ABSTRACT
It is clear that the conventions which govern the use of ‘rude’ language in public discourse have altered over a generation. It is possible to imagine a Tory patriarch like Ted Heath or a Labour leader like Harold Wilson referring to members of their governing cabinet as ‘bastards’ in private conversation. But it is difficult to imagine either of these British Prime Ministers using this description in public. Perhaps more importantly, it is open to doubt whether the use of such a term, even if it slipped out by mistake, would have been reported by the leading newspapers and media outlets of the day. It is more likely that the desire on the part of the gatekeepers of culture to protect the linguistic propriety of the political field would have outweighed the temptation to print a controversial story. 1 Yet John Major's position as Prime Minister in 1993 appeared wholly unaffected by his leaked admission that he didn't sack rebel ministers after a parliamentary vote of confidence because he didn't want ‘three more of the bastards’ conspiring against him. Indeed the comment may well have enhanced Major's weak image in the eyes of the electorate. His successor, Tony Blair, at least in the early days of his premiership, actively cultivated an association with the ‘bad-mouthed’ boys and girls of Cool Britannia and his Press Secretary and confidante Alastair Campbell gained a reputation for his use of expletives in his dealings with the media. 2 There seems then to have been a modification to the ‘structure of feeling’ associated with this aspect of rudeness in British society. But there is one place in Britain which has been almost automatically linked with forms of rudeness which are socially unacceptable; a location where offensiveness, crudity, insulting behaviour and nastiness constitute not so much the exception as the norm. Or at least this is how it appears in the social imaginary. The aim of this chapter will be to explore this arena in order to determine what it reveals about both British society and its boundaries of rudeness. The site to be considered is the Premiership football ground, when Saturday comes. 3
