Not a football man myself, don't really support 'anyone' … but I am always fascinated by the descent into clan-like revelry – the violence, the chants and the machismo that accompanies the sport .. Seems to me that fans relish the chance to join what is effectively a gang, in order to fight sporting rivals – in effect; to share a common enemy.

Is the human-brain wired up to 'love a good scrap' – now the common citizen is so far removed from the field of modern military conflict – is football the catharsis?

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Home erotic tribalism imho. so yeah pretty much:)

It must do, there hasn't been a single war in the world or a mass desire to fight one since the advent of organised association football in the 1870's and its subsequent global acceptance.

A sound theory.

It's definitely tribal IMO.
And if there was a real war on I reckon half the football 'hard nuts' would be hiding in the corner, too scared to fight.
I put this theory to a girl I knew who had a degree in anthropology – re the sheer competitiveness and will to win of the Aussies in sport. Having no great political power, was sport their proxy for winning and a sense of victory. She reckoned it was a sound theory. And she was a Yank so had better perspective than yr average Brit re Oz…

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.

George Orwell

I think he may be overstating it a bit ( was he not a weedy boy who was last to be picked???) but there is a grain of truth in what he says

Do you want a fight about it?

trailmonkey – Member
It must do, there hasn't been a single war in the world or a mass desire to fight one since the advent of organised association football in the 1870's and its subsequent global acceptance.

A sound theory.

Reading and understanding the OP FAIL!

Seriously, don't comment if you don't understand what has been said, or at least think about the OP a little more before posting a response.

Sport was always training for war made less boring by competition. So I guess the answer has to be no, but the issue is tied up in there somewhere

We are wired to fight for survival so by our nature are competitive.

in effect; to share a common enemy.

Clearly the worry is that anyone who wants to identify a common enemy, might very likely become a propagator of some level of discrimonation. It's the Hollywood baddie effect. If you aint got no bad guys to villianise, you aint got no movies.

Quick! Bung a few Billion to the government to start a war on someone so we can make movies about it.

No, no, no , no , no. That would be a terribly cynical attitude to take. And obviously not true at all.