Abstract
ABSTRACT This essay debates how the 2016 European Football Championship in France together with the acute terrorist threat served to pass quickly and with minimal opposition in the Parliament a controversial ‘counter-hooligan’ law. For this purpose, debates in both parliamentary chambers were explored. It is shown that in the discourse, hooliganism and terrorism were intermingled as both became part of one pervasive line of reasoning based on a sense of urgency and a need to suppress any activities that could disrupt the desired image of a successful hosting country that does not succumb to the fear of terrorism. However, the relation between the proposed ‘counter-hooligan’ measures and security at the tournament could not be satisfactorily explained by the legislators. Also, the politicians rarely attempted to understand the football-related violence and rather resorted to ‘genuine supporters/bad hooligans’ dichotomy which, however, largely ignores the complexity of the phenomenon in the country.
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