Changes in socio-economic and demographic composition of Greek football spectators

Abstract

Contemporary changes throughout Europe have deeply influenced Greece in many fields such as the economy (agriculture, cattle-raising, industry), politics, communications, sports and particularly football, which is considered to be the most famous and most popular sport in Greece. At the same time, many changes have occurred in Greek society, based on local factors. Sport as a societal subsystem reflects all the changes which have occurred in Greek society during recent decades. The socio-economic composition and the demographic characteristics of football fans have rapidly changed. The major aim of the study was to discover how the Greek football spectators’ behavioural patterns have changed and how the main social, political and economic changes in wider Greek society have affected this process. The methods which have been used for the collection of qualitative data were in-depth interviews with media experts, managers and coaches of football teams, and analysis of documents. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires answered by football spectators before, during and after matches of the premier league in Greece. In this article, the results related to the Greek football spectators’ major social and demographic characteristics and their opinions on the occurrence of deviancy in Greek football stadia are presented.