I can only speak to the Italian ultrás but they have their direct origins in the traveling support that Helenio Herrera helped to organize for his famous Grande Inter of the 1960s. Part of Herrera's overall strategy included the ability for the team to "win without getting off the bus" by pure psychological domination.[1] In addition to all the managerial concepts that Herrera pioneered, he also had a direct hand in ensuring that his team's supporters would accompany the team to away matches, putting contacts into place to ensure that Inter were never actually playing without their support. It worked. Really well. Inter won the Serie A in 1963, 1965, and 1966; the European Cup in 1964, and 1965; and the Intercontinental Cup in 1964 and 1965.

Now, these proto-ultrás had existed in forms before this, Herrera was just the first one to take full advantage of the support that they could provide his team. It was from Herrera starting to pull the importance of the fans in that you can draw the lines of the groups that had followed around the Grande Torino teams and the Grande Inter teams of the 40s, 50s, and 60s to what exploded in the 1970s.

An important concept to keep in mind about Italian football (or calcio as they would prefer you to call it) is that it has deeply ingrained religious motifs into it's culture[2]. With this, calcio has seen a rise of devotion that can only be compared to a similar devotion to religion. (As a side note, in 2002 Italian head coach Giovanni Trapattoni would bring a bottle of Holy Water blessed by the Pope to the World Cup and sprinkle it on the field for luck) Another important concept to keep in mind is what is going on in Italy during the late 1960s/early 1970s as Italy is beginning it's "Years of Lead" in which it faces massive social, and political unrest. Striking was common throughout Northern Italian factories, as were clashes between students, left-wing militants, and the police. Political assassinations and bombings would claim the lives of over 2000 people from 1969-1981. So this backdrop of unrest combined with religious- esque fanaticism already in place for fans of calcio would give rise to an evolution of the British hooligans that were already starting to plague England: the ultrá.[3]

The differences between the British and Italian cousins were stark from the beginning. Where for the Brits violence was the goal, for the Italians violence was the method to achieve their goals. With this you saw the Fossa dei Leoni group form for Milan in 1968 and take refuge in a specific part of the San Siro - the stadium in Milan shared between the two top teams. Almost immediately in response Inter fans formed the Inter Boys SAN (the English word betraying who they were inspired from, and the name standing for Armed Black-and-Blue Squad). The groups quickly became not only violent, but highly political. It is hard to pin down exactly when the evolution happened beyond just simply passionate fans and those with political agendas, but Armstrong and Testa postulate that the rise of the ultra passionate fan, and the ultra violent one occurred simultaneously. The Inter Boys were heavily associated with the nascent Fascists which were left over from the end of World War II, and as more groups popped up throughout the country they also attached themselves to various lengths of the political spectrum. One thing was clear though: they could force their political message through via football. If violence was necessary for that, then so be it. The purpose of the ultrás could be seen as "a reassertion of masculinity at a time where the economic and cultural context have threatened the traditional role of the Italian man." (Guschwan)

The typical person that joined the ultrás tended to be dissatisfied young men, unhappy with the current economic climate in Italy. As stated by more than a few groups, “We value anyone fighting the system, even if they have a different ideology from us,” at least at the start of their rise. As the years continued the image that the groups saw themselves entrenched in would take over their clubs, and cities. SS Lazio for instance would not create merchandise for many years as this was the role of their ultrás, while murders and assassinations of rivals would occur with depressing reoccurrence throughout every major Italian city.

[1] John Foot. Calcio: A History of Italian Football

[2] Filippo Benfante, Piero Brunello. Lettere dalla curva sud. Venezia 1998-2000

[3]Gary Armstrong, Alberto Testa. Football, Fascism and Fandom