By sacrifice and sincerity we live the life of the Ultras
Ultras is a Latin word that literally means super or excessive. The common meaning for it is the expression of groups known to be affiliated with and very loyal to their sports teams. The concept moved to the field of sports, where it was used to describe fans of a particular club.
Experts differ in determining the date of the emergence of ultra movements in Europe, as the first cradle. While some refer the history of the phenomenon to the early decades of the twentieth century in Hungary, others see that it is linked to the sixties of the last century with the crystallization of the movement in Italy, which some emphasize the centrality of its role in the crystallization of the Ultras movement, and the escalation of interest in it. Some return it to Italy when the first official Ultras originated in 1963, while others return it to Brazil, where it witnessed the emergence of the Ultras called « Torsida » in the 1940s. And there are those who originate Ultras back to Hungary in 1929, when the supporters of the famous « FrenchFarrosh » club founded a fan association.
The idea moved to South American countries. Brazil was the first country to witness the emergence of the ultras, with the first « ultras » being established as « Torsida » in the 1940s. The idea then moved to Europe through the fans of the Croatian-Yugoslav club « Haydok Split » at the time in 1950, then in France in the early eighties at the hands of Marseille Club via « Ultras Commando », then the idea moved to Britain and the rest of the European countries. Italy is one of the most prominent European countries to witness Ultras groups. As for the beginning of the phenomenon in the Arab world, the idea of Ultras started in the Arab countries through the countries of the Maghreb, beginning with the Tunisian Club of Africa, which witnessed the establishment of the first Ultras under the name « African Winners » in 1995, and then transferred the matter to other Tunisian clubs such as the Tunisian Esperance Club, which includes three Ultras groups: « Robbers – Supras – and Blood and Goldie » – and the idea then moved to Morocco, where it contains more than 50 groups of Ultras .
And if it is true that interest in football, as one of the most popular games in the world, it is necessary for him to have a number of loyal fans of the game or for specific clubs, and if the fans were old as the game itself, as football experts and those interested in it, they usually monitored a number of Fans whose names are associated with specific teams or players, or who have worked to encourage their teams permanently and continuously,even traveling with them to their matches, the ultras phenomenon is a recent phenomenon in Arab society, and even Western.
How many fathers and mothers are burning their liver the moment their sons or daughters travel to support their team, and to accompany their peers to distant countries and for many days without family license, nor money or fear … This young person finds his soul as well as his pain and happiness among the Ultras. That is why the issue of youth Ultras is an extremely important topic, although it has never been studied nor analyzed. It is an issue that is not well contemplated or at least muted, especially in Morocco.
Youssef:
Youssef is a fifteen years old child from Sale. At this very young age, his mind is already satiated with the ideas of Ultras. He is a member of Ultras Red Pirates, nothing written on paper but he watches every game of ASS the football team presenting the city, sometimes they play at home and other times they have to travel to other cities following the team. While talking to him about his convictions concerning Ultras and how it’s related to his life, he was looking confident and so sure about his choices.
The young football fan is also a member of ASS second young team, and thanks to that he is doing a big effort to attend the first team but as he said » Unfortunately i noticed the difference of having poor parents too soon, since day one i had always to do double of the efforts that some are doing ».
« When we travel to watch a game outside of the city, the older members are always giving me instructions and telling me to concentrate at school, we all know that a few numbers of the fans are not truly satiated with the idea and they are here just to do a mess, so they don’t really want me to hang out with them. *Talking in a sarcastic way* I am completely aware that I have to worry about my future, « because in morocco football does not really help in earning livelyhood » so in order to have a chance in football I do worry about my grades and so does my parents, and i do my best *Laughing* »
Before, during and after a football match, there is a lot of talk about the technical performance of the players with a quality or poor evaluation of play, here is a waste of time, and the discussion about sports practice inside the stadium is deepening on the side, if the team is losing, or on the positive side if the team is a winner. . This is the dominant feature of all sports comments, regardless of their nature, whether issued by professionals, journalists, or even intruders. And in every position to speak about the sport of football, tongues remain drawn to deliberation in what is purely technical, which results in the neglect of an important aspect in this sport, which is the audience, this which we do not remember except after the occurrence of security chaos, arguments or abuses within the stands. In this case, this audience is classified as violent and its behaviors are categorized as riots. This is what causes those in charge of sports affairs looking for solutions to combat all forms of public violence, material or symbolic. So that this fight amounts to defaming the public and reprimanding it, and even issuing strict laws that its advocates believe are the guarantors of curbing the fans in the stadiums.
A football match that deserves this name can only be attended by the public as the 12th player. It is it that bestows the vital match and makes it full of life. Even in cases where the fans are prohibited from attending a match, such as the punitive measures that are taken against some clubs – what is known as wiklo – or even these days because of the covid-19 virus, emptiness,the stadium is cold, the match is rigid and relations between the players are dead. The audience, then, is the active mind and dynamic engine that gives this game forms of watching. The audience is the one that gives the game a variety of ceremonies, pumps dynamism, and even life into the artery of the stadium.
« By sacrifice and sincerity we live the life of the Ultras », a phrase, and much like it, is found on the walls in public places. We might think that they are just empty words of meaning or just slogans. But it is not as we expect. Every word like what young people write to talk about Ultras has existential connotations, has historical experiences, it is a new cultural heritage, it is the new youth culture, the doctrine of the future.
