Peru, 1964: 300 people were killed and 500 others were injured during riots at an Olympic qualifying match between Argentina and Peru.
Olympic qualifier. Dead people. Contradiction? I think so.
Argentina, 1968: 70 people killed in stampedes after young thugs threw burning paper into the crowded stands.
Argentina, 2002: In a two-week time span, three people died and hundreds more were injured in hooligan-related violence. A report released that year identified over 40 people murdered as a result of hooliganism over the preceding 10 years. The season was even suspended for a short period in an attempt to quell the violence, to no avail.
El Salvador and Honduras, 1969: These two countries actually went to war for six days after soccer hooligans clashed so violently that the two countries broke off diplomatic relations with each other.
So much for peace and fellowship through sports, eh?
These are just some of the higher profile events connected with hooliganism. Minor fights and riots barely register on the radar of the public eye; they aren't sensational enough, apparently.
I'm all for supporting your team. I'm a Steelers fan, and will ardently defend my team until I'm blue in the face. But I'm not going to organize a group of guys to go to the Cleveland Browns game with the intent of doing nothing more than starting a fight. I have more intelligence than that.
When was the last time you heard of a riot breaking out at the World Series that killed fans? The Super Bowl? The Rose Bowl?
I'm not talking about minor, isolated incidents. I cannot and will not deny that they happen. But as a regular, pre-planned act? As a reason for being at the game?
Can you really see the fan clubs for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks setting a time and place for a good ol' fashioned beat down? If the Steelers and Titans happen to meet in the AFC Championship, is there a risk of the fans storming the field to take out their frustrations on opposing players and fans?
Don't think so, folks. Hooliganism is nearly an exclusive by-product of the soccer world. Maybe it's because fans feel a need to prove their manhood in some way to compensate for watching a game played by pampered pansies engaged in a cross between kick ball and keep away.
Have you seen a soccer player get injured? The Academy Award for Best Dramatic Performance could go to any player injured in a soccer game badly enough to warrant being carried off the field on a stretcher, as they writhe in pain that would indicate they had lost a leg or ruptured an internal organ.
It usually doesn't take much. Occasionally a hangnail will suffice.
Someone will take offense. Someone will try and come out to defend hooligan "fight clubs." Someone might even call me out.
If you do, then you are a hooligan, and your opinion is sullied by your association with the phenomenon.
Here's your fair warning: I don't engage in a battle of wits with unarmed people.
Do your best. Or in the case of any hooligans, your worst.
I've got REAL football to occupy my time.
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