The British Legal Regulation On Football Hooliganism And Its Revelation To China

The word'football'means a lot to British people. The legendary Liverpool Football Club Manager, Bill Shankley, when asked whether football was a matter of life and death, has ever said it's much more important than that. To British people, football is an angel on the one hand, it's a devil on the other hand; football brings them joy and make them undergo much suffering. It seems that football is in the shadow of violence ever since it's been invented. England is the cradle of modern football, and it's also the base of football hooligan. In England, football hooliganism is a long story, whose origins can even be traced back to the Middle Ages. The modern era of football hooliganism began in 1960s, and reached its summit in 1980s to 1990s. A number of football tragedies, Hazel tragedy in particular, indicates that football has turned out to be a matter of life and death. Football hooliganism has threatened the order at the football stadium and public security, jeopardized British state reputation. In England, football hooliganism has become a social phenomenon and dubbed'the English Disease'by some experts. In order to combat football hooliganism, purify football stadiums, protect and maintain public security and order, redeem British football and state reputation, the British parliament have taken a series of legal measures to regulate football hooliganism, including the Safety of Sports Grounds Act initially, Football (Disorder)(Amendment) Act2002, and the up-to-date act- the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003 , adding up to ten acts or more. The British government have take some administrative measures correspondingly. These acts and administrative measures have played a great role on combating football hooliganism, but they contradict with established law in England, the law of European Union and the international conventions to some extent, for example, the European Convention on Human Rights and some Council Directives. Some regulations are disputed widely ever since it's regulated, for example, section 14B, 21A and 21B of the Football(disorder) Act. These law conflicts indicates that although tackling football hooliganism is very important, the football spectators'due rights should not be ignored. Protecting football spectators'due rights is as important as combating football hooliganism and maintaining public order and security, we should strike a balance between them.In the past few years, along with the development of some sports events'professionalism, such as football, basketball and volleyball in China, the problem of football hooliganism has emerged in China and attracted attention of related government department. Compared with the serious problem of football hooliganism in England and other European countries, the happening frequency and damage of football spectator's violence in China is at a low level currently, but its trend is worth guarding. We must make legal preparation in advance to regulate football hooliganism. Law should response what happens in the society. To use other countries'legislation experience for reference is a short cut to promote our country's related legislation.