Something for the weekend, sir? Leisure, ecstasy and identity in football and contemporary religion

Abstract

This paper attempts a comparative study of trends within contemporary football and aspects of contemporary religion. One of the authors is an anthropologist and expert in football studies; the other is a theologian and sociologist of religion. The paper explores the phenomenological relationship between the rituals, performance and expectations of crowds, as well as examining the dynamics of tribalism, ‘popular’ notions of masculinity, heroes, shamans and the like. This is an intentionally ‘Durkheimian’ reading of the phenomena, explicating the system of signs and symbols whereby a community becomes conscious of itself. Football support emerges as a type of ‘religious’ activity, within a broadly ‘moral’ context. The authors have not sought to offer conclusions. Essentially, it is exploratory, and should be read in that light.