The UltraS: an emerging social movement

In recent years, there has been a rise in the conflict between the Italian police forces and football fans. This situation is a result of the resurgence of the UltraS (the S capital is a neologism of this study to suggest neo-fascist oriented fans' and to differentiate them from the wider hardcore football supporters -ultra’). However, despite their popularity among the Italian curve (football terraces), the UltraS have been the subject of fairly little ethnographic research. This paper is the result of ethnographic research conducted continuously between 2003-2006 and updated from 2007 to the first part of 2009. The research sought to evaluate the UltraS phenomenon via an examination of the internal and external dynamics of two nationally well-known groups located in the Italian capital of Rome (the Italian centre of the political power). The groups are the Boys Roma and the Irriducibili of Lazio who enact their performances on their respective curve (football terraces) of the city’s Olympic stadium. The present paper argues that the ideological alliance between the UltraS of Lazio and Roma (followed as example by other UltraS groups throughout Italy) , the death of Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri in 2007 (and concomitant violent UltraS’ reaction against the police) together with the existence of the UltraS Italia (a national organisation which unites the main Italian Ultras groups) are all elements that signify the beginning of a common meaningful opposition to the perceived repressive Italian State. Most importantly these elements appears indicating the UltraS as an emerging social movement

Purity and danger: policing the Italian Neo-Fascist football UltraS

The rise of the Far-Right in Europe over the past decade has attracted the attention of both academics and police. Popular sports tend to reflect societal trends so it is not bizarre that a popular European cultural practice such as football has seen a rise in supporters with neo-fascist sympathies. Football (Soccer in the USA), specifically in Italy, has been linked since the beginning to politics (Porro, 2001;2008) and its stadiums have always been one of the most efficient public Agorá for the socialization of the Italian youth. In recent years, together with an ideologisation of the football terraces, there has been a noticeable increase in conflict between hardcore Football supporters and the Italian police at and around the stadium. These conflicts often involve the UltraS as the main participants. The final capital S identifies neo-fascist oriented fans, distinguishing them from mainstream hardcore Football supporters, known as ultrá (Testa and Armstrong 2008; Testa 2009; Testa and Armstrong 2010). This paper is the result of ethnographic research lasting six years (2003 to 2009). The research aimed to investigate the world of the UltraS by using two notorious national and international UltraS as case study. The groups, the Boys and the Irriducibili, support the AS Roma and SS Lazio, respectively. Both are located in the Italian capital city of Rome. The present paper aims to investigate the relationship between the neo-fascist UltraS and the institutions that they identify as their enemies namely the Italian State and the police

Words and actions: Italian ultras and neo-fascism

Over the past two decades the link - perceived and actual - between political extremism and football fans has been the subject of academic, political, and policing debate. It is not rare to witness manifestations of intolerance and ideological statements referring to regional, national and international issues at football stadia. In Italian football stadia, political representation has been evident for decades; politics has been integral to all realms of Italian society and culture since the origin of the nation. As one of the most significant Italian cultural practices, football has not been an exception. This combination of theory and action inspires thousands of young male football supporters. The football stadium might thus be interpreted as a twenty-first century social Agorá, where political opinions - otherwise ghettoized in society - can be freely expressed in pursuit of a wider consensus. This paper explores the under-researched milieu of neo-fascist ideology as displayed in contemporary Italian football stadia. Contributing original material and employing as conceptual frameworks the New Consensus Theory on fascism and the works of Julius Evola and Georges Sorel, this analysis hypothesizes that the neo-fascist tenets manifested by the ideologically-oriented ‘ultras’ fan groups, may be understood as both a consequence of, and a resistance against the dominant socio-cultural and political values of contemporary Italy. The research conducted between 2003-2007 sought to evaluate two internationally renowned ultras groups located in the Italian capital of Rome: the Boys of AS Roma and the Irriducibili of SS Lazio who enact their performances on their respective 'curve' (football terraces) of the city's Olympic stadium. Utilizing the ethnographic method, unique access was achieved in a notoriously difficult research milieu bringing the researcher into the social-cultural world of the participants and to the echelons of the extra-parliamentary Italian far right. Research sought to uncover the groups’ social interactions, values, and political beliefs, as a way of contributing to an understanding of both the Italian ultras of the twenty-first century and indeed the wider political milieu of the modern nation-state of Italy

Re-visiting the Community Development Projects of the 1970s in the UK

Researchers in Tyneside and Coventry have been re-visiting the Community Development Project (CDP) of the 1970s as part of an Economic and Social Research Council funded project – Imagine: Connecting Communities through Research (2013-17). The Community Development Project (CDP), a Home Office-funded experimental, anti-poverty initiative of the 1970s, was located in 12 areas in the UK. Three of these areas are the focus of the Imagine study: Benwell (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), North Shields and Hillfields (Coventry). The programme of research has been co-ordinated by Durham University’s Centre for Social Justice and Community Action in partnership with Warwick University, and 15 community partner organisations

Avenues of contestation: football hooligans running and ruling urban spaces

[A discussion of how football hooliganism is affected by the various places in which it occurs.