Words matter but actions are also needed – How social psychology can help to address football related violence.

When tensions spill over between rival football supporters, as they sometimes do in matches involving Rangers and Celtic, it can be tempting to see the behaviour as inevitable. The rivalry is historic, emotional, and deeply tied to identity. Yet social science tells a different story. Behaviour in groups is rarely inevitable, it is patterned, influenced, and crucially changeable.

In this blog I want to communicate a new focus for both Rangers and Celtic but also, I think this new lens must be extended to policing, other community groups and importantly to society.  As I learned from my time with the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit prevention rarely works when one group is involved.  In many ways we are all effected by this issue so we all must get involved.

Two thinkers offer useful lenses for understanding how these situations unfold and how they might shift: Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point and Catherine Sanderson in Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into Moral Rebels. Together they highlight something powerful: cultures change when enough individuals decide that different behaviour becomes the new norm.

The power of small behavioural shifts

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes how social change often happens not through massive interventions but through small shifts that accumulate until a threshold is reached. At that point, behaviour suddenly spreads through a community.

This concept is visible in stadium environments. A chant begins with a handful of supporters. If enough people join in, it becomes the dominant noise in the ground. The same process can apply to harmful behaviour: aggressive chants, throwing objects, or confrontations between rival groups can spread through imitation.

Social psychologists call this social contagion, the tendency for behaviours and emotions to spread within groups. Humans are wired to take cues from those around them, especially when we are part of a strong identity group like football supporters.

Gladwell also highlights the role of “connectors” and “mavens”, people within networks who influence others. In supporter culture these might be fan leaders, ultras, long-standing season ticket holders, or respected voices within supporter groups. Their behaviour sets a tone.

If influential individuals model restraint, humour, and respect, that tone can spread. If they model hostility, the opposite can happen. The tipping point is not only about numbers; it is about who those numbers are.

The silence of the majority

While Gladwell helps explain how behaviours spread, Catherine Sanderson focuses on why people who witness wrongdoing so often stay silent.

Her research explores the gap between private values and public behaviour. Many people believe harmful behaviour is wrong, yet they fail to intervene when it occurs. This phenomenon has been documented in social psychology for decades and is closely related to the bystander effect, the tendency for individuals to feel less responsible when others are present.

In crowded environments like football matches, this effect becomes amplified. Thousands of people are present, which paradoxically makes individuals feel less personally responsible for acting.

Sanderson introduces the idea of the moral rebel, someone willing to step outside the crowd and act according to their values, even when it is uncomfortable. Moral rebels challenge chants, interrupt harassment, or simply refuse to join in.

Importantly, her work shows that moral rebels are not necessarily extraordinary people. Often, they are ordinary individuals who believe their voice matters and who feel supported by those around them.

Identity and rivalry

The Rangers v Celtic rivalry is often described as one of football’s most intense. Social identity theory helps explain why.

Humans define themselves partly through group membership: nationality, religion, politics, or sports teams. When group identity becomes strong, people may exaggerate differences between “us” and “them.” Psychologists call this in-group favouritism and out-group bias.

Football crowds are social ecosystems. Within them, emotions spread quickly, behaviours are copied, and silence can be interpreted as approval. Understanding this dynamic is key to preventing escalation.  Social identity theory, developed by Henri Tajfel says that people divide world into us & them & then defend “us” automatically.  This defence isn’t always rational or ethical, it’s tribal.  Once a team becomes part of someone’s identity, defending the team feels like defending self. Loyalty to the team builds.  If loyalty is defined as “defend the group no matter what,” then sectarianism, racism and other harmful behaviour by fellow supporters gets excused, minimised, or ignored. Calling it out becomes betrayal. Silence masquerades as loyalty.  But if loyalty is reframed as “protect what the group stands for,” the entire moral direction flips. Now, challenging racism becomes the loyal act.

Sports environments including Stadiums create synchronised emotion, shared symbols, and collective memory. This is powerful psychological fuel. The question is not whether loyalty exists, it always will. The question is what loyalty is pointed at.

In football contexts this can lead to hostility toward rival supporters. Yet identity is also flexible. Many supporters hold multiple identities simultaneously: football fan, parent, worker, neighbour, community member.

When the football identity dominates the moment, behaviour can become tribal. When other identities are activated, shared humanity, local community, love of the sport, behaviour can soften.  This is where social norms become critical. Norms are unwritten rules about what behaviour is acceptable within a group. If supporters believe aggressive behaviour is expected, they are more likely to follow it. If they believe respect and pride in the club mean rejecting violence, behaviour shifts.

Norms are not static; they are negotiated through everyday interactions.

The moment where culture turns

Gladwell’s tipping point concept suggests that change does not require every supporter to behave differently. It requires enough supporters, particularly influential ones, to set a new tone.

Sanderson’s work adds another ingredient: individuals willing to act publicly in line with their values. When someone challenges a harmful chant or discourages confrontation, they signal that silence is no longer the default.

This matters because people constantly look around for cues about what others believe. Psychologists call this pluralistic ignorance, a situation where individuals privately disagree with behaviour but assume others support it.

Once a few voices speak up, that illusion can break. Suddenly the silent majority realises they are not alone.  In this way, a moral rebel can become the beginning of a tipping point. 

Reframing supporter culture

Football clubs often focus on enforcement: policing, sanctions, and bans. These measures whilst necessary, rarely change underlying culture on their own.

Social science suggests something deeper is required: empowering supporters themselves to shape the norms of the environment.  When fans see themselves not only as spectators but as custodians of the culture of the game, behaviour begins to change. Pride shifts from hostility toward rivals to pride in representing the club with integrity.  Loyalty is redefined.

That shift can spread surprisingly quickly once visible examples emerge.

Five practical solutions

Drawing on the insights from Gladwell’s tipping point framework and Sanderson’s research on moral courage, several strategies could help shift supporter culture in high-tension matches.

• Empower fan influencers – Clubs and supporter organisations should identify respected voices within fan communities and involve them in setting behavioural norms. When influential supporters publicly model positive conduct, the ripple effect can be powerful.

• Active bystandership training for supporter groups – Short workshops or digital campaigns can teach fans simple ways to intervene safely when they see harmful behaviour, redirecting chants, de-escalating conflict, or supporting those targeted.

• Make positive norms visible – Campaigns that highlight the majority behaviour, fans supporting passionately without hostility, can counter the perception that aggression is typical and inevitable. Visible messaging from supporters themselves is particularly effective.  It supports the tools to act provided in active bystandership training and helps provide both a responsibility to act but also permission to act.  This is particularly relevant to the fact that a majority of those causing harm will likely be male.

• Create mixed-fan initiatives outside match days – Community projects, charity events, and youth programmes involving supporters from both clubs can reduce rigid “us vs them” thinking by activating shared identities.

• Celebrate moral courage – Clubs and leagues can publicly recognise supporters who intervene positively in difficult situations. Stories of fans protecting others or calming tensions reinforce the idea that speaking up is valued.

Culture is not fixed

The rivalry between Rangers and Celtic will always be intense. Rivalries are part of what makes sport compelling. But intensity does not have to mean hostility.

Social science consistently shows that group behaviour is shaped by norms, leadership, and visible examples. When individuals decide that certain behaviour no longer represents their group, change can happen faster than expected.

Gladwell reminds us that small actions can accumulate until they reshape an entire culture. Sanderson reminds us that those actions often begin with a single person refusing to stay silent.  When enough supporters take that step, the tipping point arrives, and the culture of the crowd begins to shift.