| Matthew Randall. What makes an English football supporter behave like a hooligan? Well, a clue may lie in this quote from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, “... Selbst friedliche englische Fans hatten schon mittags am Café Schiller erklärt: ‘Wir sind nicht nur für das Spiel gekommen. Wir wollen Bier und eine gute Party!’”
   Drink admittedly has a significant part to play in a football hooligans destructive actions but a deeper explanation lies in the modern malaise of desire for an adrenalin fuelled second, and the way British society in particular has fostered this craving over the decades. As a result, even though the majority of English supporters may want to peacefully experience an international football tournament, it doesn’t exclude the possibility that they won’t get involved in trouble if it arises.
   This behaviour shouldn’t be surprising, because this kind of violence happens in every English town, from Manchester to Leeds, each weekend. This kind of immature, dark pre-occupation has some roots in a kind of fun experience, that cannot only be blamed on binge drinking, because clubs on the weekend are open till 2 or 3, or,as in London, all night. What is more to blame is the general compression of time that happens in England, one that shows hooliganism to be but a microcosm of English society, and whose psychological imprint engenders the need for fun, escape, an instantaneous or emotional experience.
   Britain is compressed on every level, in education, business, recreation and the socio-political, and its human manifestations can be clearly seen, but are not read as a whole. This compression of time crosses all class boundaries. Britain has the highest level of hard drug use in Western Europe. Its popular culture thrives on instant satisfaction. A night out usually exists in getting drunk, and a university campus has at its core the Bar. Gambling is prevalent whether on the horses, football or the dogs, and more obliquely the national newspapers thrive on accessive hyperbole and exagerration. Unfortunately English hooliganism will continue into the foreseeable future, not because someone who reads a tabloid will necessarily become a hooligan but because it is in the nature of Britain to foster the need for a quick adrenalin fix, which depending on your definition of violence, oneway or another affects everyone in the country.