Includes bibliographical references (p. 333-346) and index.

This book examines how groups of young male fans come to be defined and identified as football "hooligans" and challenges the assumption that violence is wholly central to the match-day experience for these supporters. Rather, the creation of identity is at the root of hooliganism, with all the cultural values and rituals, codes of honor and shame, and communal patterns of behavior and consumption that accompany it. The author locates hooliganism historically within the milieu of an industrial working-class culture and examines ideas of performance and ritual encompassed in idealized masculinity.

The book is based on a decade's in-depth study of the "Blades", a group of football fans supporting Sheffield United who are notorious for their hooliganism. It contributes to the debate on football hooliganism by challenging many traditionally-held notions of hooliganism and by providing the first anthropological study of football violence.