ultras

For the historical French reactionary faction, see Ultra-royalist.

The Ultras movement, or simply Ultras is the name given to organized supporters' groups for sports teams, mostly in Europe and Football teams, appeared on Italy during the late sixties when football teams reduced ticket prices on certain areas of the stadiums. Not to be confused with the British Firms and Casuals, altough some of their supporting style is imitated. Altough violent acts might occur, hooligan acts are more the exception than the norm

Common grounds

Ultra groups are surprisingly homogeneous. They are usually organized by a core group (who usually have "executive control" over the group), surrounded by smaller groups, formed by location, friends group or political stance. The material is also almost the same: standards (a piece of painted light fabric with two poles on each side), flags, both regular sized and large (with sides over 4 meters) and banners, usually large, durable plastic fabric painted and decorated with the name and symbology of the group it belongs. Most groups also sell their own goods like scarves, hats and jackets, and their sale can go across borders for collectors or fans.

Ultra culture

The Ultra culture is a mix of several supporting styles, from the scarve-waving and chants of early English stadia, Brazilian Torcida and the original Italian style. An Ultra group can be composed from few dozens to hundreds, mixing several parts of the community, claim entire sectors of the stadium for themselves and get involved in the team rather more often than regular fans. Four points are the core of a ultra mentality:

Never stop singing during the whole match, no matter the result;
Never sit down during matches (as opposed to armchair fans);
Follow as many games possible, regardless of costs or distances;
Loyalty to the Curva (the stand the group is located).

There are several recurring imported or pop culture icons used on banners. Alex DeLarge from Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange is one of the favourites, the logo of the Georgia Bulldogs basketball team is also used by several groups across Europe, same with corporate brand logos and catchphrases, either real or mock-up. Probably the most important part is the called vocal support. Each group has several football chants, mostly to their team, others for players and staff and finally, some reserved for their rivals. With the melody taken mostly from popular music such as Guantanamera, some chants are copied from other groups and the names changed. Before big matches most groups prepare a big choreography (or Tifo) to be displayed as the teams enter the field. Ranging in size as the financial capabilities of the groups allow, the giant coreographies can take from the complete top where the group is located to the complete stadium. Materials used range from small sheets of plastic or paper distributed be seat, either forming a pattern or just to colour the stadium (in a similar fashion of the Moscow 1980 Olympics opening ceremony), balloons, paper rolls, huge painted blankets, flares or smoke signal pots (but their use is now more limited since uncontrolled could cover the entire ground in smoke, which is highly undesirable by TV stations) and even more recently, giant dolls (used by Sampdoria's Ultras in 2002). These choreographies are one of the finest displays of love to a club, since they can take up to months to plan, the days before the match to prepare and cost a small fortune to make, dispite the ultimate risk of failure. There is also some animosity towards the so-called modern football. All-seater stadiums, games at Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays at late hours, unlike the traditional 3 o'clock Sunday match, more expensive tickets, fan-favourite players being sold like merchandise, replaced by players who have don't "love the shirt" and the excessive comercialization of football are a common plea among Ultras. Contro il Calcio Moderno (Against modern football) is a common phrase seen in Italian grounds, and spread across Europe. Fanzines play also a big part in the movement, and have a huge market inside communities. Usually A5, as professional printing costs decrease they have started to be of more professional quality than the crudely typewriter-duplicated or xeroxed fanzines. Each group usually edits a fanzine with information on upcoming games, stories and news, and there are several generalistic publications, the most popular being the SuperTifo.

Ultras - Club Relationship

They usually have a representative who speaks with the club's bosses on a regular basis, mostly regarding ticket and seat allocation, and use of storage facilities. Some clubs provide the groups cheaper tickets, a warehouse to store material, access to the stadium before the match to prepare choreographies. Some of these relations is criticized by fans of the club, who can see the Ultras as nothing more than troublemakers who do the club more harm than good, or when a club has more than one group, some might not agree with favouritism given by the board to a group against another.

Hooliganism

Altough Ultras groups can become violent, unlike hooligans most games go with no incidents or minor scuffles with the local police force. Unlike hooligans, Ultras follow to support their team rather than go head to head against locals. Another difference between Ultras and hooligans is that the hooligans like to be inconspicuous when they travel as to avoid detection by police, whereas Ultras are the opposite as they like to be more conspicuous when they travel and like to arrive on mass, which allows the police to keep a close eye on their movements. When trouble does break out in very much takes the form of a political riot similar to the ones in Italy in the 70's and the Carabinieri use the same tactics towards the Ultras as they did against political activists in the 70's.

Politics

Many Ultra groups are associated with poltical factions, rivalries appeared and alliances were forged just based on the political premises.. While SS Lazio's Irriducibili and Real Madrid's Ultras Sur are known for more than occasionally displaying celtic crosses and swastikas, on the other hand there are groups who aren't afraid of showing the Red Star, the Hammer and sickle or the Anarchist symbol, and other groups refuse to carry any political symbols on their material or allow their members to display them in the group's context. Knowing the "recruitment potential" of the groups' sectors, many extremist groups try to distribute propaganda. While this is accepted between politized groups, in neutral/apolitical groups this can cost the extremists dearly, as it can be seen as an invasion, and thus elicit a violent reaction from the neutral group.

Rivalries

The biggest rivalries are almost all from Italy. While some happen mostly for animosity towards the opposite side, mostly in derbies (Roma - Lazio, Inter - Milan, Sampdoria - Genoa, etc), others exist mostly due to politics, one of the best examples being the Atalanta - Lazio, as Atalanta groups are most left wing, and the already mentioned right-wing Irriducibili. However, it's also possible that rivalries fire up from isolated incidents. Some rivalries might also happen between groups of the same club, either by disputing the lead of the curva or when one of the groups is a splinter from the older groups. Rivalries often mean, at less, more offensive chants, phrases or banners towards the other groups themselves, while the fiercest rivalries often include physical confrontation and capture of "enemy" banners. A group that loses the main banner falls into shame, and traditionally splits up.

Detractors

Like any other organization, Ultra groups have their share of detractors. From the most simple, related to how they follow the game, never sitting during matches while displaying dozens of standards affecting the view of those sitting behind these groups, to more serious criticisms like theft of highway service stations, physical assault or intimidation of "regular" fans and even murder of other groups' members. In Spain, ultra is understood primarily as ultraderechista ("extreme rightist"), while there are leftist and separatist supporter groups. The use of neo-Nazi symbols like spelling Ultras Sur with runic SS and violence against supporters of other clubs, including the murder of a Real Sociedad fan, has made Spanish authorities very concerned about ultra activities.