In writing on Quebec’s heavy-handed crackdown on the continuing student protests (“Our Not So Friendly Northern Neighbor”, International Herald Tribune, May 23 2012), Laurence Bherer and Pascale Dufour note the generally well-behaved demeanor of the protesters:
Since the beginning of the student strike, leaders have told protesters to avoid violence. Protesters even condemned the small minority of troublemakers who had infiltrated the demonstrations. During the past four months of protests, there has never been the kind of rioting the city has seen when the local National Hockey League team, the Canadiens, wins or loses during the Stanley Cup playoffs. [link in original]
The invocation of the behavior of Canadiens fans is a particular instance of a familiar trope: the comparison between the law-and-order response to the behavior of sports fans–drunken or sober, celebrating or mourning–and that of another group, in this case, political protesters. (A classic instance, from a time long past, may be found in Deadheads’ pleas for tolerance as the Grateful Dead were banned in many cities from performing live. As Deadheads noted, Pittsburgh Police had suggested they would much rather work a Grateful Dead concert than a Steelers game; the latter event involved dealing with drunk fans, the former with stoned Deadheads; no prizes for guessing which group was better behaved.)
Now, presumably, when Canadiens fans rioted, the local police must have sought to restore order, perhaps by arresting drunken sports fans that might have damaged private property. But no amount of sports fan misbehavior will, I think, provoke the passage of legislation like Bill 78:
The bill threatens to impose steep fines of 25,000 to 125,000 Canadian dollars against student associations and unions…student associations will be found guilty if they do not stop their members from protesting within university and college grounds. During a street demonstration, the organization that plans the protest will be penalized if individual protesters stray from the police-approved route or exceed the time limit imposed by authorities. Student associations and unions are also liable for any damage caused by a third party during a demonstration….student organizations and unions will be held responsible for behavior they cannot possibly control.
The comparison above with the behavior of sports fans is significant because of a larger culture of ‘boys-will-be-boys’ tolerance of sports fans behavior. (Have the Canadiens been held liable for their fans’ behavior?) The same folks who would be mildly irritated by sports fans pissing on their lawns after a big game would be positively apoplectic if they were mildly inconvenienced by a political rally, action or demonstration of any sort. (Campus towns seem pretty mellow about the wake of devastation left after a big college football game.) And the police response to the rowdiness of drunken sports fans, spilling into the streets from sidewalks, is more often than not, far more tolerant than it would be of a small group of sober protesters, perhaps chanting the odd slogan or two. The likelihood of a violent encounter is far greater in the first instance but the heavy-handed crackdown always takes place in the latter.
The problem, of course, is that drunken sports fans rioting sends one kind of message, the protest sends another. The former lets us know the massive narcotizing effect of professional sports is, shall we say, ‘in full effect’; the latter lets us know the medication is wearing off. The clubs and batons are required, therefore, to knock those protesting back into submission. The former assure us they are drunk, in the thrall of corporate fantasy entertainment; the latter, that they are done changing channels and would like to take over the production facilities. Small wonder that the latter evokes alarm, while the former merely bemused worry that someone’s storefront or car might be damaged. The dollar value of the damage caused by the rioting sports fan might cause more damage than the political protester but the protester is likely to generate far more pernicious instability; sports fan riots leave broken windows and bleeding noses in their wake, the political rally invariably disrupts far more.
It’s a no-brainer, really, for those charged with ‘keeping the peace’: leave the sports fans alone, go get the protesters.
Samir Chopra 
Reblogged this on ze jopauca blog.
Sports also reinforce certain principles of the status quo — big money, competition, individual achievement with cooperative groups, triumphalism — act as a form of tribal bonding and identify formation — and even serve as a substitute for the psychological comfort that the ritual and structured calendar of religion also offer. I’m speaking as a baseball and football fan here, by the by. An increasingly guilty and conflicted football fan. Anyhow. Sports aren’t a challenge to the social order. In may ways, they ARE the social order. So sports fans get more slack than protesters, even when they behave worse.
Peter,
Well put. I should have noted in my post that I’m a baseball and football fan too – and like you, as conflicted one. The description of sports as the “social order” is particularly apt given how much of the status quo they reinforce – and how many different social functions it performs. Professional sports (and I include college sports in that) especially emphasizes the corporate value system.
BTW, have you seen Friday Night Lights?
Haven’t seen FNL. It’s one of those shows that I avoid exactly because it is well regarded and I’m pretty sure I’m going to like it. I don’t want to lose the time. That’s the same reason I kept resisting the impulse to get a big TV and cable. I’d watch the Phillies six days a week. Well, maybe not right now.
Peter,
FNL is excellent, and yes, addictive. Try it sometime when you can spare the time. Too busy writing, I’m guessing!
I think I’m going to cancel cable – I got it for sports but I hardly watch any more.