2016, Volume 8, Issue 1

The hostility syndrome as a profile differentiating football spectators

Karol Görner¹, Janusz Zieliński², Adam Jurczak<sup>3

1</sup>Department of Physical Education and Sports, Matej Bel University
²Department of Physical Education, University of Rzeszow
³Department of Social Sciences, University of Physical Education


Author for correspondence: Karol Görner; Department of Physical Education and Sports, Matej Bel University; email: karol.gorner[at]umb.sk

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Abstract

Background: Football matches may be entertaining, or may become events erupting with violence and releasing aggression. Unfortunately, incidents of hooligans’ disorderly conduct during matches and outside the stadium are more and more frequently considered to be prevailing and unavoidable elements in football games.

Material/Methods: The study comprised a total of 60 football hooligans and 60 ordinary football fans, in which the hostility syndrome was assessed by means of the Scale of Interpersonal Stances (SIS).

Results: The results of the survey regarding the style of social functioning in the groups of respondents showed a significant difference (p = 0.004) between them. The analysis of the hostility syndrome scores on the SIS (Tab. 2) revealed considerable divergences, and the 0.16 value of the rps index (football supporter vs. football hooligan) indicated low similarity of the created profiles.

Conclusions: The hostility syndrome index was different in the group of ordinary supporters from that in football hooligans. High values of its components in the group of hooligans implied that their hostility was higher than normal, which could suggest their greater susceptibility to militant and antisocial stance than in the controls. The rebellious and suspicious style in social contacts was high and considerably higher in football hooligans than in ordinary supporters, which proved their long-lasting trend towards triggering off defensive and untrustworthy attitude to other people. Football hooligans possessed a high level of suspicion, significantly higher than in ordinary supporters, which resulted in their dominant antagonist and destructive stance towards others. During a match, the football hooligan preferred aggressive and sadistic, and cooperative and narcissistic styles in interpersonal relations, and manifested them with outbursts of extreme violence as well as with dramatically high superiority and exaggerated independence, as opposed to ordinary supporters who exhibited extremely low aggression and their superiority and independence did not differ from the norm.

Key words: football hooligans, sadism, hostility, aggression