Anti-social behavior and soccer identities: different continents, same mindset?

Although most soccer fans support their teams peacefully, anti-social fan behavior continues to appear across the globe. We tested the roles of identity fusion and membership to an extreme fan group (ultras) in explaining fan disorder in two understudied contexts: Indonesia (Study 1) and Australia (Study 2). Incidents of violence and antisocial behavior were rarely reported among general Indonesian (9%) or Australian fans (6%) but were significantly higher among their respective ultras groups (37%; 20%). Identity fusion predicted antisocial behavior, especially when combined with fan group membership. Fusion explained anti-social behaviors better than identification or social dominance orientation. Understanding the motivators of intergroup violence is crucial to devise more effective ways of channeling cohesion among group members into peaceful forms of prosocial action.