A new article has appeared online about hooliganism in US Soccer.
It has been published by Sport in American History and its author is Patrick Salkeld, an M.A. Candidate in History at the University of Central Oklahoma. The tagline at the end of the piece claims that he focuses on the soccer’s rise in American football territory from the 1960s to 2005.
That alone renders it a little obsolete as the time span of eleven years which has elapsed has seen so many changes in soccer in North America.
Had the author presented it as purely a snapshot of the situation ending in 2005, and a historical perspective, the soccer community would have been able to consider it in that regard. However, he covers events that took place in 2013 which also renders meaningless the tagline at the end of the piece. In doing so, the overall impression is that his research is meant to be contemporary.
His research is to be welcomed. That Supporter Culture is now large enough for any academic to bother studying it is a good sign. Prost would definitely recommend reading the piece with an open mind.
He’s found a few incidents over the years to unpick and those were certainly pored over in numerous fansites at the time such as sexism within the AO. Salkeld has also read other articles on the subject widely judging by the list of references. We leave it to you readers to consider whether a San Jose Ultras leader is a typical SG leader and a reliable source when he claims:
“There are groups…who try to offer their team a decent level of support, but it’s extremely hard when its being seen as thuggish behavior…”
That is just an incomplete view of San Jose Ultras and some of their activities at the time. If you’re going to quote the man, a fuller picture of what he is defending would have been fair both to him and to the issue. The dates Salkeld uses for events in Oklahoma, his local club, are also a little discombobulated and we are also not quite sure how Sporting KC’s Cauldron were involved in events there but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
But playing down violence is generally against the tone of the piece. Playing up a battle against profanity does take up many words but we have to ask, are cuss words at a sporting event of such shock value that an academic piece is necessary? What next? It happens in school playgrounds too!
If you’re going to raise this subject to a level of academia, let’s at least find some violence to discuss. It’s omitted when it should be mentioned when quoting an SJ Ultras leader and largely absent in incidents where some would be needed to justify those incidents’ inclusion.
Towards the end, Salkled does point out the hypocrisy about banning smoke while using it to advertise MLS atmospheres, which if nothing else shows he is current about the main issues aggravating fans. But that’s more league and corporate hypocrisy, than an issue of hooliganism. Now corporate hypocrisy in sport might make for an interesting thesis.
Prost can just not escape the conclusion that Salkeld found insufficient evidence of bad behaviour and played up other things rather than go looking for another subject.
All that said, he has compiled a very good list of references. Further writing on the subject should be encouraged. And most of all the soccer community should remain ever vigilant about violence and never be complacent.
We recommend his article as worth a read and would encourage our readers to contribute to the debate.
The article can be found here:
Supporters’ Clubs of USMNT, MLS, and USL: Vulgarity, Hooliganism, and Discrimination
Also see:
MLS must “Cross the Line” and talk about Trump, Zlatan and Georgia
