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Accepted Paper:
Rules of play, playing with rules: the landscape of dependence, challenge and cooperation between security forces and supporters in Swedish football
Katarzyna Herd
(Lund University)
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I am going to discuss the fluidity of rules in football and the playfulness of contacts between the police and supporters.
Paper long abstract:
Football is based on play, not only on the pitch, but also on the terraces. The interactions between the audience and police are tense, especially in the active, confrontational standing sections. It is not only about a conflict though. Fans and police have to be able to ‘play’ together to function in this specific context. They depend on each other to perform their roles through micro-rituals and they rely on mutual understanding on what behavior makes sense and what does not. While presenting several examples from fieldwork among supporters in Sweden I shall use Susan Stewart’s concepts of sense and nonsense –making (1989).