Abstract
The Zenit Football Club (FC) ultras from the city of Saint Petersburg (SP) is a notoriously well-organized fan group in the Russian Premier League. The intolerance and urban conflict evident in the wider Russian society are reflected in the football stadium. The chapter explores the ultras’ inclusion and exclusion of players and supporters, their traditionalist values and use of Russian boxing in sport disputes, and discusses ethno-political violence, antagonism, racism, nationalism and gender inequalities. The discussion illustrates how the Zenit and the Russian government use football as a tool of integration and diplomacy.
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Notes
- 1.
The term refers to former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe during the Cold War (1947–1991).
- 2.
The Soviet Union consisted of fifteen Republics at the end of the twentieth century: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
- 3.
Russian Orthodox or Russian-Slavs constitute around 80% of Russia’s demography. The Russians who are white are considered Slavs but those are sub-divided in Orthodox Believers and seculars. The majority or Russian Slavs however are Christian Orthodox.
- 4.
Khaches is a derogative term to indicate people from the Caucasus region.
- 5.
See Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, The state of crime (2015).www.мвд.рф/folder/101762/item/7087734/.
- 6.
The Landskrona include the Nevsky Front, Music Hall 04’, Gremlins, Bridge City, Mobile Group, Bad Company, Darks, Insiders, Ultras, Sector 11, North West Supporters.
- 7.
Former Italian MP (elected for the Communist Refoundation Party) and transgender woman, Vladimir Luxuria was arrested during the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014 after manifesting LGBT propaganda.
- 8.
Hundreds of African students are in Russia benefiting of scholarships issued by the Kremlin (Mangala 2010).
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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Italo Pardo and Giuliana Prato for having encouraged me to publish this article and the participants in the conference on ‘Urban Inequalities: Ethnographic Insights’ (University of Peloponnese, Corinth, Greece, 20–22 June 2019) for their comments which contributed to helping me develop my analysis. My gratitude is also to the Zenit FC Club Employees, the Zenit football fans and Saint Petersburg citizens for having assisted me during this research.
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Maidano, M. (2021). Practices of Inclusion and Exclusion Among the Zenit Ultras: Russian Nationalism, Urban Boxing and the Kremlin Politics. In: Pardo, I., Prato, G. (eds) Urban Inequalities. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51724-3_14
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