Abstract

Using European football as context, literature dividing spectators into authentic fans and inauthentic consumers is presented as an attempt at resisting the commercialization of sport, and the development towards football as pure entertainment. The main question is whether the resistance from fans and football writers is in danger of serving the opposite of its intention, thereby contributing towards football experienced as entertainment. Utilizing the theoretical framework of Abercrombie and Longhurst (Audiences: A Sociological Theory of Performance and Imagination, London: Sage, 1998), it is concluded that spectators and football writers are part of the diffused audience of football, and that focusing on marginal and extreme groups of spectators contributes to football becoming more similar to soap operas in expression.

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