Boo Boys!

The success of our national football team can bolster a sense of collective wellbeing and, therefore, help the individuals belonging to this collective to sustain a positive self-concept. When the team fails to measure up to expectations it could damage collective wellbeing and, as a corollary, undermine our personal sense of worth. To protect notions of national superiority we aim vocalised derision (i.e. booing) at the team so that we distance ourselves from their performance. This ruse powerfully indicates that the supporters do not endorse their team’s representation of them. In this way, they can protect their personal identity from the negative psychological impacts which may be engendered by the underperforming team.

It is also often the case that particular players are singled out for derision. It is perhaps more satisfying to channel general frustrations with the team’s underperformance upon a palpable individual foil. But recent history demonstrates that derision tends to be focused on irrational targets in performance terms.

In early 2006 there was an overwhelming consensus that Owen Hargreaves was one of the worst players ever to pull on an England shirt. Hargreaves held down a place with Bayern Munich and was a Champions League winner at the age of 20. But supporters preferred to base their opinion upon some unimpressive midfield cameos for England. Hargreaves went on to become England’s player of the tournament at World Cup 2006, with his performance against Portugal in the quarter-final far exceeding anything offered by his fellow midfielders. He subsequently won a Champions League with Man United, and it is only injury which has prevented him from being a squad regular (at least) under Fabio Capello. It is possible that Hargreaves was targeted as he was perceived to be the least English member of the team – he was born in Canada and (at the time) played his club football in Germany. Booing Hargreaves enabled distancing from an underperforming team, but the fact that frustrations could be focused upon the least quintessentially English player further helped to reinforce notions of national superiority. He also has curly hair.

Peter Crouch has also been chosen by fans in the past to be the target of boos. Against Austria, in a qualifier for World Cup 2006, his introduction was met with scorn. The fans’ response suggested that they believed that Crouch did not deserve his place within the team. There could be an element of school bullying to this approach, as Crouch has a distinctive appearance as a result of his 6ft 7″ height and slight frame. A certain degree of beanpole mockery had accompanied Crouch in his early career. Notions of superiority were thus attained as fans underscored their distinction from this unusually shaped player. The position states: this guy may be a millionaire footballer, but he’s clearly a lanky statistical outlier who couldn’t possibly represent someone as great as me. Crouch has proceeded to perform excellently at international level and his current strike-rate is better than a goal every two games.