Abstract

In this article the authors attempt to outline some aspects of the current situation of football hooliganism in Italy. First, they argue that the mechanism by which the ultras groups self-reproduced slipped sharply into crisis towards the end of the 1980s with the break-up of urban social gathering points for youth. Second, the inverse process is nowadays much more likely: the Italian grounds are taking on the configuration of a place of primary sociality, and within them a community is assuming a form and a structure which enables it to affirm itself and to act even outside the grounds. Third, traditional-type episodes of football hooliganism have actually diminished in Italy, but they have been partially replaced by new forms of stadium conflict which have still to be identified and studied.