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The aim of this study was to explore whether cheering could be a sign of the social identity of a supporter group, and further to investigate if cheers could serve a self-policing purpose. The matches included in this study were classified as 'high risk matches'. The observational data made it possible to construct a 'taxonomy of cheering' based on the implicit meaning of the cheers. The observations proved that cheerleaders were able to break off aggressive and violent tendencies by introducing supportive cheers and thus enhancing a peaceful social identity among the supporters. In contrast to the Emergent Norm Theory ( Turner and Killian, 1972 , 1993 ), that states that group processes emerge without prior coordination and planning, this study demonstrates that collective actions can be influenced and controlled by the cheerleaders. The results indicate that self-policing seems to be more efficient, in order to secure order, than policing by force. The originality of this research is not primarily the taxonomy of cheers, although being an innovation, but the evidence for planned synchronicity and coordination as tools for breaking destructive collective actions.

Crowd violence has interested researchers in social psychology for many years and is an important issue for sports psychology (STOTT, ADANG, LIVINGSTONE & SCHREIBER, 2007; STOTT, HUTCHINSON & DRURY, 2001; RUSSELL, 2004; MUSTONEN, ARMS & RUSSELL, 1996). Riots in crowds have been explained from different theoretical perspectives (HYLANDER, 2008), such as individual differences, de-individuation (PRENTICE-DUNN & ROGERS, 1989), group interaction (DRURY & REICHER, 2000), history (GUTTMAN, 1986, 1998) and cultural perspectives (CRABBE, 2003). In this study, a social psychology model focusing on group interaction, the Aggravation and Mitigation (AM) model (GUVÅ & HYLANDER, 2008; GRANSTRÖM, 2008; GRANSTRÖM & ROSANDER, 2008), is used as a means of analysis. This article applies the AM model to a sporting event to identify if and how peacemaking processes can be detected. Furthermore, the intention is to discern and illuminate organizational strategies that maybe linked to peacemaking processes. The main results indicate that when arrangements are based on (a) "festival-making," (b) arrangements for basic needs and recognizable order and (c) the creation of a superordinate identity, then the outcome of mass events may turn out peaceful, which is also in line with the AM model.

From jubilant sports fans celebrating a victory to angry political protestors, crowds create volatile situations that can all too often result in violence or property destruction. Preventing Crowd Violence offers a lucid examination of crowd behavior and of law enforcement tactics designed to deescalate tensions and promote cooperative interactions