Where: Italy, Albenga.
When: from 2016 to present.
Why: I want to understand what lays behind the phenomenon of hooliganism, and invstigate why kids of different age decide to dedicate a great part of their lives to support a team, without giving almost no importance to the team competitive results.
What: Hooliganism is a world spread phenomenon. In Italy, even in the lower leagues, almost every team has its own supporters, who devote themselves to the hooligans’ “life style”.
Being an Ultras (the Italian word for hooligans), indeed, means much more than going to the stadium and cheer for your team; it means belonging to a group of people, where individual members abandon their ego in favor of a collective ideal, the so called “ultras mentality”. It’s a powerful self-actualization process that allows the individual to feel part of something bigger than himself.
In a small city in northern Italy, some young boys have chosen the GSA (Gradinata Sud Albenga) as their tribe; a life training ground where they can support their team while at the same time they can vent their anger and channel their frustration towards a society that they dislike and that does not represent them.
