"Jag slåss för min kärlek": En kvalitativ intervjustudie om supporterkultur och supportervåld

Sammanfattning: How can passionate love and burning hatred exist within the same social context, and how can fellowship and belongingness lead to violence between supporters? This study identified a lack of academic knowledge regarding a supporter perspective on the connection between fellowship within supporter culture and soccer related violence. Thus the purpose of this study was to explore why some supporters feel motivated to use violence to support their team. The study examined the following research questions: “how can the supporter culture and its group norms be understood as a social religion?”, “how can supporter violence be understood as a living law?” and “how can the connection between group norms within supporter culture and supporter violence be understood?”. A qualitative method was used to examine the research questions, where digital interviews were held with eleven supporters. Approximately half of them had participated in supporter violence whilst the rest had not. A thematic analysis was carried out to analyze the empirical data together with Living Law as well as Collin’s theory about social rituals. The results indicated that the supporter culture offers fellowship and a sense of belonging so strong that some experience it as a religion, which for supporters with violent tendencies becomes a reason to use violence for the sake of the team. Thus, we identify a living law within the supporter culture, since some supporters rely on an unofficial rule system that is unique for the violent aspects of supporter culture and that allows violence against other supporters.