Soviet stadium as a space of competition of official and informal models of behavior on the example of Kyiv (1950–1980)

Abstract

The article considers the peculiarities of the strategies of behavior of fans in Soviet stadiums in the postwar period. On the example of the city of Kyiv and the “Republican” stadium, an analysis of the competition between officially permitted, acceptable models of behavior and alternatives to them, which took place during football matches, is conducted. The Soviet stadium during football matches was a kind of point of “inaccessibility” for the authorities. Watching matches at the stadium was accompanied by a more intense public display of emotions, in contrast to other sports spectacles (for example, a physical culture parade).Before the start of «perebudova» and the announcement of “glasnist”, the official press kept silent about the real situation in the stadiums and the scale of the conflicts that arose after the matches. Also, it ignored any unusual forms of manifestation by fans of their football-related identity (for example, a march of spectators through the city after the match). Violence in stadiums, “incorrect behavior” (such as insulting football players, songs with obscene language) could not be part of the official Soviet spectator culture. The deconstruction of the image of the “good” fan created by Soviet propaganda and its comparison with the materials of oral historical interviews leads to the conclusion that the practices of Soviet fans in and out of the stadium on the day of the match undermined the government’s monopoly on the city.The widespread popularity of football in the Soviet Union and its widespread discussion contributed to the construction of fan communities, the identity of which was formed by opposing the support of “our” against “foreign”, hostile teams. The principled nature of football matches for interested Soviet citizens turned the review of games at the stadium into a place of emotional demonstration of the fans’ identity. Violations of public order, collective “celebrations” or demonstrations of dissatisfaction with the results of the game, spontaneous marches from the stadium after the match became part of the unconscious resistance to the established models of “correct behavior”.The context of “perebudova”, the lack of prepared reaction of law enforcement officers led to the escalation of the conflict and, in fact, to the actual and symbolic appropriation of urban space by Kyiv fans during the clashes.