Domestic abuse survivor says football was ‘big factor’
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2024-06-11/domestic-abuse-survivor-says-football-was-big-factor
Posted by insomnimax_99
Domestic abuse survivor says football was ‘big factor’
https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2024-06-11/domestic-abuse-survivor-says-football-was-big-factor
Posted by insomnimax_99
28 Comments
Interested to know what the spikes are like on regular premier league and championship weekends or cup finals too but with the frequency of them it might be hard to tell. Regardless, it’s so immature to take out your emotions on your partner after watching the football.
“Obviously there was drinking involved” sounds like drinking was the big factor to be honest. Drinking and cocaine and men who are mentally unhinged. Football is a little secondary to all that.
It’s not like during half time the pundits are telling the viewers new ways to abuse their partners is it?
I have no interest in football but it seems like the men here should be to blame and not the sport?
In both the cases of alcohol and football, I think these light the fuse on a powder keg already primed to explode. Football doesn’t make otherwise non-violent people turn violent, I don’t even believe alcohol turns non-violent people violent.
We’re talking about triggers for people who are already emotionally or mentally damaged. When they’re sober and haven’t been exposed to a mentally strained episode, such as your football team losing, they are keeping it together. When their inhibitions are lowered or they’ve had such an emotional flash point then they don’t and the violence comes out.
Football should do what it can as an industry to try and reduce these incidents. Still, as usual, the real solution lies in better mental health interventions as well as improving the society people grow up in so fewer people develop mental health problems. Easier said than done though.
As a non wife beater but a football fan, the performance on the pitch of my team absolutely affects my mood, my wife seen this before we married and still sees it now, I get all down and don’t want to do anything when we are bad or happy and elated when we do well. I don’t control it but I absolute would not let it turn into violence or aggression to anyone else, that I think can be controlled.
I’m not really a football fan – I’ll watch the euros and World Cup, and maybe some later stages of the FA cup, but I couldn’t tell you anything about league standings, current player form etc.
anyway. Part of the reason I’ve never really gotten into football is a substantial minority of fans seem to be in it precisely for some aggro. They *want* to get tanked up and engage in some bad tempered shouting with opposing fans, maybe even more involved forms of chest pounding like squaring up, being held back by mates “it’s not worth it man!”, struggling *but not too hard* against the restraint. The match is only an excuse for a pint and a fight, a way to let off some steam.
I don’t want anything to do with these guys at all. When beer was cheaper they’d have a scuffle outside the pub; now they get leathered at home and take it out on the missus.
Feels like everyday on this sub I see something being blamed for antisocial behaviour. Porn, vaping, now football? Maybe, just maybe, its a cultural thing that needs to be addressed through better social provisions, education, and parenting. People, not things, need to start being held accountable in this country.
Understandable. I beat the Mrs when something bad happens to my fave characters on EastEnders.
Might go have a Google but does anyone know if there’s similar outcomes for rugby, cricket, tennis etc.? Rugby would be the next closest I think in terms of alcohol use by fans etc. but I really don’t know.
The media including the bbc etc encourage alcohol use during football. Alcohol can be a trigger for violence. There’s the explanation, alcohol all along.
It’s not so much football itself, a sport loved by many people, but the worst sort of men.
Unfortunately, football is the easiest sport to understand, so it attracts (among its many decent fans) thick and violent people of limited intellect and education. These people view the world in very simple terms, and their tiny brains really struggle with any response other than violence.
Should be known by now, we saw a stat a while ago showing domestic abuse sky rocketing when England lost games. Obviously the problems are the PoS men not the game though
Football providing solace and strength in difficult times.
There is something about English football though…. Occasionally you hear of clamp downs on cricket hooligans where they limit alcohol to 12 cans a day. What about those rugby riots?
Donno, about football, but whenever I see badminton being played, I feel the urge to slap someone.
Jokes aside, I do not think the sport is to blame.
Football was massive in our house but it was probably more alcohol or just my da being an actual cunt that was the actual issue, football has an off season and in the house we didn’t really.
People need to learn what a trigger is.
Football doesn’t mean everyone will be a domestic abuser. It does act as a trigger for some though. Between early drinking throughout the day, to anger when your team loses.
These people often have other deep routed issues in their personality (anger management). Some of these don’t surface all the time. Certain things trigger them.
That isn’t a justification either. A reason is not an excuse.
I think it’s just specious reasoning to say that X person watched football, therefore watching football was a contributory factor in domestic abuse.
In reality, there is a socio-economic crossover between rates of domestic abuse / socioeconomic problems and interest in football.
Put simply, if you are poor, you are more likely to be from an environment where domestic abuse or social and economic problems were more likely to have been seen in your childhood.
It is really poor reasoning to see two elements of someone’s life occurring at the same time, and to then suggest that one, is in some way the cause of the other.
It reminds me of the fact that you can go to a cricket match and be served alcohol in your chair for the duration of the day, similar with rugby- but I do not know of a football ground that yet allows beer to be consumed in the stand.
I find it interesting that when you mention that studies suggest video games can potentially cause people to become agressive or violent (and I have a relevant degree, so know all the caveats and methodological concerns), you’ll catch a lot of shit on the internet and reddit. But if you mention that football can cause people watching to become agressive or violent, I suspect plenty of people will accept it’s a no brainer. I also suspect plenty of football fans will say it’s not true or become defensive.
It’s a bit like how people got really upset about ‘video nasties’ in the 1980s, worried that violent horror movies would cause the children to become violent or do horrible stuff. Talk of banning them, etc. But people pointed out that there are a lot of books which are pretty nasty and have inspired people to do horrible things. Yet there’s usually far less people in favour of censoring or banning books, because reading is seen as a good thing. Playing games or watching horror movies isn’t. Eg. there’s a child orgy in Stephen King’s It, and yet books like that are often read by quite young children, with few people batting an eye.
Basically, it’s interesting how people will ignore the potential negative effects of things they enjoy or think of as important, and get defensive when you point out those potential negative effects, even if the actual negative effects are quite small.
Another obvious one is alcohol, where people will get annoyed when you mention even moderate consumption significantly increases your risk of cancer. People enjoy a drink, so they’ll happily parrot the debunked ‘red wine is good for you’ thing as they down a bottle with dinner.
I believe it. I know a lot of women (and men) that make a convenient excuse to be out of the house on saturdays *just in case* – Many food banks I had been attached with made a point of staying open during matches to provide the excuse to be out the house that wouldn’t arouse suspicion.
One would rather these poor souls find peace and safety away from their abuser, but sadly domestic abuse seldom allows you the objectivity you can receive outside of the situation.
Reading these comments, it’s fairly obvious there are some football fans who want to do everything they can to push any semblance of responsibility away from the ”beautiful game” itself and talk about societal issues being the culprit. I’d love to know how many of these people are as bothered about societal violence and it’s causes when football isn’t being pinpointed.
Just be honest. My whole life I have seen racism, violence, vandalism, ”casual” gangs, misogyny circle around the topic of football. Men have loved to get together so they can cry and scream and fight and let out all the nasty racist, abusive rhetoric all together under the umbrella of ”sport” for decades. Historically longer.
Yeah correlation isn’t causation, but I think some of you need to take the blinders off. Fifa literally kidnapped and killed people to make a stadium just the other year. You don’t think that sets a precedent?
I know a lot of you guys have grown up on the footy hugbox, but you can just be honest that it is largely a toxic environment and culture. Now women are speaking up about how football directly impacts their life and creates an abusive situation and you want to talk about the ”real” cause. Hows about addressing what this woman said instead of playing pretend economists/sociologists. Take a look at the bullshit football has and does cause people.
And if you don’t think it’s ”football” contributing to this, then be a big boy and be as vocal about what it is as you all are here. Because I see a lot of moaning and blame shifting on this sub, and a lot less posts about the dire lack of mental health/opportunities for people generally. If that is what you generally think causes women to have to suffer increased domestic violence when a stupid fucking game is played, then say something about that. Not just when your play time is in peril.
Wow I like football but i never realised it was such a big factor in helping domestic abuse victims.
It’s a common theme I’ve heard from domestic abuse survivors in that the wife would get battered if the husband’s team lost.
I think the issue is with misogynistic insecure men attaching their self worth to these football teams and then treating their wives as punching bags to take out their aggression when the team loses.
I’d have infinitely more respect for these men if they just joined a hooligan firm and battered opposing firms but of course they’re too pussy to fight other men which is why they beat their defenceless wives
Sorry but this is the “video games cause mass shootings” argument just ported over to the UK.
I’m an avid MMA and boxing fan, but I don’t turn my girlfriend into a bloody pulp every time my favourite fighter gets knocked out.
The type of sports has nothing to do with degenerates fueled with alcohol. Unfortunately, footy attracts a lot of them.
Interesting study to understand more so the when of DV episodes to provide support accordingly, as football of course is just an avatar for much deeper issues a person is having and likely one of many unrelated triggers since DV is a wholly irrational behaviour.
As an expat who has shared the stands with some rough and rowdy people with a grudge to act on back home, it is an exception to the norm and then coming over here seeing that you have to divide home and away teams into sections, erect barriers, different exit routes, etc. is kind of wild to digest culturally.
I think it was most likely the blokes fault doing the domestic abuse. It’s 100% possible to watch football and not beat your wife.
I think one of the best things to ever happen to me was to support a team that sucks. It means that I learned to not get mad at losing, because that’s all they did. I now think of football as “win? Cool. Lose? Ah well”. I don’t want my happiness to be dictated over something I have zero control over.