International football fixtures, such as the World Cup finals in Italy in 1990, draw together not only rival teams but rival fans. The police and the media are increasingly geared up to tackle international fixtures as occasions for the outbreak of crowd disorder. It can sometimes seem that the behaviour of the fans is more important than the game itself.
Football on Trial examines some of the causes of football hooliganism as a European and world phenomenon. It casts an eye forward to the 1994 World Cup in Los Angeles and asks why soccer hooliganism has not been a problem in the USA. It also examines the connections between player violence and spectator violence, and considers the role of the media in producing soccer crowd disorder.
The authors have built a world class reputation as authors of Hooligans Abroad and The Roots of Football Hooliganism, a reputation that this accessible and penetrating work can only add to.