The endless loop of us-against-them in a football context. A Swedish study on legitimacy from the supporter's perspective.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the football supporters’ perspective on problems and the police in a Swedish football context. More specific, the study examined the indirect effect of legitimacy on perceived violence/disorders and the supporter-police relationship through social identity, aggression and morality. The study is quantitative in nature and a web-based survey was distributed to recruit football supporters to participate. The sample consisted of 800 football supporters who were minimum 15 years old. The results showed that Swedish football supporters, in general, perceive a small amount of problems with violence/disorders in a football context and, further, supporters perceived the supporter-police relationship as bad with a need for a change. The present study’s mediation analyses showed that legitimacy had a statistically significant indirect effect on the supporter-police relationship through both social identity and aggression. Based on the result, future research should continue investigate supporter-police relationship from the supporter perspective. The police could use this information in their development of future strategies to work for a better relationship and mutual respect with supporters. Concluding remarks of this study highlights the essential aspect supporters contribute in the work of safety and order in a football context in Sweden. The legitimacy of the Swedish police is low from the supporter’s point of view which damages the relationship between them.