Football is an extremely popular sport. Without any discounts, it can be called the most popular in the world - thousands of clubs, millions of players (amateurs will write down there) and billions of fans around the world. A fan, as the name implies, is someone who "sicks with the soul", worries about the successes and failures of one or more teams, as well as individual players. Whether he watches matches on TV or goes to the stadium is not so important. We can say that football is one of his hobbies for him, a hobby that helps to relieve excess emotional stress, explaining in detail to the players and referees who they are and who they came from.
Special subspecies
But in the heterogeneous environment of football fans, there is a special kind called football fans. Despite the fact that to an ignorant person they seem similar to each other, like tin soldiers, there is a division within the fan movement, which shows that not every fan is a frostbitten fighter with a naked torso and a scarf around his neck.
Scarfers and Ultras
These twodirections are united by active participation in home and away matches, relative safety for others. The following separates them. Scarves (the name comes from the word "scarf") focus on paraphernalia, in particular the club scarf. Actually, you can only see a scarf without a scarf in the shower or in bed. They are also tied to club things and flowers. They come to the stadium to yell to their heart's content, to sing, to drink sincerely - in general, to have a relaxed and fun time, to discharge emotionally.
Ultras are much more organized and active. These football fans hang huge banners in the stadium, carry and throw them on the field, greet teams from away matches with invented chants and songs. They never shut up, cheering their favorites on the field, no matter what score is on the scoreboard. Another difference from scarves is a calm attitude to club things. As a rule, they wear normal clothes, and even a club scarf is not a requirement.
As we can see, fans are not only about fights and beer, but also about culture.
Karlans and Khuls
They are united by a sincere desire to fight properly. At the same time, a dwarf is a sloppily dressed and almost always tipsy young guy who can be a danger both to fans of another team and to any other fan. Can get and just passers-by. By and large, karlans are ordinary hooligans who use football matches and paraphernalia to give their actions at least some sense.
Huls are completely different. As a rule, these are quite serious guys who are not only ready to start a fight, but also constantly train for this. They are most often united in groups, in which they go "wall to wall" against the same huls, but from the camp of another team. For everyone else, they, with the exception of some cases, are not dangerous. Exceptions include police actions or aggression towards them - just hold on!
As we can see, fans are both fights and beer, but in very different ways.
A bit of history
Fighting and violence have accompanied football since its inception. Fighting on and off the pitch was the norm in England. But the movement itself, when football club fans united in groups (or, as they are called, "firms"), dates back to the sixties of the twentieth century. First, England, and then Italy received, in addition to the army of devoted fans, another one - youth gangs, whose main hobby was not football itself, but the fun surrounding it - alcohol and fights. Fans of a great football club and second-rate in behavior and degree of sobriety could hardly be distinguished.
The fan movement entered the Soviet Union much later, in the seventies. Since the idea itself was clearly "anti-Soviet", any attempts by fans to imitate Western "hooligans" were severely suppressed by the police. Most often, after the next action, the entire "brigade" ended up in the department. Butgrain by grain … and in 1977, the Spartans made their first small departure, the rest followed them. In general, fans are like a feat, dissidence for that time.
The situation has changed radically since Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. The "Iron Curtain" opened a little, and the "firms" began to actively replenish with participants - trips of 250-300 people became commonplace. Massive and planned fights between fans have also become commonplace.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in Russia, the fan movement has received serious development only in two cities - St. Petersburg and Moscow. In other cities, the fans are a small group in terms of the number of members, which cannot be compared with fans from the two capitals.
The most "fanatical" clubs
Surprisingly, the most famous and strong fan groups are not at all among the giants of world football. In the top "firms" there is no "Real", or "Barcelona", or "Bayern" with "Chelsea". Fans of a great club, as it turns out, are not necessarily the coolest. By the way, the most powerful and organized "teams" consist of fans of Red Star Star, Dinamo Zagreb and German St. Pauli. Of the Russian clubs, Yaroslavka, which supports CSKA, turned out to be among the best.
A little interesting "about the fanboy"
Like almost any subculture, the fan movement over the years of its existencestrongly "overgrown" with special slang, some of which has already gone to the people. Electric trains - "dogs", instant noodles - "homeless package" … and how do you like the nickname of the mounted police - "minotaur"!?
One of the distinguishing features of some fan groups is white sneakers. This sometimes leads to rather unpleasant situations for fashionistas who put on such shoes out of a desire to show off or simply out of ignorance.
Not only clubs have golden seasons. "Golden" for a fan is the year when he did not miss a single trip.
