ABSTRACT

Introduction In the Preface and in Chapter 1, it was argued that it is not only sociologically useful, but indeed sociologically necessary, to approach the full range of the subject matter as SRV rather than as ‘sports violence’ per se. As such, and having reviewed the research related to the two principal ways in which sports violence has traditionally been conceived of in Chapters 2 and 3, Chapter 4 now considers the scope of SRV in a much wider focus. To accomplish this, it adopts a two-pronged approach. First, it suggests that SRV is comprised of at least 16 further behavioural components. Each of these is referred to as a ‘cell’ in a broader matrix of formations. Beginning with cell 3 (since cells 1 and 2 are showcased in the preceding chapters), each cell is described and illustrated, and the existing knowledge on the behaviour is discussed. Following this sequence, a more dynamic and processual way of thinking about SRV is offered. Once again, the main purpose of this chapter is to move beyond the limiting and de-contextualizing inclination of existing research that tends to focus on players and crowds in a quite rigid sense and view types of sports violence as separate episodes of social action, unrelated to other types or to broader social structures and processes. In contrast, this chapter demonstrates how forms of SRV link and are interconnected.