Football and Human Psychological Instincts

Football is a 'war' that replaces the deadly conflicts of the past and embodies human psychological instincts.

AFC

The actions of Indonesian supporters providing support against South Korea during the quarterfinals of the 2024 AFC U-23 Cup at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, in the early hours of Friday (26/4/2024).

Football matches, whether between villages, clubs, or nations, are a continuation of the ritual of war between human tribes in the past. Therefore, winning a game is not only important for the players but also for their supporters. The success of a favorite team not only increases joy and happiness but also social pride.

Since the Indonesian U-23 national team's victory against South Korea in the Qatar U-23 Asian Cup quarter-finals last week, pride and happiness have emerged in the hearts of Indonesian football fans. Even though they came as a debut team with the lowest world ranking and the youngest average age of players, "Young Garuda" was able to keep up with the game of the Asian football giants.

The support continued into the semifinal match with Uzbekistan, Monday (29/4/2024). Watching together, aka nobar, events are being held more widely in various regions from Sumatra to Papua. The support of Indonesian citizens living in Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries is no less important which makes the Indonesian team feel like they are playing in their own country.

Also read: Indonesian Diaspora Fills Almost the Entire Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium

A similar situation must also occur in almost all countries whose teams are able to win football matches at international level. Therefore, it is natural that professor of evolutionary psychology and organizational psychology at Vrije University Amsterdam, Netherlands, Mark van Vught in Psychology Today, April 7 2023, said, "Today's football is rooted in inter-tribal warfare in the past."

The initial model of football was found in China, Greece, and Rome as a training tool for soldiers before going to war. Meanwhile, the modern football that we know now originated from boarding schools in England in the mid-19th century to train the physical and mental abilities of teenage boys in order to protect British interests overseas.

BIRO PERS SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN

President Joko Widodo witnessed the convincing victory of the Indonesian national football team over Vietnam, 3-0, in the 2026 World Cup Qualification match for Asia Zone Group F. At that time, Jokowi watched the match together with a number of ministers and the device was attached to the hotel where he was staying overnight in Palu City, Central Sulawesi Province, on Tuesday (26/3/2024)

Van Vught's view of football comes from the assessment of the English writer George Orwell (1903-1950) who called a football match a war without weapons. In fact, the Dutch football manager who was also the originator of total football, Rinus Michels (1928-2005) firmly said that football was war.

Not only for the players, but football also unites the community that supports it. In Indonesia, the achievement of the U-23 national team has brought together a divided society after the elections. Regardless of their political party preference or presidential candidate, everyone admits to being one, an Indonesian soccer fan.

Evolution of behavior

The model and rules of the game of football, continued van Vught, who is the author of the book FC Sapiens (2022) with Kees Opmeer, were designed to take advantage of humans' psychological instincts that developed to fight on a small scale. These tribal instincts are channeled in such a way on the field as to create equal competition.

"Football is a good substitute for deadly conflict," he added.

Not only serving as a new medium to channel human desires for war, but soccer is also able to accommodate the psychological instincts of tribalism in a socially acceptable way. Various evolutions of human behavior in groups are clearly displayed in soccer, both on and off the field.

Data from the pornographic site Pornhub has experienced increased access from countries whose teams have won matches.

Football creates unrealistic optimism. Any team competing would not want to experience defeat. However, in the nature of the game, there will always be winners and losers. Our ancestors experienced the same situation during wars. Whatever the condition, they were confident they would win. If they were not optimistic about winning, why bother going to war?

The same conviction is also felt by football supporters. In the quarter-finals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the Netherlands and Argentina competed. As many as 75 percent of Dutch supporters and 80 percent of Argentine backers were confident that their idol team would win. However, in reality, Argentina ultimately won the match through a penalty shootout.

KOMPAS/YUNIADHI AGUNG

Argentinian players celebrated their victory through a penalty shoot-out against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup at Lusail Stadium, Qatar, early Saturday morning (10/12/2022) Indonesian time.

The psychology of a soccer team playing will also be greatly influenced by the domestic conditions of the country in question. Participating countries currently experiencing internal or external conflicts appear less impressive in the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

According to van Vught, countries with disappointing team performances include Iran, which has experienced a number of cases of violence following the death of Mahsa Amini, Serbia regarding the issue of Kosovo, and Brazil, which is currently holding elections. Similar conditions are experienced by Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands, which all face domestic political problems, especially after Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Not only has the psychology of players developed, the psychology of their fans has also evolved quite interestingly. Clinical psychologist who is also a professor at West Chester University, Pennsylvania, United States, Lynn Zubernis in Psychology Today 10 February 2023 stated that being a supporter of a certain team means being part of a community.

Also read: Football History Community and Blusukan

The feeling of being accepted is important because every human being has a need to be accepted. By being part of a community, they can satisfy the need for a sense of belonging and find a group of people who share the same mindset or interests, thus creating a sense of togetherness.

The similarity of identity among football supporters can increase social self-esteem. Acceptance by the community can also reduce the degree of loneliness and alienation experienced by an individual. In modern humans in several advanced countries, loneliness and alienation have become a serious problem that lowers their level of health, and can even lead to death.

ANTARA/IGGOY EL FITRA

The organizing committee is trying to prevent Semen Padang FC supporters from entering the field during the second final match of Liga 2 against PSBS Biak at the GOR H Agus Salim Stadium in Padang, West Sumatra, on Saturday (9/3/2024).

The level of identification of a person with their favorite team is determined by the strength of the psychological relationship they obtain with their team. Supporters with deep identification levels will have a strong psychological relationship and a more optimistic attitude towards their idolized football team.

Supporters' identification with their idol football team gives rise to a phenomenon called basking-in-reflected glory (BIRG), namely a person's satisfaction with the success experienced by others. When their team wins, the hormonal surge they experience and the increase in positive emotions they experience are also higher compared to supporters whose identification with the team is lower.

On the other hand, when their team loses, the sadness they experience can also be very deep. Their negative emotions can escalate, ranging from feelings of anger, shame, to hatred towards supporters of other teams.

Also read: Emotions and Mental Health

Because of this, added Zubernis, football supporters tend to associate themselves with teams that have a greater track record of winning or have good team performance. On the other hand, they will tend to avoid teams whose chances of losing are high and this phenomenon is called cutting-off-reflected failure (CORF).

The phenomenon of CORF tends to make supporters of losing teams refer to their team as "they" instead of "us" as before the game. This condition is evident in the reaction of South Korean supporters who tend to blame their players or the Korean Football Federation (KFA) management, which is considered to be underperforming.

Hormonal surge

Apart from issues regarding acceptance and social identity, players and supporters alike face the same hormonal surge when their team wins or loses. According to van Vught, in the past, those who fought and those who watched the fight were both involved in the fight to a certain limit, which resulted in consequences for their respective tribes.

"This condition explains the effect of winners and losers (in matches) on football fans," he said.

The style of Indonesian supporters when supporting the Indonesian team in their match against Iraq in the Group D Qualifiers of the 2023 Asian Cup at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar, on Monday (15/1/2024). They are Indonesian diaspora who have been living and working in Qatar.

When their favorite team wins, supporters will experience a surge in testosterone hormone, which is linked to masculinity and increases sexual arousal. This increase in hormone is what boosts supporters' self-esteem, especially for men.

The increase in supporter's sexual drive due to a surge in testosterone hormones was also evident during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. At that time, data from pornographic website Pornhub saw an increase in access from countries whose teams won in the match.

On the contrary, when their team is playing or losing, it is the cortisol hormone or the stress hormone that rises. The more they identify with the team, the greater the stress they bear. This is the situation experienced by most Indonesian supporters during the penalty shootout between Indonesia and South Korea, especially when Justin Hubner's kick failed and was then repeated due to a foul committed by the South Korean goalkeeper.

KOMPAS/FAKHRI FADLURROHMAN

The issue of air pollution is not a new one. The condition of society threatened by air pollution has been a long-standing problem. There is no shortage of research evidence indicating the threats posed by the impact of air pollution. However, this has not been able to drive significant efforts in controlling air pollution. Residents continue to suffer as they live in the midst of air pollution. Expression of Indonesian National Team player Justin Hubner (right) during his teammate's failed attempt to score against Vietnam's National Team in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, on Thursday (21/3/2024). Indonesia won by a slim margin, 1-0.

Nevertheless, the majority of football supporters are supporters who adhere to social norms. Even if their team loses, they can express their emotions in ways that do not harm or violate the rights of others. There is only a small portion of dysfunctional fans who behave aggressively, crudely, and even insult players, referees, and supporters of other teams.

"The study shows that supporters who enjoy verbally and physically attacking other fans are not only due to their deep identification with their team, but also generally have personality issues," added Zubernis. Aggressive supporters tend to have narcissistic personalities and low self-esteem. The aggression they exhibit actually shows the fragility of their self-concept.

In Indonesia, violence between football supporters that often occurs, according to social psychologist at the Department of Psychology at Brawijaya University Malang, Ali Mashuri, as quoted by Kompas, 12 October 2022, is closely related to supporters' views of their favorite team and football. .

For some supporters, football represents the closest representation of their sociocultural identity. Watching football is a means of releasing the stress of their daily lives. They generally come to the stadium with a destructive or counterproductive identification. If they meet other supporters who have the same problem, their presence can become a massive social force and potentially lead to violence.

In addition, in large supporter groups, according to Zubernis, some supporters will exhibit behavior of "seeking status", meaning people who suddenly feel they have done a great service for the team and community and want to be respected and valued more. "Humans are social beings who want to be a part of a group. However, at the same time, they also want to be higher on a certain social ladder," he said.

Despite various behaviors that arise during football matches and their supporters, the majority of football fans actually just want to enjoy and be happy with their favorite team. Watching football can still be a means of enjoying leisure time, relieving life's burdens, or simply gathering with family, friends, and members of the same community.

Also read: Watching Sports Matches Improves Health and Quality of Life

After watching the game, they will certainly feel happy if their team wins. This is what makes the presence of the state important in fostering their football team so that they can compete on a global level. Football is proven to not only unite communities but also make them happier and improve their welfare.

Even if their idol's team loses or is not lucky, it is a common thing, because the wheel of life is not always on top. However, it is important to remember that human dignity comes from many sources, not just from the achievements of our favorite football team. Therefore, let us enjoy and continue to support the Indonesian U-23 national team's game, which has improved rapidly compared to the previous few years, with ease and a joyful heart.