iHooligan

Bans, apart from fines, do not help. Pedagogy has not moved forward in the last 100 years. People debate incessantly, this is lengthy and cost-intensive: pedagogues are not measurable… Offenders are never volunteering guinea pigs and are only forced by a jury to participate after the act. Therefore, rejection is often the predominant attitude. The task of the pedagogue is now to overcome this wall of rejection. This takes time, if it works at all. Because social participation is often limited to a certain number of hours and it is not compulsory to attain a feeling of remorse or an understanding of what they have done.

However, in order to change the attitude of an offender, it is necessary to create understanding. Understanding is only possible on a voluntary basis. One either understands, or one does not understand, but one cannot be forced to understand. Currently, the prevention of violence is often suboptimal in the best case scenario, or totally ineffectual.  In future, violence prevention will also always be dependent on communication (apart from a few role plays and trips to fantasy camps).

Why not use the most modern communication medium of this time that 80% of the target group (male, 16-36 years) always carries around with them? Why not pack the same communication concepts in such a way that rejection does not happen in the first place, such as in a game that is accepted voluntarily? All kinds of messages can be prepared and passed on to the target group in this way, causing them to think and hopefully to rethink.

Bans are destructive and do not contribute to a change in attitudes, because alternative incentives are absent. iHooligan is a more constructive method of handling violence, as it creates incentives.

iHooligan is violence prevention 2.0 and, at the same time, a tool allowing fans and clubs to interact with each other. This creates identification and trust. Only in this way can offenders be reached and offences be prevented in the long term.

Through reason, but not through violence should people be led to the truth.

- Denis Diderot

Contact person: Jens Meyer, Email