Crowds out of control

Are the abusive Ryder Cup fans a sign of wider social decline?

- Rory Carroll

The abuse hurled at Europe's golfers in the Ryder Cup elicited gasps and dismay on both sides of the Atlantic.

The crowd at the Bethpage Black course in New York graduated from boos and heckles to homophobic slurs and insults aimed at players' wives. The first-tee master of ceremonies set the tone by leading a chant of "Fuck you, Rory!", putting Rory McIlroy firmly in the crosshairs - along with his wife, Erica Stoll, who was hit on the head by a beer cup.

After initially playing it down, American golf officials apologised and said some fan behaviour had "crossed the line", but the affair has left a nagging sense of unease. What if the line has in fact moved? What if accepted codes of crowd behaviour have changed?

It is a question that social scientists and event managers have been asking in recent years and spans several countries and types of spectacle, countering any sense that the issue is confined to US golf fans.

Taunting banners brandished at football terraces, gum spat at tennis players, objects hurled on to concert stages, heckles during concerts - an apparently never ending litany of boorish, loutish behaviour fills news feeds.

"It's undeniable that in all aspects of public life a growing number of people are becoming more belligerent," said Kirsty Sedgman, a University of Bristol cultural studies scholar. "It's not just that people are becoming more badly behaved, it's that when they're called out, instead of simmering down they're much more likely to turn against those making the complaint."

Last week the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre union (Bectu) published a survey that showed 34% of those working in live events had experienced antisocial behaviour, violence, aggression or harassment from audience members in the 12 months to March 2025, with that figure rising to 77% for front-of-house staff.