by Mark Dyal
For the Ultras, mentalità is their proof of having a deeper agenda than just being ‘delinquents’ or ‘fans.’ It is used as a guiding structural principle, much as anthropologists use ‘culture.’ And, like culture itself, mentalità is the ground of reality — as I said above, both ethos and Weltanschauung. It is not only the ‘why’ that drives their behavior in a grand scale but a set of ethical values that also acts as a break on behavior. It is, in effect, the ‘content of their character.’ Through mentalità, an Ultra can be shown to act in accordance with ‘being Ultra’ or not. Thus, without a commitment to the mentalità, according to the Ultras, one is simply not an Ultra.
Ultras Defined
Taking all of this into consideration, the political and ethical components of the Ultra phenomenon, the depth of the symbolic field that animates their public spectacles, and even the particular elements of their general history, I define the Ultras as a type of fan organization originating in the late-1960s that brings, along with carnivalesque behaviors with flags, banners, choreographed displays, flares, bombs, and a catalogue of songs of various levels of devotion and scorn: a high level of social and political thought and action is put into the act of fandom.
The Ultras often understand themselves, as do I, as a movement, an ideology, and/or a culture that seeks to restore communal, spiritual, and ritual dimensions to modern life. They seek to do so by challenging the political, ideological, and aesthetic processes of modern industrial culture, which, through global consumerism, cultural and political pluralism, and individualism, threaten to destroy the particularity and uniqueness of Italian (and in the case of AS Roma’s Ultras, Roman) cultural forms.
The Ultras are a social phenomenon. They aggregate in groups ranging from three to five people to as many as 2,000. Despite the myriad divisions between the groups, which often lead to conflict and strife within the Ultras, there is no impetus to enter the Curva or go to away games alone. Soccer provides the context for the Ultra phenomenon for reasons that are unclear. According to Roversi, the leading scholar of Ultra origins, the Ultras began in the curvas because those who formed the original groups were already there.48 That the AS Roma Ultra groups have maintained their connections to Curva Sud is mainly because of the bleeding of the AS Roma soccer team into an idealization of the city and its history.
Of course, each generation of Ultras has been fans of the game and the team. However, just being fans opens them to other avenues of consuming the game and team that do not involve the sacrifices, dangers, and discipline of the Ultras. Hence, there must be another seduction of the Ultras beyond the game itself. I understand that other seduction to be the mentalità and the ethical opposition to the modern bourgeois form of life. To wit, as the State has become more hostile to Ultra in-stadium behaviors we are finding groups — Padroni di Casa is one — that are willing to aggregate as Ultras but to operate primarily beyond the in-stadium milieu that has defined the Ultras up-to-now.
The Ultras can be categorized as a movement form of what Roger Griffin calls ‘political modernism,’ in as much as they seek an ‘alternative modernity and temporality’ (a limited social order in open revolt against the values of modern liberalism) that is incompatible with liberal conceptions of the human and society.49
Agonistic Form of Life
In the aftermath of the February 2007 game and riot in Catania, Palermo manager Francesco Guidolin complained that the Catania fans had created the atmosphere of a ‘war zone.’ Dal Lago and De Biasi identified ‘war’ as the most dominant metaphor in the Ultras mentalità.50 The Ultras’ self-understanding is produced by an ever-present system of antagonisms. Rivalries between and within town, region, geopolitical boundary, political affiliation or ideology, and historical rivalry form the basis of the Ultra involvement with soccer, so much so that it is nearly impossible for them to engage with the game without the presence of one of these forms of opposition. I conceptualize these as ‘natural oppositions’ because they are components of Ultra interaction with soccer that can potentially only involve other Ultras. The Ultra oppositions to the media and the State I think of as ‘meta-natural’, because they address the larger political issues of the Ultra war against Calcio Moderno.
In his essay ‘Homer’s Contest,’ Friedrich Nietzsche explains that the Greeks lived a life of ‘combat and victory’ in which warring competition, and pleasure in victory, was acknowledged; they even colored their ethical concepts like eris. To battle was a means of salvation, not just for one’s people or city but also against the very chaos of the natural world.
However, for contemporary scholars of ‘agonistic pluralism,’ a deconstructionist theoretical movement that seeks to explain the irreducibility of difference in democratic societies, the enemy is largely we ourselves. Agonism for these scholars, such as Samuel Chambers, Bonnie Honig, and Chantal Mouffe, does not apply to the foundations or possibilities of greatness of a cultural system, as posited Nietzsche, but instead to the nature of democracy which is pluralist and designed to maximize debate.51
Where agonistic pluralism seeks a mutually affirming, largely discursive struggle between multicultural or political combatants, Nietzsche understands the agonist to actually compete or fight in order to elevate his self-status, and the status of the protagonist’s city at the expense of others. For AS Roma’s Ultras, pluralism is impossibility. Their commitment to agon is so deep that there is scant possibility of unity within their own curva, let alone amongst Ultras representing other teams and cities.
While the agonism of the Ultras contains elements of both the Nietzschean and pluralist understandings of agon, the Nietzschean is central to the Ultra phenomenon. They understand themselves as agonists who fight for the honor of their city, their team, their curva, and their group. They compete during games through songs, banners, and choreographed displays for a sense of pride and victory that is felt just as strongly as the victories gained on the soccer field or in the streets through fighting.
However, as Calcio Moderno, the idea and system of an industry of soccer that places the utmost importance on profits and revenues, has begun to be the hegemonic conception of the game in Italy, the Ultras have been forced to limit themselves to a form of agon which is closer to the ‘moralistic’ option offered by pluralism. In the post-Raciti world of soccer, insulting banners or songs now lead to games being played behind closed doors. Game-related violence, which was virtually non-policed until Raciti’s death, now leads to time in jail.
The new social barriers to Ultra agonism have done nothing to limit the oppositional nature of their mentality and self-understanding, however. ‘Being an Ultra,’ I was told by Massimo, a former member of the fascist group Monteverde, ‘is embracing rivalry, hostility, and Romanità (extreme attachment to Rome and things Roman). Without these, one is not an Ultra [of AS Roma].’
Agon and Altruism
Agon is an important way to begin to understand the Ultras because of the way it connects with their extremely limited modes of altruism. It was often put to me that ‘Roman culture was the most beautiful in Italy,’ but that foreigners and foreign influence were diluting the culture. This understanding of political and social forces working to promote the degradation of Roman ‘traditional life’ was uncovered as well by Michael Herzfeld as he studied the impact of gentrification on the Monti neighborhood of Rome.52 I was repeatedly told that the Romans must do something to protect themselves from dilution. Given statements like this, I was pressed to understand the implications of having such a narrow, protected, and antagonistic sense of self or inclusion.
If, as Sunic and others have argued, the altruism of liberal globalization is driven by a morality of total inclusion, wherein the universalization of man is made complete in a global marketplace, then the altruism of the Ultras can be described as one of exclusion, exclusivity, and local particularity.53 Their inter-altruistic co-identification is exaggeratedly restricted. And, I am suggesting, their narrow boundaries between ‘us a
nd them’ are related to their aggressive and militarist morality. The Ultras not only utilize a highly-moralized critique of modernity but one that is rich with the words of Counter-Enlightenment thinkers like Nietzsche and Evola. They blame cultural degeneration on the values celebrated by liberalism. As Evola explained, ‘what is needed is a new radical front with clear boundaries between friend and foe. The future does not belong to those of crumbling and hybrid ideas but those of radicalism — the radicalism of absolute negations and majestic affirmations.’54
Natural Oppositions
AS Roma’s Ultras utilize history, geography, and politics to create an ever-evolving system of rivalries. Their closest rival is SS Lazio, the second team of Rome. Only three other Italian cities (Turin, Milan, and Genova) are home to more than one high-level soccer club. The clubs in each of these share one another as their central rivals. However, the more interesting aspects of hostility formation occur beyond intra-city rivalry.
AC Milan is the most hated enemy of AS Roma’s Ultras, SS Lazio aside. This is because of the killing of Roman Ultra Antonio De Falchi by his AC Milan counterparts outside Milan’s San Siro stadium in 1989. Since his death, AS Roma’s Ultras dedicate their fandom and aggression to De Falchi each time the two teams meet.
Somewhat more abstractly than killings between curvas, AS Roma’s Ultras maintain rivalries based on Roman and Italian history. One of the most bitter, if rarely contested, given the small stature of the team involved, was with AC Perugia. The rivalry with the small (now defunct) Umbrian team stemmed from a centuries old rivalry between the two cities, as Perugia stood on the fringes of Roman dominion for most of its early history. Similarly, the Ultras share a common hatred with AC Fiorentina of Florence because of that city’s status as a Guelph stronghold during the late-Middle Ages, when the rival Ghibellines led the Pope’s enemies in Rome. For the same reason, there is rivalry with Genoa FC of Genova. Modern political history has given a deeply felt hatred to the games contested between AS Roma and both Atalanta BC of Bergamo and Brescia Calcio of Brescia. These rivalries are based on the rise of the Lega phenomenon and its opposition to Rome as capital and symbol of Italian corruption. Meanwhile, AS Roma’s Ultras share a special rivalry with the South’s other large club, SSC Napoli of Naples, as discussed in later chapters. To AS Roma’s Ultras, SSC Napoli is the ‘team of the South,’ a region stereotyped for poverty, underdevelopment, and organized crime (see Schneider, 1998).
Finally, politics proper is a common motivator of Ultra rivalry. AS Roma’s Ultras tend toward the Far Right politically and thus are aggressively opposed to curvas that gravitate in the opposite direction. The main example of a Leftist curva in Italy is the Curva Nord of AC Livorno’s Ultras. Like the rivalry with SSC Napoli (and with Naples in general), this one will be discussed at length below, but it is notable here as a rivalry which is felt only by the Ultras. There is no rivalry between the teams, as AC Livorno only rarely plays in Serie A, out of which AS Roma has only spent one season. When the two teams do play, the opposing curvas more closely resemble extreme political rallies than groups of soccer fans. Before the post-Raciti crackdown, AS Roma’s Ultras would display numerous Nazi flags, neo-Fascist celtic cross banners, and banners with various anti-communist messages. Lately, Roman Salutes and chants of Duce have replaced these.
Meta-Natural Oppositions
The Ultras’ soccer rivalries I have labeled ‘natural’ because they ‘make sense’ within the world of soccer. One could argue — as do many of the Leftists within Curva Sud Roma — that political rivalries are unnatural to the Ultras; but it is difficult to examine the history of the Ultras and not conclude that political affiliations have played a role from the beginning. Furthermore, while the political warfare between the Far Left and Far Right can explode into violence in any Italian city at any moment, I found it unlikely that AS Roma’s Fascist Ultras would travel to Livorno to engage its communist Ultras unless a game was also taking place.
Figure 4. Flyer portraying the Ultras as legionaries in formation against their enemies, 2008.
In contrast to these oppositions we must also be aware of the hostility that exists between the State, the press, and the Ultras. These oppositions I have labeled meta-natural because they exist beyond the natural soccer related rivalries, but also because they offer a commentary on the natural rivalries as well. As I explained above, the Ultras’ mentalità contains an ethical critique of modern bourgeois life. It presents itself, and the Ultras’ form of life, as an oppositional cultural model guided by commitments to strength, honor, aggression, brotherhood, and spiritualism. But it also presents itself as an opposing model of virtue that is created by action, occasional violence, shared exhilarating/traumatic experiences, and courage. I found these characteristics to have been imported into the Ultras by group leaders influenced by Fascism, Roman history, and the political philosophy of Nietzsche, Evola, and Sorel. However, I also found that the Ultras celebrated these characteristics most often after the media and the State had attacked them for having them.
There is a correlation of power between the Ultras and the State and media. This power is not only political but also moral, as the hegemonic media is — for all but the Ultras themselves — able to control the discourse and the terms of debate on the Ultras. Apart from bemoaning the criminality of the Ultras, the media uses a moralistic language to condemn the Ultras as ‘delinquent animals’ who engage in barbaric behavior attached to a misguided and misplaced sense of rivalry. The media is helped in this by spectacular newsreel footage of the Ultras violently engaging one another and the police. Before returning to the criminalization of the Ultra phenomenon, I must turn to the hostilities between the State and the Ultras.
From the perspective of AS Roma’s Ultras, the State is ambiguous. Even for the fascists, the State is not the goal of Fascism’s redemptive powers but only the city of Rome. The Ultras with whom I conversed for hours about Nietzsche’s critique of liberalism, Evola’s reconceptualization of Romanità, and Sorel’s understanding of the role of political violence never moved their arguments to the Italian State. However, if one was asked who or what is the greatest threat to the Ultras and their form of life, the answer would be quick and consistent: the police (usually referred to as la guardia, the guard, or l’infame, the infamous) or Calcio Moderno. Demonstrating a shrewd understanding of the subservience of the liberal State to economic interests, the Ultras understood the police principally as the guardians of the business interests of soccer, and of the State only by extension. Similarly, the Ultras seek to make life difficult for global capitalism, in the form of advertising, foreign investment, and commoditization, associated with soccer. By extension, though, they understand the State to represent the same interests, so that the State is subsumed as well into Calcio Moderno.
That being said, there is true hostility between the Ultras and the forces of law and order. This hostility pre-exists the killings of 2007, reaching back to the mid-1990s and the turn to the Right of many of Italy’s curvas.55 Giorgio Agamben has provided an enlightening way to understand this hostility and the relations between the Ultras and the State, arguing that liberal States are able to utilize what he calls a ‘state of exception’ or state of emergency to diminish individual rights in order to strengthen the security of the State. I argue that such a state of exception is the normal context of interaction between the Ultras and the State. Each Ultra is under suspicion and surveillance (as CCTV systems are required in Italy’s stadiums) and each game is militarized with hundreds of riot police in highly visible formation. One of my most vivid fieldwork memories is of State Police officers sitting atop a mini-tank complete with machine-gun turret outside the guest section of Florence’s Artemio Franchi stadium. I was forced to wonder what the Ultras would have had to do for them to open fire.
For most citizens of liberal states, the State’s power is largely internalized. Policing is not simply an act of repression but one of complementary e
xchange. The goals of the State are merged with those of the (bourgeois) citizen. Thus, the prosperity of one is grounded in adherence to the ideals and, in the words of Schmitt, friend-enemy relations of the other.56 The night of Sandri’s murder saw Ultras in Rome attack police stations in addition to the offices of the Italian Olympic Committee. In response, members of Romano Prodi’s government labeled the Ultras ‘terrorists’ who were seeking to wrest control of the State. This language was buttressed by the condemnations of journalists and, in turn, by non-Ultra Italians with whom I interacted daily. The highly moral language used by the media, when analyzed in this light, is perfectly suited not only to demonize the Ultras, but also to present them as beyond the moral and political responsibility of the State.
Calcio Moderno Revisited
Earlier I spoke of Calcio Moderno as the idea and system of an industry of soccer. It is better understood as the postmodernization of fandom and commoditization of soccer. Calcio Moderno acts as one of the most important signposts in the world of the Ultras. It is an organizing principle that has no peer in their worldview, and as such it interacts with their world in a variety of ways.57 Most importantly for the scope of this book is its relationship with the rise amongst the Ultras of a discourse of counter-globalization.