Ultra as a Social Phenomenon

This paper introduces the reader to the world of a special, previously unknown subculture of football supporters: the “ultras”. The ultra as social phenomenon have very different characteristics by time and place. Th is article reviews the history of the original Italian movement which provides an opportunity for drawing general conclusions precisely because of its exemplary nature. The paper reviews the history of the Italian movement from the heated sixties through its heyday in the eighties till the present. Beyond the aim of presenting the phenomenon the author suggests that for a certain part of youths the ultra movement was far from simply a terrain of raging violence but represented a field of socialization. Gábor Balázs emphasizes that there are fundamental, substantive differences between hooliganism originating in the UK and the Italian ultra phenomenon; even if the line between the two is often blurred in Hungary. The latter one, on the one hand, is a well-organized social subculture, while on the other hand tends to be much more self-reflexive: unlike hooligans it has something to say about football, its social role, and about society itself. From the nineties onwards the emergence of greater violence, the increasing repression and specific laws against the ultras, the commercialization of football and the mentality of a new generation of football fans jointly became problems, threatening the existence of the movement. This provoked a fundamental change: the movement once based on internal rivalry became the enemy of the system. This clearly changes the movement’s character too in many respects, which is discussed in the last section of the paper.