Nel suo saggio “Hooligans” Peter Leeson tenta di decifrare il fenomeno ultras osservandolo da un’angolazione originale.
Ecco la sua tesi di fondo:
… We model hooligans as persons who derive utility from conflict. Legal penalties for conflicting with non-hooligans drive hooligans to form a kind of “fight club” where they fight only one another…
I vero nemico del divertimento ultras è il sadico:
… it attracts ultra-violent persons we call “sadists.” If the proportion of fight-club members who are sadists grows sufficiently high, the fight club self-destructs…
L’arma che gli ultras utilizzano per emarginare i sadici sono i “codici d’onore”:
… Rules that regulate the form club conflict can take, but don’t eliminate conflict, can prevent the club from self-destructing even when populated exclusively by sadists…
Agli ultras piacciono le botte e le risse. La violenza non è per loro uno strumento ma l’oggetto del divertimento in sé.
… With hooligans things are different. Hooligans don’t conflict to get more of a contested resource. They conflict to conflict. For hooligans, fighting is a source of utility…
C’è una differenza non da poco tra l’essere tifosi e l’essere ultras, per questi ultimi la partita è poco più che un pretesto:
… Hooligans are distinct from “ordinary” football fans who might occasionally drink too much and find themselves in altercations with the fans of opposing teams. The former persons see conflict with likeminded rival fans as one of their primary ends…
Nelle parole di un protagonista:
… “I go to a match for one reason only: the aggro [i.e., fighting] . . . . I get so much pleasure when I’m having aggro that I nearly wet my pants . . . I go all over the country looking for it . . . every night during the week we go around town looking for trouble”…
Gli ultras amano le risse ma hanno cura di evitare ferimenti gravi (cesserebbe il divertimento):
… However, they’re similar to most other people in that they don’t enjoy being seriously injured. Hooligans aren’t masochists. Hooligans are willing to subject themselves to a reasonably small probability of serious injury, which naturally attends any altercation…
Le curve hanno nomi pittoreschi e legati alla battaglia:
… hooligan firms include “The Red Army” (Manchester United), the “Headhunters” (Chelsea), “The Gooners” (Aresnal), the “United Service Crew” (Leed), the “Bushwhackers”… (Millwall), the “Blades Business Crew” (Sheffield United), and the “Inter City Firm” (West Ham United)…
A volte la rissa è pre-ordinata:
… to avoid legal trouble, rival hooligan firms sometimes prearrange meeting times and places to fight outside of football-related events…
I rituali sono centrali nel conflitto fisico tra ultras e a volte arrivano addirittura a sostituirlo:
… many hooligan fights are ritualistic and non-violent (Marsh 1978a; Marsh et al. 1978). They involve verbal conflicts, such as taunting, name calling, and chasing. Even physically violent hooligan conflicts, which may involve punching, kicking, and weapons, rarely result in serious injuries…
Il rischio di tutto questo è quello di attrarre i sadici:
… Hooliganism is an activity known for violent conflict. It threatens to attract sadistic persons— persons who enjoy seriously injuring others in violent conflicts. Thus we would expect hooliganism to suffer from uncontrolled conflict and generate rampant serious injuries…
Queste persone sono una vera minaccia per il divertimento ultras:
… Sadists spoil the fight club and put all hooligans back “in the wild” where they’re unable to realize the gains from trade available from fighting one another. This reduces brawlers’ welfare. But it reduces sadists’ welfare too. Sadists prefer to seriously injure their opponents when they can. But short of that, they would rather fight persons who won’t prosecute them for assault than be unable to fight at all…
Per isolare i sadici si insiste su rituali e codici d’onore. Per esempio, si evita ogni aggressione ai tifosi ordinari:
… hooligans seek to fight other hooligans— not ordinary football fans or other members of the non-hooligan public, who are likely to bring them legal trouble…
Ci si posiziona solo in curva e si delimitano con cura le zone pericolose…:
… hooligans have historically seated themselves in particular areas of football stadiums known to be inhabited by hooligans… seating areas immediately behind the goals… pubs… train station…
Gli ultras hanno una loro uniformi al fine da non coinvolgere terzi nelle loro risse:
… Traditionally, hooligans have worn scarves around their wrists and shirts in their team’s colors and Doc Marten boots… members of the Chelsea Headhunters became known for wearing “Armani pullovers and other designer clothes” (Haley 2001). Other hooligans sport gear from CP Company, Paul & Shark, Ralph Lauren, Stone Island, and Versace (Thornton 2003)…
Se degli estranei entrano sul campo di battaglia si è tenuti ad arrestare il tafferuglio.
… When non-hooligans come into the danger area amidst a “fight-club” foray, hooligans may even cease fighting to avoid the legal repercussions…
Ci sono dei modi ben precisi per innescare un conflitto. Bisogna innanzitutto lanciare la sfida nelle forme previste. Un attacco proditorio sarebbe da codardi:
… Once a fellow “fight-club” member has been identified, to initiate a fight the hooligan code requires a clear challenge to be made and accepted by the rival hooligan( s)… Fight initiation may involve behavior as simple as staring intently at a rival hooligan without diverting one’s eyes, to name calling, chanting or singing threats or boasts, or, at matches, the invasion of rival hooligans’ seating area… rules of fight initiation prevent unanticipated physical attacks, such as “sucker punching,”
Esiste un diritto a declinare la sfida:
… hooligan rules for initiating fights permit hooligans who on a particular occasion aren’t up to a fight, perhaps because they’re severely outnumbered, physically weak, or suffering from some other circumstance that would render them less capable of more evenly defending themselves, to decline physical conflict…
Si combatte a calci, pugni e testate, al massimo vengono ammessi solo oggetti reperiti casualmente sul posto durante lo scontro. No coltelli e altre armi.
… Most physical fights between hooligans are with fists and feet. However, certain weapons are also permitted… “Glasses and bottles are acceptable . . . anything you can get hold of, you know, a bar stool, ashtray, bottle, because they’ve got the same chance; but knives are out of order”… Everyday objects lying about in the space where a physical fight occurs are available to both adversaries…
Esistono convenzioni anche per dichiarare la fine dello scontro:
… A final rule of fighting is that a fight may be ended at any time by either fighter. According to the hooligan code, when a hooligan indicates that he’s had enough, the conflict must cease… segni di resa: refraining from action, keeping quiet, looking down at the floor, and running…
Le regole si applicano mediante il meccanismo della reputazione (personale e della curva).
Chi non rispetta il codice è bollato come codardo e allontanato dai suoi stessi compagni poiché scredita tutto il gruppo.
… For example, the “Blades Business Crew” not only didn’t carry knives. They considered anyone who did carry them weak and cowardly and so ostracized them… “Bringing a Knife . . . by your own supporters sometimes it’s looked down on as being a form of, you know, cowardice”…
Per anticipare gli inconvenienti molte curve hanno complesse procedure di ammissione al gruppo:
… Indeed, to protect their reputations, hooligan firms are unlikely to admit simply anyone expressing an interest to join them. Rather, membership is restricted, requiring a lengthy process through which a would-be firm member must demonstrate his character to existing firm members…
Un altro mezzo per esaltare la reputazione è quello di dotarsi di una ferrea gerarchia: solo i migliori e i più corretti vanno avanti.
