Hooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans, particularly supporters of association football. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and or drugs.

The term hooligan has been used since at least the mid 1890s—when it was used to describe the name of a street gang in London—at approximately the same time as Manchester’s street gangs, known as the “Scuttlers” were gaining notoriety. The first use of the term is unknown, but the word first appeared in print in London police-court reports in 1894 referring to the name of a gang of youths in the Lambeth area of London—the Hooligan Boys, and later—the O’Hooligan Boys. In August 1898 a murder in Lambeth committed by a member of the gang drew further attention to the word which was immediately popularized by the press. The London-based newspaper Daily Graphic wrote in an article on 22 August 1898, “The avalanche of brutality which, under the name of ‘Hooliganism’ … has cast such a dire slur on the social records of South London”.

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in his 1904 novel The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, “It seemed to be one of those senseless acts of Hooliganism which occur from time to time, and it was reported to the constable on the beat as such”. H.G. Wells wrote in his 1909 semi-autobiographical novel Tono-Bungay, “Three energetic young men of the hooligan type, in neck-wraps and caps, were packing wooden cases with papered-up bottles, amidst much straw and confusion”.

Later, as the meaning of the word shifted slightly, none of the possible alternatives had precisely the same undertones of a person, usually young, who is a member of an informal group and commits acts of vandalism or criminal damage, starts fights, and who causes disturbances but is not a thief. The word was internationalised in the 20th century in the Soviet Union as khuligan, which referred to scofflaws or political dissenters. Matthias Rust was convicted of hooliganism, among other things, for his 1987 Cessna landing in Red Square.

The word hooliganism and hooligan began to be associated with violence in sports, in particular from the 1980s in the UK with football hooliganism. However, one of the earliest known instances of crowd violence at a sporting event took place in ancient Constantinople. Two chariot racing factions, the Blues and the Greens, were involved in the Nika riots which lasted around a week in 532 CE; nearly half the city was burned or destroyed in addition to tens of thousands of deaths.