‘Stand up, if you’re a Zbrojovka fan!’: collective memory, fan engagement and one football stadium

Abstract

Football stadiums are for many football fans synonymous not only with sporting affiliation but also local identity. Stadiums provide the ultimate space for creating a shared collective memory – through social encounters, negotiations as well as mutual celebrations. However, those shared narratives usually change when the club moves to a new stadium, with nostalgia overriding the objective advantages of the new venue. In this article, we seek to present a unique case of reviving collective memory regarding an old and abandoned football stadium, Za Lužánkami in Brno, which is closely tied to the history of the local club Zbrojovka. The stadium was built in the early 1950s and for some time it was the largest stadium in the former Czechoslovakia. From 2001, it was left abandoned and in ruins, located in the outer city centre of Brno. In the spring of 2015, a volunteer fan initiative took place at the stadium grounds aimed at refurbishing them and hosting an exhibition match there. Through content analysis and participant observation, we study and problematize the processes of football nostalgia as well as memory revival.