Among the Thugs

Among the Thugs by Bill Buford is an account of something that is very visible in soccer stadiums and venues every time there is a match. As I read the title I thought it was going to be about just simple thugs from the street but I had no Idea that the book and Buford himself were going to immerse me in the life and actions of soccer Hooligans.

 As I’m not a fanatic of the sport I don’t understand how it creates so much passion and emotion to the point of mayhem but as the book recounts this “thugs” take soccer and specially their city team as a thing of live and death. I have heard of this violence happening in stadiums in Colombia, even in Bogota where the matches between Santa Fe and Millonarios have already taken multiple lives.

  The reality is that these sporting events mean much more than just an entertainment to some people. They say that their soccer team is something they carry in their bloods, but I don’t understand how someone can be so addicted to a team.   Yet in the first few pages I get the feeling that to the guys Buford deals with the outcome of the game is not nearly as important as keeping their masculinity higher than the fans of the rival team. The real competition is not scoring goals but who beats up more fans than the other group.

  As I read the first few pages and understand what Buford is trying to do I feel a little uncomfortable with the savagery of these soccer fans that I feel don’t even care about the game more than what they care of getting the rival team’s fans a beating. Just by looking at the guy in the cover of the book pone can get a sense of the type of guys Buford deals with in his study.

  I am curious about if this book is just going to be the story of the Hooligans or is he trying to do something else more profound. How does soccer games create so much violence and how can people get so aggressive in a sporting event they aren’t event being part of? Is being part of a Hooligan firm similar to what people try to get from gangs? Acceptance and a sense of being backed up? These are some of the questions I get from reading the First few pages of the book.