Rules of the Fight Club: Oleksandr Magula's photo project about Ukrainian football fans

We continue to share the documentary projects of the finalists within the framework of the annual grant support for documentary photographers implemented by UAPP with the support of the International Press Institute. Today we are focusing on a documentary project by Oleksandr Magula about football fans in Ukraine.

The football movement has always been at the forefront of Ukraine's patriotic community.  Being a fan, you defend the honor of the team, your football club, your hometown, and thus the honor of your country-these are the common institutions in which every generation of this seemingly deviant subculture is brought up. These principles remained steadfast in the face of Yanukovych's internal enemy and Russia's external enemy. An unprecedented example of the effectiveness of these principles was the fact that the fan movement, possessing a high degree of self-organization, was one of the first to go to war in 2014 as volunteer units, whose military legacy is known today throughout the world. The Azov Regiment of the National Guard of Ukraine, the Kraken Special Forces of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, and the 3rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are just a few of the most famous military formations whose origins were founded by football hooligans.

For me, this is a personal story of 8 years. It is a story about the change of generations of football fans. Those who were young and hungry for fights and dodgeball in 2016 became veterans of the great war in 2024, ready to pass on their experience to young people. Group training sessions and “gunnery” were complemented by shooting and training on combat tactics in urban areas. Wanting to preserve the state and raise a generation of strong people, adults are forced to prepare their children for war.

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Many of my friends from school and the city went to football games and supported Metalist Kharkiv, and as they grew older, some of them decided to join a “firm” (group). People become football fans for various reasons. First, it is a sense of unity: there are many of you, you are a force. You have your loyal friends behind you, no matter what happens. Many “firms” have a long history, dating back to the late 90s, and this heritage attracts young people, because you can become part of something that came before you. Secondly, it's fashion. When you're fifteen and come to the stadium for the first time, you see people who are dressed cool, some drive expensive cars. You want to be like them. Third, some people just like to fight. This was the case before the full-scale invasion, but today, in a world of uncertainty, fear and chaos, albeit simplified because of the war, the same fan movement gives teenagers a clear understanding of who they are following and what they are preparing for. Now it's not just a fashion, it's a way to find a ray of light and a landmark in a cruel world that has plunged into darkness and doesn't even spare children.

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For me, personally, the realization of the inevitable transformation of the fan movement in Ukraine came with the death of Igor Rudyi. I was in Donbas at the time, and when I woke up in the morning to a call from my friend, I realized that I had to come to Kharkiv and say goodbye to Igor at all costs. He wasn't the first football fan to die in this war, but he was an important person to my godfather's family and an equally important part of AFC, the firm I spent the most time with. The firm where I met people who became my friends.

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AFC, or Army First Capital, is one of the oldest firms in Kharkiv's football scene, not a big gang or a block with different “youths” (firms created from teenagers, controlled by older firms), but rather a family that has been carrying on the fan legacy since 1996.

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At the cemetery, Ilya Boxerchyk is the last to approach the grave; I met him when he was 16 and had just been recruited to the “firm”; now he is 20 and, like Rudyi, a volunteer of the Triangle (as some people call Kraken). Ilya adjusts the firm's flag over Ihor's grave, looks at the photo for a while, says goodbye, and leaves.

A little less than a year after Ihor's death, I would meet with Anya, his wife. Speaking about Ihor, Anya tells me what shaped his worldview before he went to war.

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— How did you feel about his passion for soccer?
— First of all, when you hear about it, you think: “Why? Why is this necessary?” He started to explain to me: “You don't understand, it's the atmosphere, you go on the road, you spend time with your guys.” He presented it to me not as hooliganism, but as an event, a hobby club. Some people play chess, and some people go fighting. In general, he tried not to push me too much into it, because he knew that I was not entirely positive about it.

— When he joined the army, did you talk about his motivation? What exactly was his motivation?
— His only motivation was to protect his family and his land. No matter how many times we talked about it, he always told me: “I am protecting you, protecting my grandmother, and protecting our land.” That was his main motivation.

— When did you realize what was happening?
— The first time I became really scared was in March of 22. When his first comrades died. When he called me in this stress, when the first deaths of people he knew happened. That was the first time I realized that something could happen to him too. I realized what a tragedy had happened to the whole of Ukraine.

— In your opinion, what external factors shaped him as a person growing up?
— I think one of the first things was his upbringing. His mother was a wonderful person, and thank God I met her before she died. She was a very gentle and kind person, and I think it was from her that Ihor took on the traits of kindness and helping others. The second is the environment in his teenage years. He told me various things about AFC, that the guys were against alcohol, against smoking and drugs. The ideology itself was a healthy lifestyle, which is why he went to boxing. I also think that the year 2014 played an important role, because the guys were defending the regional state administration. The idea of defending Kharkiv was already there then. That is, he adopted this idea of protecting the land, and he adopted the idea of protecting his family from his mother. It's all connected.

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Denis and I grew up in the same neighborhood. When I started filming the fan movement, Denis was still young and was just starting to delve into the movement that became world-changing in his life. He is one of those guys with whom his peers do not want to conflict in childhood. Always cheerful and energetic, he became interested in the philosophy of stoicism as he grew up.

“Sadness is for weaklings and fools, while you are alive you should rejoice,” he once told me. I saw him truly devastated only once, when he was burying his close friend Kyrylo Bayan. Recently, together with other comrades, Denys founded the Kharkiv Sports Academy named after Kyrylo Andriyovych Bayev, named in honor of his fallen friend.

The young people love Denys, listen to him and respect him; he gives them guidance between sparring matches and helps them get up when they are hurt. While attending one of the matches of their mini-football club with them, one of the kids came up to me and jokingly, with childish naivety, pointing to Denys said: “I'm his personal bodyguard, I make sure everything is in order.” At one of my training sessions, I asked Denis:

• Do they call you anything?
• Well, they call me Kuzya, Denis, sometimes they call me Father.

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