What is a hooligan?

Answer 1

Today, it is anybody that attends a sports match to start a fight, not watch the game.

It is normally applied to football fans who "go on the rampage”, “ran amuck”, were guilty of “thuggish behaviour”, or “caused mayhem”. They are variously described in news stories as louts, yobs, thugs and ruffians, but the word that was universally employed is hooligan.

It’s an odd word, which the Oxford English Dictionary says started to appear in London police-court reports in the summer of 1898. It became instantly popular, with several compounds appearing in newspapers within weeks (a sure sign of acceptance), including Hooliganism, hooliganesque, Hooliganic, and the verb to hooligan, of which only the first has survived. The long-defunct London newspaper the Daily Graphic wrote in a report on 22 August that year, “The avalanche of brutality which, under the name of ‘Hooliganism’ ... has cast such a dire slur on the social records of South London”. The word soon reached literary works; Conan Doyle employed it in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons in 1904: “It seemed to be one of those senseless acts of Hooliganism which occur from time to time, and it was reported to the constable on the beat as such”, and H G Wells included it in his novel Tono-Bungay in 1909: “Three energetic young men of the hooligan type, in neck-wraps and caps, were packing wooden cases with papered-up bottles, amidst much straw and confusion”.

Several suggestions have been made about its origin that link it to the Irish family name variously spelt Hooligan or Houlihan. It seems there was a popular music-hall song of the period about a rowdy Irish family of that name; the OED comments that there was a series about a similarly-named comic Irish character that appeared in a periodical called Funny Folks. Some reports say it was a mishearing of the term Hooley’s gang but nobody has come up with a source for this.

However, a book by Clarence Rook named Hooligan Nights, which was published in 1899, gives some helpful evidence. Mr Rook claimed that the word derives from a Patrick Hooligan, a small-time bouncer and thief, who lived in the Borough, on the south side of the river. With his family and a small gang of followers he frequented the Lamb and Flag public house in Southwark (not to be confused with the older and more famous hostelry of the same name across the river in Covent Garden). Mr Hooligan murdered a policeman, was put away for life and died in prison. Another writer, Earnest Weekley, said in his Romance of Words in 1912: “The original Hooligans were a spirited Irish family of that name whose proceedings enlivened the drab monotony of life in Southwark about fourteen years ago”. It would seem from the other evidence that spirited and enlivened are euphemisms.

Whatever its origins, it quickly became established. At first this was most probably because of its novelty and news value. Later, as its sense shifted slightly, none of the possible alternatives had precisely the undertones of a (usually young) person, a member of an informal group, who commits acts of vandalism or criminal damage, starts fights, and who causes disturbances but is not a thief.

Answer 2

Hooliganism is slang for unruly and destructive behavior.

Such behavior is commonly associated with sports fans, particularly supporters of professional football and university sports. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The term has been used since at least the 1890s, to describe the behavior of street gangs.

The first use of the term is unknown, but it appeared in an 1898 London police report. One theory is that the word came from the name of an Irish hoodlum from Southwark, London named Patrick Hooligan. Another theory is that it came from a street gang in Islington named Hooley. A third theory is that it's based on an Irish word, Hooley, which means a wild, spirited party1.

Answer 3

Someone who is a rascal, trouble maker, disruptive, unruly. A hooligan is a person who practices hooliganism, which is slang for causing these kinds of behaviors. When I was a kid and my grandmother didn't like the way I was acting she would call me a hooligan. And I was :)

Answer 4

It is a person who practices hooliganism.

Such behavior is commonly associated with sports fans, particularly supporters of professional football and university sports. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The term has been used since at least the 1890s, to describe the behavior of street gangs.

Answer 5

hooligans these are 5 guys beating one

Answer 6

In my opinion a Hooligan is someone craving attention.Usually someone who has never been to a sporting event in their life.Yet when the hometown wins --it is merely an excuse to get pissed drunk cause fights.The root of it is excessive alcohol..Which can make the rabbit chase the bear..

Answer 7

watch Green Street and ul find out..

Someone or group who basically looks for trouble.. mostly football hooligans.. where there is a big firm and they go to the football matches and have a massive fight with the other Teams firm...

every football team has a firm.. which consists of a bunch of hooligans! just picking fights... horrible fights aswell.. not just petty!

or watch Football factory.. you will find out..

they are great films!! im not into that sort of thing.. but I ♥d them!!

:o)

Answer 8

examine trevor tanners e book (obtainable on amazon) which records the exploits of the spurs employer, it concludes what maximum companies no even nonetheless wont admit and that's spurs have the superb employer in britain and europe. you have many hooligan books obtainable approximately different companies some are genuine yet maximum are sheer delusion, yet trevor tanners e book consists of an end section that's dedicated to magistrates comments of each and every of the incidents he discusses, so all hes information are shown, i grew to become into heavily in contact in this scene throughout the Seventies and early Eighteen Eighties and that i understand a great number of trevors employer. and in uncomplicated terms for the record hooligans are interior the main important clever and not bone headed because of the fact the media and press could have you ever suspect, nor do they beat up harmless followers (a minimum of spurs on no account did) that grew to become into frowned upon in the employer. we in uncomplicated terms dished it out to those that wanted the comparable. i on no account have been given below the impression of alcohol or took drugs earlier a row as that would have weakened me so thats a delusion that all and sundry hooligans are druggies or drunks, i additionally had and nevertheless have an extremely stable interest and all approaches prided myself on my visual attraction. i additionally enjoyed it it gave me a actual buzz and made me happy with who i grew to become into and proud to shelter the place i come from. or perhaps nonetheless i no longer become in contact I surely have it on stable authority that spurs are the superb employer via a protracted way , and communities like cardiff, millwall have all met and considered for themselves merely what the yids are approximately and as for chelsea lolol i wont even waste my breath on them morons and that they via the way do hit harmless followers shame on them thats why they have a acceptance there scum..

Answer 9

A violent young troublemaker.
From the 19th century - the surname of a fictional rowdy Irish family in a music hall song.

Answer 10

An uncultured, aggressive, rude, noisy troublemaker.
(As defined by WordWeb dictionary)