Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> <bold>Purpose:</bold> This study examines stakeholder perceptions of ten triggers of football hooliganism in Ghana's Division One League and develops a sport-management explanation centred on distributed matchday legitimacy. <bold>Design/methodology/approach:</bold> A descriptive cross-sectional survey analysed 2,820 responses drawn through multistage sampling from 19 clubs across the league's three zones. Ten cause items were rated on a four-point scale. Mean scores, standard deviations and a recalculated Relative Importance Index established their ranking. <bold>Findings:</bold> Perceived biased officiating ranked first (M = 3.77), followed by refusal to accept referees' decisions (M = 3.58), inadequate security personnel (M = 3.37), biased and inconsistent reportage (M = 3.27), age-long club antagonism (M = 3.16) and limited knowledge of the Laws of the Game (M = 3.12). Institutional and interpretive conditions received higher ratings than betting, winning at all costs, alcohol use and drug use. <bold>Practical implications:</bold> The results support referee-legitimacy programmes, risk-classified security, ethical media accreditation, supporter rule education, rivalry-sensitive fixture planning and integrated incident review. <bold>Originality/value:</bold> The article defines matchday legitimacy as a joint organisational outcome produced across refereeing, security, club governance, media communication, supporter liaison and league regulation. The model links procedural justice, stakeholder network governance and social identity within a lower-tier African football setting. </p>