Casual (subculture)

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This article is about the hooligan subculture. For the style of clothing, see Casual attire. For the football club, see Casuals F.C. For the band, see The Casuals.

The casual subculture is a subset of football culture that is characterised by the wearing of expensive designer clothing and hooliganism.[1][2][3][4][5] Many participants dislike the term 'casuals', preferring the term ‘dresser’, with regional variations including Perry boys, trendies, and scallies.[6]

The subculture emerged in the United Kingdom during the late 1970s, as a significant number of young men attending football matches began wearing clothing produced by designer sportswear brands, including Burberry, Fred Perry, Sergio Tacchini, Lacoste, Fila, Lyle & Scott, and Ellesse. In the 1980s, casuals also began to wear other Italian brands including Stone Island and C.P. Company.[7]

Casuals have been portrayed in films and television programmes such as ID, The Firm, The Football Factory, and Green Street.[8] The documentary Casuals: The Story of the Legendary Terrace Fashion featuring Pat Nevin, Peter Hooton and Gary Bushell amongst others is about the fashion that started in the late 70s and into the 1980s.[9][10]

History[edit]

Examples of the types of Adidas trainers worn by members of the subculture

The designer clothing and fashion aspect of the casual subculture began in the mid-to-late 1970s. One well documented precursor was the trend of Liverpool youths starting to dress differently from other football fans – in Peter Storm jackets, straight-leg jeans and Adidas trainers.[11] Liverpool F.C. fans were the first British football fans to wear continental European fashions, which they picked up while following their teams at matches in Europe during their run of strong performance in the UEFA Cup and European Cup in the 1970s and 80s.[12]

The other documented precursor, according to Colin Blaney, was a subculture known as Perry Boys, which originated in the mid-1970s as a precursor to the casuals. The Perry Boys subculture consisted of Manchester football hooligans styling their hair into a flick and wearing sportswear, Fred Perry shirts and Dunlop Green Flash trainers.[13]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Barry Didcock (8 May 2005). "Casuals: The Lost Tribe of Britain: They dressed, andf still dress, cool and fought". The Sunday Herald. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  2. ^ Steve Redhead (Autumn 2004). "Hit and Tell: a Review Essay on the Soccer Hooligan Memoir" (PDF). Soccer and Society. 5 (3): 392–403. doi:10.1080/1466097042000279625. S2CID 162546263. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  3. ^ Juliet Ash, Lee Wright with Deborah Lloyd (1988). "Assemblage and subculture: the Casuals and their clothing". In Routledge (ed.). Components of dress: design, manufacturing, and image-making in the fashion industry (illustrated ed.). Routledge. pp. 100–106. ISBN 0-415-00647-3.
  4. ^ James Hamilton (8 May 2005). "Pundit says: 'learn to love the casuals'". The Sunday Herald 2005-05-08.
  5. ^ Ken Gelder with chapter by Phil Cohen (2005). "Subcultural conflict". In Routledge (ed.). The Subcultures Reader. Psychology Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-415-34416-6. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  6. ^ Redhead, Steve (17 January 2012). "SOCCER CASUALS: A SLIGHT RETURN OF YOUTH CULTURE". International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies. 3 (1): 65. doi:10.18357/ijcyfs31201210474. ISSN 1920-7298.
  7. ^ Thornton, Phil (2003). Casuals: Football, Fighting and Fashion - The Story of a Terrace Cult. Milo Books. ISBN 978-1903854143.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ^ "Retro Film Recommendations: Football Casual Culture". Retro Star. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  9. ^ "The Casuals film page".
  10. ^ "The Casuals: The Story of the Legendary Terrace Fashion". 24 August 2017.
  11. ^ Allt, Nicholas (2004). The Boys from the Mersey (first ed.). MILO. pp. 39–54. ISBN 1-903854-39-3.
  12. ^ "British Style Genius". 19 August 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  13. ^ Blaney, Colin (2014). Undesirables. John Blake. p. 7. ISBN 978-1782198970.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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