One of the causes of spectator violence is the strong identification that spectators have with a team. Semyonov and Farbstein in their article, “Ecology of Sports Violence,” said that sports teams “become a central symbol for the community in which they are based, and consequently, an important source of identification and pride” (53). This identification often leads to competition between communities, and when two competing communities are exposed to the atmosphere of an athletic competition, violence can easily break out.
This tension in the atmosphere of an athletic competition is another cause. The more heightened the atmosphere is at an athletic contest, the more likely fan violence is to occur. There are many factors that contribute to the heightened atmosphere. Rivalry is one of the major contributors to the atmosphere of a game. In “FanViolence: Who’s to Blame?” it is written, “Excessive promotion of rivalry changes crowd cheers to jeers that can lead to violence.” Athletic teams always anticipate, with added hostility, playing their rivalries, which sets the tone for violence to take place. Homecoming games are another factor that increases the tension between teams. They are often accompanied with pep rallies including loud music and derisive chants that pump up the crowd, adding to the antagonism toward the opposing team. Even the smallest details, like the cheers from cheerleaders, are often condescending toward the other team. One rather obscure contributor to the atmosphere is the amount of comfort the spectators have at a contest. Matt Starr of Mount Vernon News, in his article “Violence Abounds in all of Sports,” says “newer stadiums use more environmental measures to make the places more comfortable for spectators reducing their ‘structural strain,’ a term used to describe how uncomfortable or physically annoyed the fans get as the contest continues.” Starr goes on to say that “making them more comfortable only makes sense if it calms them down.” Stadium seating, as insignificant as it seems, plays an indirect role in fan violence. Uncomfortable seating leads to aggravated and short-tempered fans, which only takes the smallest deed to set them off.
Another interesting contributor to the cause of spectator violence is the geographic location of the competing schools. Violence and aggression are more likely to occur when the teams are from neighboring communities or schools rather than from separated locations. This is the major reason that rivalries often come from schools that are closest to each other. More time, effort, and emphasis is always spent on these games which builds the anticipation and enmity just waiting to unleash itself on the opposing players and fans.
The commercialization of sports is a major cause in the increase in sports violence. In societies where games were not for profit, like most ancient societies, the games were enjoyed as celebrations of physical skill without competitiveness or violence between athletes, let alone the spectators. However, today’s violence among the athletes is being emphasized for the purpose of generating and maintaining spectator interest. Violence is also being used as an effective tactic in winning games. For example, some coaches encourage trying to injure the other team’s star player to increase the chances of winning. Violence is also used to enhance an athlete’s reputation and popularity. Our society seems to love the “bad boy” image in sports, and is often amused at his actions. As a result, the encouraged violence in athletic competitions has transferred directly over to spectator conduct.
From the commercialization of sports, and the pursuit of its profits, has come the sale of alcohol; which is arguably the biggest contributor to spectator violence. Unfortunately, the sale of beer is a major contributor to the financial support of teams. Beer sales bring in profit, and increase attendance sales, but they also dramatically increase fan violence. In “Fan Violence: Who’s to Blame?” one incident with alcohol is accounted:
In 1974, when the Cleveland Indians’ fan attendance was down, the owner implemented “Beer Night” where they sold beer for ten cents at the first game of a three game series against the Texas Rangers. Attendance was up by 3500. The night turned out to be the first and last “Beer Night” when a brawl occurred during the 5th inning; hundreds of Indian fans charged the field and beat up Texas Ranger players. Seventy-six people were arrested. All were intoxicated.
It is easy to see that alcohol plays a huge role in spectator violence. Even though alcohol does increase profits, it also results in misbehavior that leads to violence. Consequently, a decrease in the sale of alcohol would decrease violence. From the opposing view, it’s a shame that responsible drinkers should have their privileges taken away just because of the irresponsible acts of a few drinkers; but, when the lives and safety of the fans is taken into consideration, the pros of the constraints on alcohol outweigh its cons.
Another interesting connection with fan violence is date and time the contest takes place. However, to prove this point, one must first know that it is often working class males who are the main contributors to fan violence. They typically have values and attitudes of aggressiveness, fearlessness, and toughness that lead to violence in a competitive, athletic atmosphere. One interesting story from the American Baseball League proves this point. Many teams in the league in the 1970’s were having problems with spectator violence and knew that the main offenders were male. The American Baseball League consequently changed their games to Sunday afternoons, traditionally a family day, and encouraged female attendance by admitting them free. With women and family at the games, the men were less likely to loose their composure and act violently. The results from studies of the following five years were positive, and crowd violence decreased by thirty percent (“Fan Violence: Who’s to Blame”). This indicates that women and children are positive influences on males and tend to decrease violence for the following two main reasons: males, on one hand, don’t want to embarrass their families, and on the other, it is out of mere respect for women and children that males behave appropriately.
With all these causes in mind, owners can be seen as partially responsible for crowd violence by the things they offer their fans. Owners need to be aware that some of their actions to increase sales and profits have an indirect influence on the amount of violence in the crowd, and, for that reason, changes that decrease spectator violence should be made. Conversely, many owners don’t think they need to change just because of the stupidity of a few fans, which is true, but owners carry a huge responsibility, and with that responsibility is safety of the spectators.
Some owners have taken measures to decrease the amount of violence among their hordes. In New York, fans wearing Boston Red Sox jerseys have been told to take them off before entering the stadium to prevent fights from breaking out between the opposing fans. As a result, this has angered many of the well-mannered booster fans, and rightfully so, but again, the safety of the spectators as a whole is calling for drastic measures. These measures may not always seem fair, but in the end, they reduce the harmful effects of violence. There comes a point when spectator safety trumps spectator rights, especially if the rights are a cause of the problem. Many owners are also limiting their amount of alcohol sales, which is reducing the fuel for aggressive behavior. Major League Baseball has also mandated that no beer may be sold after the sixth inning. These actions mark the first of many steps that need to be taken to reduce spectator violence.
It is plain to see in today’s world that spectator violence is rising out of control. It can be seen everywhere, all over the news, permeating every sport. Now that the causes of fan violence are easily seen, the solution seems quite obvious. If the things that instigate fan violence are eliminated, spectator violence will decrease. However, completely eliminating these causes is impossible because of the inherent nature of sports and the unwillingness of society to sacrifice sales for safety. However, the safety of our society unquestionably makes an attempt at minimizing these causes advisable. It is time that our society starts to place safety above money, and it starts with the franchise owners. Sports are so influential in today’s society it is a shame they have a negative image. If a consorted effort would be made to reduce sports violence, sports could become the positive influence they should be; building unity, character, and morals.
