Social and Demographic Characteristics of Hungarian Football Fans and their Motivations for Attending Matches

Abstract

Since football, as the most popular sport, had special political functions in Hungary, the spectators enjoyed surprisingly high degree of freedom. However, their behavior was not allowed to report on either by researchers or journalists. This paper is based on an empirical survey that was ever carried out on this topic in the Eastern European region. The aim of the contribution is to give information about the main social and demographic characteristics of Hungarian football fans, about their motivations for attending first league matches as well as about their behavior in the stadia. Presenting the methods some special issues related to sampling are discussed. The methods for collecting the data were questionnaire, in-depth interview and participant observation. The findings show that in the early 1990s first league football matches were attended mostly by young (and old) men with low education, low social status, low motivation in connection with the game and relatively little knowledge on football. Finally the increasing of the gap between supply and demand is argued. In conclusion the author states: it is quite probable that though many Hungarian fans still like the football but they do not like the way it is. Sport and travel agencies underestimate the amount of time and money that the football supporters would be willing to spend on their hobby if it was organized and displayed in different way.