their mind.
It is true; the average football hooligan is a white, working-class male, someone seeking status through the terraces. Most do know a lot about the sport and they are passionate about their club, but they see violence as a way of achieving status.
Young working- class men do not have channels for achievement elsewhere. They have unfulfilling lives and the majority of them have little status, having low status jobs, so they become the boss on the terraces, and if they can get themselves on TV or in the papers then they increase their reputation.
They are coming from working class communities where violence is a fact of life. They tend to come from particular communities that are characterised by an aggressive masculinity. Young people tend to spend a lot of time on the on the streets and they attend status in being tough and hard and being able to look after themselves. Most people get satisfaction and status through jobs, education or good housing, and for these hooligans, it is physical toughness that counts. A lot of people also get a certain kick when they are in a group - they get a special feeling of belonging to each other and getting one with the masses. They have a feeling they have never had before, because they probably never got a lot of love from their parents and it is very often the case that the hooligan group is a substitute for the family, because they often have a bad familiar background - the father drinks and beats the mother- this reason is quite similar as the reason why young people join gangs.
But there are also hooligans who have a good job, a family and live in a high social class.
There are hooligans who have criminal records and some who do not, some who are in an organized group and some who are just acting spontaneous without planning.
So it is really hard to stereotype a hooligan or talk about a "typical" hooligan, there is a majority who has a few things in common, but all in all you cannot talk about "the Hooligan".
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