Hooliganism associated with football in the United Kingdom
Hooliganism incidents in the 1970s led to fences being built at football grounds, such as this at Kenilworth Road, Luton (1980)
Beginning in at least the 1960s, the United Kingdom gained a reputation worldwide for football hooliganism; the phenomenon was often dubbed the British or English Disease.[1][2][3][4][5][6] However, since the 1980s and well into the 1990s the UK government has led a widescale crackdown on football related violence. While football hooliganism has been a growing concern in some continental European countries in recent years, British football fans now tend to have a better reputation abroad. Although reports of British football hooliganism still surface, the instances now tend to occur at pre-arranged locations rather than at the matches themselves.