Classification of fans: from football hooligans to stalkers (9 photos + 3 videos)

Sports fans can be divided into several types. There are casual viewers, and there are slightly crazy fans. Some of them are “crazy” in a good way, and some are “crazy” in a bad way. Let's try to make a classification and look at the fan world from different angles.





1. Football hooligan



A hooligan fan is a child of the sports world, usually found at football matches. Hooligans take their love of the game to the next level - a level that includes fist fights, vandalism and general mayhem. Such fans often wear distinctive symbols - scarves or a hat with the team emblem; they may also have corresponding tattoos, the name of the group, nicknames for all its members, chants that they shout during matches. Of course, not all football fans are hooligans. They are a minority, but even a minority can cause a lot of trouble. Most fans are harmless, they simply cheer for their team in a friendly and energetic manner and do not try to start a fight.

2. Superfan





These are fans whose love for the team overshadows everything else for them. They are dressed from head to toe in their team colors. Not only will they wear a jersey with their favorite player's name on it, but they'll also have a matching hat, socks and shoes to complete the look. This professional fan also has a collection of memorabilia related to the team and the matches it played. He has a truly encyclopedic knowledge of who played when and with what score, what the starting lineup was for any match, can give statistics for each player and even a step-by-step breakdown of the game from memory. And such a superfan is very selfless - he is ready to do anything to get tickets to a big match, he travels for his team around the country and even around the world, he goes to the game even in the snow or in the rain. The main thing is that such fans, as a rule, are extravagant, but harmless and just want to show their love for the players.

3. “Wild” and unpredictable fan



These are individual characters from whom you can expect any wild antics. They can be unpredictable, eccentric, and sometimes even completely crazy. Like when a guy ran onto the field with a smoke bomb during an American football match. It’s not a fact that he is a sports fan at all - he could campaign for anything, for example, for animal rights.

 

They ran after the guy around the field for a bit, trying to stop him, and then defender Bobby Wagner decided that it was time to stop this chaos and used a powerful grip on the offender, knocking him onto the lawn. Well, why is he running around here and interfering with play?

4. Chameleon Fan



A fan of “victory at the polls” is the sports world’s best friend. These fans join a winning team when times are good, but disappear when the team begins to lose. They are like chameleons, changing their color to blend in with the crowd. Basically, these are the ones who suddenly start wearing team gear after the team gets ahead in the standings. They may have never shown any interest in her before, but suddenly they became her biggest fans. They behave like a flock of sheep, no real loyalty, passion and love. Continuous situation.

5. Stalker



Stalkers confuse admiration for an athlete with an obsessive and painful obsession with him. They know everything about a team or a particular player/athlete, they have posters of him hanging in their home, they follow him on all social networks, they try to stalk him both in the online world and in the real one. You can recall the case when, in 2014, a mentally unstable fan burst into Anna Kournikova’s house (by swimming on the water). By the way, such stalkers are also dangerous for other fans or team members: they can attack anyone who criticizes their favorite, or attack someone who has captured his attention too much.

6. Conspiracy theorist fan



The sports world has its own version of “The X-Files” and its adherents see a secret conspiracy behind every defeat, failure and injury of a player. They are always looking for hidden meanings and hidden agendas, and tend to be quick to blame a loss on something other than just bad luck or poor team/athlete performance. That is, they will say that the referees are biased, that the league is rigging games in favor of other teams, and so on. Any, even the most ridiculous, assumptions are easily used. At the same time, conspiracy theorists can go to any lengths to prove their theories: they can even harass players, coaches and referees, threatening them with violence. Excessive paranoia takes its toll.

7. Pessimistic fan



A pessimistic fan is convinced that his team is cursed and doomed to inevitable defeat. He is like a dark cloud hanging over the stadium and spraying negative energy onto everyone nearby. Things are always bad for such people, the players are losers, the team is terrible, it was better before, but now there is nothing to catch. Their pessimism can lower morale and make players feel defeated. Their obsession with a "curse" supposedly placed on the team due to some event in the past can also lead to extreme behavior, such as burning team symbols or attacking other fans, "the culprits of the curse."

8. Parent Fan



Overzealous fan parents are moms and dads who take their child's sports too seriously. They not only put pressure on their child, forcing him to perform, but they themselves are terribly nervous and worried. What makes these overzealous parents so dangerous? Well, they can literally go crazy during competitions. They may yell at the referee, criticize the child’s teammates, or even get into fights with children or adults (other parents, coach, referees). Victory at any cost is important to them. This can lead to their child never wanting to play sports or compete again, and it can also lead to a decrease in self-esteem, which is something good parents should not allow at all.

9. Aggressive fan



You can spot an aggressive fan from a mile away - this is the one who constantly throws something at the playing field, starts fights with fans of the other team, and generally behaves extremely arrogantly, as if for show. They don't care who they hurt as long as their team comes out on top. What makes these fans so dangerous is their complete disregard for the safety of others. They are like a time bomb just waiting to explode. Whether it's brawls in the stands or riots in the streets, violent fans are a force to be reckoned with. One such “handsome guy” is enough to ruin the fun of the game for everyone else and cause irreparable damage to the team’s reputation.

10. Nationalist fan



This is probably the most dangerous and unpleasant type of fan, since nationalist fanatics turn sporting events into a political battlefield, a field for expressing their radical views. They don’t just come to cheer for their team, they come with nationalist symbols, flags with extremist inscriptions, chant offensive slogans, cause riots, shower opponents with racial insults, and do all this with complete conviction that they are right, without blinking an eye. People promote hatred, although it would seem that sport should unite everyone.