Hated and Proud- Ultras Contra Modernity

Wednesday, May 2, 2018. Daniele De
Rossi stands in the afterglow of another heartbreaking defeat for the
AS Roma soccer team. Disappointed by the loss, the AS Roma captain
nonetheless looks elated. He speaks to a reporter about more than the
game, describing the sensation of pride, love, and ‘the essence of
being Roman,’ that was given him by the crowd. There is no doubt to
anyone that De Rossi is speaking of the Ultras in Curva Sud.
Pride. Love. The essence of being
Roman.
And yet these same organized,
ritualized, aggrandizing, and ‘Ultra’ fanatical soccer fans are
invariably described in the media as violent and thuggish, and often
racist and fascist.
Violent. Thuggish. Racist.
Fascist.
For years Mark Dyal struggled with
the evident disparity between the pageantry of the Ultras and their
propensity for violence and extreme politics; so much so that he
moved to Rome and lived amongst the Ultras for fifteen months,
seeking to understand them as an important and instructive
phenomenon.

Hated and Proud is the story
of what he discovered in Rome, both within Curva Sud and
within himself. Neither memoir nor journalistic exposé, Hated and
Proud is instead an intense, but academic, engagement with the
Ultras and their theoretical, historical, and political influences.