Insecurities in European Football and Supporter Cultures

Jan Andre Lee Ludvigsen is Senior Lecturer in International Relations and politics with Sociology at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. His research focuses on the sociology and politics of sport, particularly security, surveillance, fan networks and sport mega-events. He has authored several books, including Sport Mega-Events, Security and Covid-19 (Routledge, 2022) and edited several special issues. Moreover, his research has been published in globally leading journals, including the British Journal of Sociology, Sociology Compass, Global Networks, Convergence, Current Sociology and the Journal of Consumer Culture.

“Give them bread and circuses, and they will never revolt,” as Juvenal once claimed. Jan Ludvigsen’s pivotal book delves into the late modern world of European football security and securitization, understood through the eyes of football supporters themselves. Thoroughly analyzed, while theoretically solidly grounded, he has delivered a critical must-read of what it means to be subjected to and revolt against the football security circus as means of oppression by the powerful."Yarin Eski, Associate Professor in Public Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam."This book offers a groundbreaking and highly relevant examination of how safety and security concerns are addressed in European football. By exploring the tensions between regulations imposed by European institutions and the counter-currents from football supporters, Jan Ludvigsen provides a nuanced and insightful analysis. Placing the analysis in a historical perspective allows readers to trace the changes (often towards more restrictive regulations) that have taken place in the context of securing football matches. This is a great asset of this book which is essential reading for anyone interested in the social, political, and security dimensions of contemporary European football."Radosław Kossakowski, Associate Professor in Sociology, University of Gdańsk."This book critically interrogates the various European institutions and organizations responsible for the ongoing regulation, securitization, and militarization of European football events and venues. It details how new surveillance techniques and social control mechanisms aimed at improving fan safety and security are instruments of power and counterpower toward controlling football fandom and supporter cultures. In so doing, this book offers important insights into strategies and responses by football supporters to negotiate, contest, and resist these advances through acts of protest and activism. Moreover, it offers possibilities for improving fan safety and security while simultaneously safeguarding the rich tradition of supporter cultures, identities, and customs."Adam Beissel, Associate Professor in Sport Leadership & Management, Miami University."European football is a political thicket, dizzying in its prickly complexity. Enter Insecurities in European Football and Supporter Cultures, an important and timely book that expertly disentangles the intricacies and convolutions of the beautiful game in the modern era. In a theoretically and historically grounded manner, Jan Andre Lee Ludvigsen analyzes football to better understand the dialectic of resistance and restriction, toggling deftly between bigger-picture forces of securitization and cultural regulation and the efforts of advocates from supporter cultures who use the sport as a space of creative contestation. The result is a work of serious scholarship that not only speaks to academics, but also to the thinking football fan who loves the game and wants it to deliver fairness and safety alongside scintillating goals and assists."Jules Boykoff, Professor of Political Science, Pacific University, USA

• 1 Introduction 2 Football, fandom and supporter cultures PART I1985–2008 3 Theorizing and historicizing the emergence of regulatory frameworks of security in European football 4 Social movements, surveillance and civil liberties: the British fanzine movement as an exemplar of resistance PART II2008–2022 5 Unpacking the Saint-Denis Convention: a turning point for fan dialogue and engagement 6 Top-down or bottom-up fan engagement? A sociological exploration of supporter liaison officers2022–2024 7 Discussion and conclusion