Yep I go to bolton matches home and away when i can, last went bolton v l'pool GET IN!! the last time i saw a 'real' fight at a match was bolton vstoke cup final, it amongst our own! two bolton fans beating the crap out of eachother on the steps down from the concourse!
interviews i have done for this dissertation believe women have contributed to the softening of violent behavior as it is toned down. football these days is a massive business that now attracts a massivly wide fan base ...families, kids , women are all included ...look at our club shop for example
The great CLR James once posed a tough question: "what do they know of cricket who only cricket know?". Very apt for anyone undertaking research into sport and wider society. I'd say your thinking far too narrow to get to the answer you're searching for. Feminisation of football stadia is an effect not a cause of the decline in football violence. To understand the real reasons for the decline in football violence you need to start by understanding why football violence took hold in the first place. What was happening in society that led thousands of working class lads to look forward to the buzz of a good old punch up on a Saturday afternoon. From there you need to document changes that tended to remove that motivation. Someone posted earlier about the impact of police methods - all good points- but what about the decline in traditional working class communities, the loss of manufacturing, growth of welfarism, decline in trade unionism, growth of new opportunities and emergence of a larger middle class feeding off growth of financial services etc I'd say all those things had an impact and caused a change of mood among working class youth. They were also priced out of stadia as the football authorities attempted to "clean up football" - which really means getting rid of the hoi polloi and colonising football for the "right" type of fan.
So if you haven't read any works of the great CLR James, may I recommend him to you. For what do they know of football who only football know?
