A Part of the Game – alcohol, football fans and male comradeship

Abstract

Football is one of the world's most popular sports, both when it comes to the number of players involved in the game and the number of spectators or fans. A lot of attention has been drawn to the supporters' consumption of alcohol, most often in combination with violence. Less interest has been taken in the role and involvement of alcohol for the large number of supporters who do not become involved in violence. This study describes the role of alcohol for ordinary football supporters. What do fans drink and why? Our starting point is the research of supporter culture where we identify three important concepts for the understanding of fandom: masculinity, belonging and participation. We then analyze the importance of alcohol in relation to these concepts. Our empirical data consists of transcripts from four focus-group interviews with Swedish football supporters during the European Championship in Eindhoven 2000. Alcohol is a central part of the supporter culture. The supporters are quite clinical in their discussion of why, how and how much alcohol they consume in connection with football. Fans claim that alcohol in general, and more specifically beer, helps them to achieve a moment of joy, relaxation and a sense of collectiveness. We did, however, find evidence that made this explicit attribution to the positive effects of alcohol more complex. The perceived alcohol intake was more important than the actual alcohol intake in achieving a desired level of intoxication. We therefore argue that beer has a symbolic importance for football supporters and that it is the specific situation that our supporters are experiencing, as much as the alcohol itself, that creates the effect of alcohol.