On the 15th April 1989, during the Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest the FA Cup semi-final at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, ninety-six people perished as a result of a terrible human crush. So much has been written about that day that there is nothing else to be said, except to repeat a few key points; that it was a completely avoidable tragedy, that it was categorically not the fault of the Liverpool supporters that day, and finally, as is so frequent in life, that it took the deaths of innocent people for something to finally change.

While hooliganism was not responsible on that ill-fated day in Sheffield, hooliganism was a major problem in English football at the time. Something did have to be done to significantly improve the safety of people visiting football stadia in England. Today, something has to be done to significantly improve the safety of people visiting football stadia in Italy. Fortunately, no tragedies of a similar or even smaller scale have ever occurred on Italian soil, however the hooligan problem is evident, and people have been, and continue to be, intimated, seriously injured, and sometimes die.


The conditions of stadia in Italy are inadequate, as is crowd security in general, however a common factor remains; the hooligans, known in Italy as Ultras. After Hillsborough, an inquiry was commissioned, overseen by Lord Taylor, which has henceforth become known as the Taylor Report. The Taylor Report made many recommendations which were implemented by English football, and English football is now a very safe and welcoming environment to watch and enjoy football.

Unfortunately, it does not seem apparent to me that the recommendations made by the Taylor Report would necessarily be sufficient to fix the ‘Ultra problem’ in Italy. The conditions that arose organically in English football after the implementations of these changes, however, are more likely to help to remedy the problem in Italy. The issue in Italy seems to be the power held by Ultras, in relation to clubs, local authorities and sometimes in concert with organised criminals. Since the Taylor Report, English stadia in the top flight are required to be all-seater, and all spectators must have numbered tickets. CCTV in the stadiums also contributed to safety, with offenders within the stadium being able to be identified and punished. Stewards on the permanent staff of clubs, who are able to communicate with and be familiar with the fans, are much more able to quell any issues arising in the stadium, and are one part of the solution.


Certainly, this is preferable to using police to control fans within a stadium, as there is much less chance of a hostile encounter. Margaret Thatcher, then the UK Prime Minister, suggested a controversial ID card scheme for supporters, but Taylor managed to remove it from the recommendations. Italy’s ID card scheme, the Tessera del tifoso, cannot really be said to have curtailed violence in Italy’s stadiums. Malcolm Clarke, chair of the Football Supporters Federation, commented on these changes, saying: “What was extremely positive about Taylor was that he identified and strongly criticised the appalling way the football industry had treated spectators until then.”

However, the transformation of English football does not stem solely from the Taylor Report, but also from a transformation of English society over the last thirty years which is reflected in its football. Without going into enormous detail, England has seen its traditional class system slowly disappear, with those who self-identify as working class having decreased enormously, with a commensurate increase in those who identify as middle class. Football has always been the sport of the working class, but with ticket prices averaging at £40 (€50, $68), a more genteel class of supporter has been attracted to stadiums.

Crucially, a much older class of supporter also. Gone are the days of top-flight football stadia brimming to the rafters with men aged 16 – 30. Now, the stadiums of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have middle aged and older men, often with their young children, and many more families. It is this evolution of the game which has removed violence from stadia in England, as, without wishing to stereotype, it is traditionally young men who fight with each other.

English football ultras, or ‘firms’, as they are known in England, are essentially a thing of the past, and where they do exist they have even less contact with the football than they ever did. The few firms that remain are rarely to be found in stadia, or even having any interest in football, they are just disorganised gangs of thugs who sometimes meet up in the middle of nowhere to beat each other up. As unsavoury as this may be, they are hurting nobody else, nor impinging on anyone else’s right to enjoy football.

Are there lessons to be drawn for Italian football? Surely safer stadia, which are secured by local stewards and CCTV, where you sit where your ticket says you should, can only improve the conditions for Italian football fans.

Some in England lament the loss of football’s soul by homogenising it, others would argue that it is a fair price to pay for ensuring people’s safety at what is, at its heart, purely a form of entertainment. It is not for me to decide, but perhaps a happy medium can be found between totally removing any aspect of danger from the game, and pricing out the traditional supporters of football. However, nothing is worth the price of another Hillsborough, and I sincerely hope that it does not take a tragedy of that scale to finally make Italy do something concrete about the ultras.