The Role of Demographic Characteristics of Football Spectators on the Control of their Violent Behavior

The violent behavior of the spectators is one of the most important issues for the organizers of the popular and exciting football matches, which occurs under the influence of various conditions and may have irreparable consequences. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of demographic characteristics of football spectators on the control of their violent behavior.

In terms of its objectives the current research is of an applied type and in terms of method and nature it is descriptive and survey type. The statistical population included two parts. The first part includes all football spectators in the year 2018-2019, which was considered to be 100,000 people on average, and the sample size of 200 people was calculated using Morgan's table. The second part included the employees of the special police unit of Tehran for about 370 people, 184 of whom were selected for the statistical sample and completed the researcher-made questionnaire whose validity (face and content) and reliability were confirmed. Binomial, U-Man-Whitney and Wilcoxon statistical tests were also used for data analysis.

The findings of the research test showed that from the point of view of football spectators and special police unit employees, demographic characteristics including age, marital status, job, education, residence and geographical region play an effective and significant role in controlling the violent behavior of spectators (Sig=0.000). However, there is a significant difference between the two groups of special police unit employees and spectators regarding the intensity of the influence of marital demographic factors (Sig = 0.09), place of residence (Sig = 0.38) and geographic region (Sig = 0.12).

According to the obtained findings, for the effective control of sports gatherings, it is necessary for the authorities to consider the demographic characteristics of the spectators and plan and implement appropriate control measures accordingly.