Ultras has nothing to do with hooliganism.
It started in Italy in the late 60’s where fans would try to create an atmosphere (like a scene from a battle ground) using tifo displays, large flags, flares, smoke bombs, maybe drums and whistles, with choreographed chanting. The chanting is continuous and doesn’t relate to what’s happening on the pitch.
I’ve been to an Italian match years ago and I found it a bit strange how some fans seemed more interested in watching the opposition fans than watching what was happening on the pitch. Loads of flares and smoke bombs, looked good but not really allowed in England, do they now have safer versions?
This kind of support gradually spread throughout Europe but for some reason never hit England.
The only club that had large flags and banners was probably Liverpool on their Kop.
English fans preferred to show their passion by becoming hooligans, which started in England in the late 60’s.
Also English fans tend to react more based on what is happened on the pitch.
This type of support, the hooligan scene gradually spread through out Europe.
It’s now virtually died out on England but is still relatively widespread in Eastern Europe, Balkans and Russia.
The link below is from a good YT site from Groundhopper FC, a Dutch guy who travels all over Europe to watch football.
He regularly comments how English clubs have probably the worse atmosphere in Europe. German football culture always receives plenty of praise as the gold standard in world football, so maybe we should study that and think about what we can learn from them.