Fan Movement Research Articles

Events, turns, and critical junctures: unpacking the temporality of supporter rights and democracy in English football

ABSTRACT The future of professional men’s football in England stands at a critical juncture. In the wake of a global pandemic, the national game has been beset by volatility and upheaval. In April 2021, six of the most storied clubs in England announced they would be joining a new breakaway European Super League (ESL). These proposals triggered vehement opposition from fan movements, catalysing the intervention of the UK government who established a fan-led review of football governance (FLR) to consult fans on future regulatory reform and the security and safety of supporters at major events. Emerging out of these exogenous shocks and endogenous change, the governance of English football is set to be radically transformed via the establishment of a new regulatory regime. In this article, we employ eventful sociology and historical institutionalism to operationalise the concept of critical juncture and apply this through an analysis of two temporal periods (1985-1990) and (2020-2024). In doing so, we show how the current ‘regulatory turn’ is interdependently linked to prior historical transformative events, namely the Heysel and Hillsborough stadium disasters and the subsequent neoliberal transformation of English football across the last four decades. Incorporating a more nuanced understanding of change and continuity in the governance of English football, we argue that new regulatory frameworks, despite their transformative potential, may continue to exhibit institutional legacies of the existing regime and prevailing political economy.

Never Again! Fandom and the Culture of Remembrance in German Football

Sport and politics have historically nurtured intrinsic connections. This article examines the role of a left-wing-oriented German football fan movement in confronting the Nazi past of football clubs. Focusing on FC St. Pauli, Werder Bremen, and SV Babelsberg 03, it explores the development of a nationwide culture of remembrance to avoid the resurgence of authoritarian regimes. We theorize that Germany’s Holocaust cultural trauma that developed new notions of time has influenced fans’ remembrance work, which includes the change of institutional official narratives of the clubs’ Nazi pasts. While acknowledging Germany’s sociocultural, political and temporal factors to explain this phenomenon, we call for action within sports organizations and fan bases of other Western countries to revisit their difficult heritage.

Evaluation of the effects of various fan parameters on the cooking process in commercial cooking ovens

Commercial kitchen ovens are utilized in various capacities and models within commercial enterprises, operating on either electric or gas power. Numerous parameters affect the cooking process. Particularly, for effective cooking in an oven, it’s crucial to evenly distribute airflow over the food. Correct airflow significantly impacts the cooking process. Considering the differences in processing requirements based on the characteristics and quantity of the food (such as temperature, humidity, fan speed, duration, etc.), the method of heat transfer should be primarily assessed. Non-uniform distribution of hot air during the cooking process leads to varied cooking qualities among trays within the oven. Therefore, in achieving effective cooking, factors like oven cavity, number of trays, fan geometry, fan rotation speed, direction, movement intervals, and the turbulent airflow generated by the fan in the cooking chamber need thorough examination. This study analyzed simulation data evaluating the effects of different fan geometries, fan rotation directions, and timing on heat transfer in a prototype electric commercial cooking oven using gastronomic GN-1/1 sized with 10 trays. Additionally, comparison of test and design validation data in the specially developed prototype cooking oven was conducted. Assessments were made with different fan movements (fan diameters, rotation direction, speed etc.) and a fan protection plate in front of the oven to achieve more efficient heat distribution on the food. Depending on various fan parameters, this study contributed to reducing energy consumption in the prototype commercial cooking oven.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ CУБКУЛЬТУРИ УЛЬТРАС В УКРАЇНІ

Football is the most popular sport on the European continent, giving rise to a mass culture encompassing various elements such as live broadcasts of football matches, the production of football-themed films, the publication of books, and the sale and popularization of club symbols. Additionally, local fan traditions and supporter fan groups contribute to the rich cultural tapestry surrounding football. Few cultural activities attract as many people as football and within the realm of fan movements, ultras stand out as the most widespread and influential fan group globally. This makes them an essential group for analysis and research into their impact. On the European continent, football fan movements have long been marked by the distinction between two models: the «English-style» hooliganism and the ultras movement originating in Italy. These two trends have served as a precursor to the local development of fan movements in other European countries and the rest of the world. Today, ultras represent the dominant football fan movement in Germany, Poland, Greece, southern France, and the Balkans. In Spain, Turkey, and Eastern and Central Europe, fans have adopted some aspects of the ultras style (Doidge et al., 2020, p. 4). Based on this, one might think of European football fan movements as predominantly following the «Italian» variant, except the United Kingdom. However, in reality, such movements in each country have regional peculiarities shaped by cultural, economic, political, and historical conditions. The football fan movement in Ukraine is relatively young and needs more research in the academic world, characterized by a lack of scholarly works. This article aims to provide an overview of the critical aspects of forming the football fan movement and ultras in Ukraine, shedding light on the features of this group’s subculture.

Analyzing Lexicons of Movements in Wiranjaya Dance

Wiranjaya dance belongs to bebancihan dance that has many lexicons to identify. Culturally, there are some lexicons in Wiranjaya dance used normally, but time by time the lexicons are less frequently used while doing the dance practices. This study was designed in the form of a descriptive qualitative method and aimed to find the lexicons and their cultural meaning. The obtained data were collected from observation and interview techniques. The result of the research showed that there were thirty-eight lexicons of movements that exist in Wiranjaya dance, classified into seven types of movements, such as stage movements (4 lexicons), hand movements (8 lexicons), leg movements (9 lexicons), body movements (8 lexicons), head movements (4 lexicons), eye movements (4 lexicons), fan movements (1 lexicon). Both of those lexicons and their cultural meaning were given benefit for the education fields. The dance teachers can easily give information to the foreigners who want to know the costume of Wiranjaya dance. In addition, it will help the students who are interested in learning lexicons and their cultural meaning. In other words, this study can help preserve local languages and avoid language death.Keywords: lexicons, cultural meaning, movement, Wiranjaya dance

Satisfaction With Life and the Declared Participation in Football Fans’ Organized Fights (So Called ‘the Set Battles’)

The purpose of this article is to explain - based on the results of own research - the relationship between the level of life satisfaction (LS) and the declared aggressive behaviour of football fans (declared participations in the so-called ‘set battles’), taking into account their belonging to specifi c supporter groups. The method of diagnostic survey with a survey techniques was applied. The questionnaire applied was prepared in an electronic form, which was posted on football fans’ groups using the Facebook network. Two statistical methods were also used in this study: the chi-square test (Pearson test) and the analysis of variance (Anova). Research results. Individual groups of football fans are characterized by diff erent levels of aggressive behavior. 71.7% of respondents have never participated in organized “battles. The highest percentage of people who do not participate in the battles (94.6%) occurs in “the picnics” one. “The hooligans” are the group in which only 33.3% of respondents do not declare aggressive behavior. The rest of them behaves aggressively (51%) or very aggressively (15.7%), participating in the battles many times. Based on the calculation of the own study results, it can be concluded that aggressive or very aggressive behaviours do not aff ect a high level of satisfaction with life. Conclusions indicate that high involvement in the supporter movement can be in line with declarations of high life satisfaction. As in the presented own study, supporters involved in the fan movement who exhibit aggressive or very aggressive behaviour can as much declare high satisfaction with life as people who do not exhibit such activity. The undertaken subject may interest not only educators and psychologists, but also martial arts coaches in the context of responsibility for the educational and rehabilitation aspect of practicing selected martial arts.

The phenomenon of football fanaticism in the youth subculture

This article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of football fanaticism in the youth subculture. The relevance of the research is largely due to the role played by the youth subculture in modern society, an integral part of which is the informal "fan movement", which manifests itself in various fields — music, fashion, politics, ideology, sports, etc. "football fanaticism" has become widespread in Russia, the analysis of which allows us to highlight the essence and characteristic features of youth "fanaticism" in general. To study this problem, a questionnaire survey, a focused group interview, and conversations on forums with fans of Spartak, Zenit, and CSKA football clubs were used as quantitative and qualitative research methods. These methods were the most suitable, because with their help, the opinion of schoolchildren about football fanaticism was studied, groups of teenagers who consider themselves football fans were identified, their subculture was studied, the causes and factors of the spread and "departure" of teenagers into fan groups were determined. According to the results of the study, the image of a football fan was formed. According to schoolchildren, a football fan is a devoted sports fan belonging to a close-knit group of peers, promoting sports, the priority value for which is a favorite hobby. Thus, the questionnaire survey made it possible to identify groups of "fans" and a range of questions for further investigation of the phenomenon using a group focused interview.

Debating with Wertham's ghost: comic books, culture wars, and populist moral panics

ABSTRACT Seduction of the Innocent, by Fredric Wertham, contended that comic books could harm youth; it is popularly understood as the impetus for the creation of the Comics Code Authority that limited what could appear in comics. Wertham subsequently became a ‘bogey man’ within the comics community, leveraged to do various kinds of political work. In this paper, we examine social media posts from reactionary fan movement Comicsgate to explore how Wertham is rhetorically deployed and (mis)remembered, arguing these reactionaries have more in common with the bogey man of comics culture than they realize: Both engage in moral panics about comics and queerness. Contemporary fans’ aggressive attempts to distance themselves from Wertham and to paint their ideological opponents as his contemporary analogues represent an attempt to disguise their reactionary impulse by painting themselves as victims of censorious power at the same time as they leverage toxic masculinity to attack legitimately vulnerable people.

The genesis of the sports clubs movement in Poland

The formation of the first Polish sports associations is not only an important stage in the development of Polish sport, but is also a crucial element of Polish tradition and culture. The process of shaping the sports association movement, initiated in the 19th century, was a reflection of the social, political and economic changes that took place throughout Europe, including the Polish lands under partitions. It is the sports associations that are the keystone of various activities that have introduced to social life such phenomena as mass and competitive sport, a sports spectacle, the principle of fair play, the fan movement and others. Analyzing the course of formation of sports associations, Maria Rotkiewicz and Kajetan Hądzelek note: "Two stages can be distinguished in the development of Polish sport up to a year 1918: 1) the creation of sports associations in the second half of the nineteenth century, based on organizational models of aristocratic hippic and hunting societies; 2) development of the club movement in the first years of the twentieth century in Galicia, the Kingdom of Poland and Greater Poland, gathering primarily school and academic youth" [13, p. 130].

The Football Fan Movement: Structure and Collective Identities

The article is dedicated to the study on the identification characteristics of football fans. The main question of the research is aimed at identifying who a football fan is, and how he defines himself. The empirical base of the study includes 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with football fans of PFC CSKA. According to the results of the work, it was revealed that the portrait of a football fan is a collective image, and the identity of representatives of the fan movement is plastic and fragmentary. Due to the presence of many subgroups within the fan movement, fans can identify themselves differently each time depending on how they overcome certain barriers. Moreover, moving between groups does not imply a change in significance or a change in the fan's attitude to a particular group. Contrary to assumptions, the boundaries between groups are quite flexible and surmountable, and the process of identity formation is constantly renewed, not static.

ПРАВОВИЙ СТАТУС СПОРТИВНИХ УБОЛІВАЛЬНИКІВ В УКРАЇНІ

The article attempts to characterize the legal status of sports fans in Ukraine using the experience of foreign countries. Attention is paid to the historical aspect of the formation of sports fans in the world. The author dwelled on the movement of football fans in the twentieth century. Based on modern research by Ukrainian scientists, a classification of certain categories of football fans is presented. The article argues that sports fans are a kind of challenge to government agencies, and sometimes to society as a whole, so the ability to work with such informal entities, where the composition is dominated by young people, is a key task of government agencies. Examples of fruitful cooperation between the state, local governments and volunteers in the form of fan projects with football fans in Germany and Belgium are given. It was stated that cooperation in Ukraine is still carried out at the level of the football club and fans. The introduction of the position of the Officer for work with football fans in football clubs is positively assessed. The specifics of the Ukrainian fan football movement are pointed out - it is strongly influenced by politics. It is emphasized that in Ukraine, so far, there is no law that would regulate the legal status of sports fans. A number of international agreements, acts of international sports organizations and Ukrainian legislative, by-laws and local regulations are analyzed in the context of clarifying the set of rights and obligations of sports fans (mostly football). It is established that the status of sports fans is determined only within the limits of achieving the goal of ensuring the safety of sports competitions. It is proposed to develop a special law in the future, which would establish the legal status of sports fans and the fan movement in general. Particular attention is paid to the clear wording of the rights of sports fans.

<em>The Simpsons</em> Do the Nineties

<em>The Simpsons</em> Do the Nineties

Zmiana retoryki ukraińskich kibiców piłkarskich podczas społeczno-politycznych wydarzeń na Ukrainie w latach 2013–2016

Change of rhetoric of Ukrainian football fans during social and political events in Ukraine in 2013–2016In Ukrainian society football fans environment is usually perceived in a negative way — first of all due to its characteristic verbal aggression and rude behavior at the stadiums and beyond them. In Ukraine, like in all the other European countries, movements of football fans have never been aside events in the country, declared aggressive attitude towards fan movements which professed left views. Change of verbal aggression and traditionally hostile attitude towards rival fan groups happened in fans environment in 2013–2014, when in Ukraine Revolution of Dignity took place and fans were the first to defend its values. February 13, 2014 Manifesto of football fans was publicized which bears witness to transformation of traditional rhetoric of fans. Provisions of the Manifesto under the name of “A fan to another fan is like a brother and a friend from Luhansk to the Carpathians” which say about establishing of an open-ended truce among Ukrainian football ultras still hold. The aim of the article is to present change of verbal and non-verbal behaviour of Ukrainian football fans during social and political events in Ukraine in 2013–2016 and to give the examples of texts from the discourse of football fans which have become commonly recognized mottos and songs during Maidan and Russian aggression in Ukraine during 2014–2016.

View of Polish and Russian Media on Euro 2012: Comparing and Contrasting

Considering the role of the media in modern society, we need to understand that public opinion about football fans in general is formed out of the information transmitted by the media. The objective of the study is to analyze the different views and aspects of the Euro 2012: its influence on countries development; its profitability but also the behavior of fans – their cooperation and rivalry. However, contemporary scholarship on sports sociology and football fandom subcultures does not recognize class impact on the near-football movement. European Football Championship 2012 showed problems of development and regulation of football fanaticism. It is essential to see how events on Euro 2012 in Poland, collision and confrontation Polish and Russian fans were reflected in Russian, Polish and UK press “Sport-Express”, “Soviet Sport”, “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, “Gazeta Wyborcza”, “Gazeta Polska”, “The Independent” and “The Guardian”. Football fans’, organization, and culture require precise studies, not only for understanding of current situation, but, perhaps, also for the development of an adequate strategy of interaction with them in the run-up to the World Cup in 2018. It is also necessary to identify not only the relationship of this movement to the different sectors of society, but also a subculture itself and its image in public opinion shaped by the media. In the era of globalization, understanding of youth subcultures is complicated and leads to a paradox. At the moment, there is a modification of the fan movement. On the one hand, we see the transition from bullying to the cultural «fanatism»; on the other hand, the question arises, if the bullies were an integral part of this culture, do we talk about the death or rebirth of culture? Youth subcultures in the era of postmodernism and globalization are transformed, into the phenomenon of «postsubculture», and may enhance the destructive tendencies in the spiritual life of the young generation, increasing the level of nihilistic attitudes. It should also be noted that the movement of football fans is becoming mainstream. There has been an increase in the popularity of fandom in society. This is due to the attention to this phenomenon in the media, in the cinema and fiction.

Citizen, consumer, citimer: The interplay of market and political identities within contemporary football fan cultures

This article examines how football, sport and other cultural fields are characterized by complex interrelations between ‘citizen’ and ‘consumer’ identities. Our analysis centres specifically on critically examining and developing the concept of ‘citimer’ (citizen-consumer) with respect to activist supporter groups within European professional men’s football. First, to establish the structural and cultural context for our analysis, we argue that the emergence of citizen-consumer identities in football has been driven by five underlying processes: globalization, commodification, securitization, mediatization and postmodernization. Critical football fan movements have responded to these changes through greater reflexivization and politicization. Second, drawing on the broad academic literature, we develop the concept of the citizen-consumer (or ‘citimer’) and introduce its relevance to football. Third, to provide a more nuanced understanding of the citizen-consumer, we explore how this ‘citimer’ identity is constructed in two ways: ‘from below’ (by fan groups themselves at everyday level) and ‘from above’ (by clubs, governing bodies, media and other powerful forces within the football system). In both instances, we find that the citizen and consumer aspects of the citimer identity are interrelated in complex ways. Fourth, we conclude by highlighting the political reflexivity of citimers and areas for future research. Our analysis draws on extensive data collection: with football supporters and officials in the Czech Republic, England and Italy and at the wider European level, and through access to diverse primary and secondary documents (e.g. policy papers, fanzines and online forums). Our findings may be applied to examine citimer identities, practices and social relations not just within football and sport but in many other cultural fields, such as art, communication, drama, fashion, film and music.

From Communist Fan Clubs to Professional Hooligans: A History of Polish Fandom as a Social Process

The main aim of this article is to present the history of Polish football fandom as a social process which has coincided with the processes of transformation of Polish society over the last few decades. The fan movement in Poland dates back to the early 1970s when the communist authorities attempted to channel the activity of supporters. The 1980s, however, brought the development of a spontaneous movement with strong accents of hooliganism. The post-1989 transformation led to an economic and social crisis, with the rule of anarchy in football stadiums. Along with the formation of the democratic order, the fan movement evolved into different sections focused on particular aspects of activity. The paper is also devoted to the ideological dimension of fan culture, related to the conflict with the government at the turn of the 2010s.

Event Recognition for Contactless Activity Monitoring Using Phase-Modulated Continuous Wave Radar.

The use of remote sensing technologies such as radar is gaining popularity as a technique for contactless detection of physiological signals and analysis of human motion. This paper presents a methodology for classifying different events in a collection of phase modulated continuous wave radar returns. The primary application of interest is to monitor inmates where the presence of human vital signs amidst different, interferences needs to be identified. A comprehensive set of features is derived through time and frequency domain analyses of the radar returns. The Bhattacharyya distance is used to preselect the features with highest class separability as the possible candidate features for use in the classification process. The uncorrelated linear discriminant analysis is performed to decorrelate, denoise, and reduce the dimension of the candidate feature set. Linear and quadratic Bayesian classifiers are designed to distinguish breathing, different human motions, and nonhuman motions. The performance of these classifiers is evaluated on a pilot dataset of radar returns that contained different events including breathing, stopped breathing, simple human motions, and movement of fan and water. Our proposed pattern classification system achieved accuracies of up to 93% in stationary subject detection, 90% in stop-breathing detection, and 86% in interference detection. Our proposed radar pattern recognition system was able to accurately distinguish the predefined events amidst interferences. Besides inmate monitoring and suicide attempt detection, this paper can be extended to other radar applications such as home-based monitoring of elderly people, apnea detection, and home occupancy detection.

A brief overview on the emergence of football fans in the Kingdom of SCS/Yugoslavia

With the development of football in the interwar period, when this sport became an important part of everyday life for many people in Yugoslavia, it also led to the rise of the phenomenon which followed football around the world: commercialization, professionalism, social stratification, but also the phenomenon of sports fandom. This paper aims to give a brief overview of the history of football fans in Yugoslavia during the interwar period, to determine the basis for further research, to try to explain the causes of the emergence of fan movement (if it can even be considered a movement), how football fandom manifested, how was it perceived by its contemporaries, and what were the fandom rivalries (local, regional, national and political). Since the early history of Yugoslav football fans was scarcely studied in historiography and other social sciences, one of the main purposes of this paper is to serve as an introduction of sorts to further research of this fascinating subject. The paper was written on the basis of available archival material, relevant literature, available press clippings and preserved memories, memoirs and diaries.

Движение любителей фантастики в провинциальном советском городе в 1980-е годы

Движение любителей фантастики в провинциальном советском городе в 1980-е годы

The Female Vikings, a Women's Fan Group in Denmark: Formation and Development in the Context of Football and Fan Histories

Traditionally, football and fandom have been male domains and celebrations of masculinity. So far there has been some sociological and historical research on women's football; however, little is known about women's fandom, in particular about its formation and development. This article focuses on the historical development of a Danish women-only fan group called ‘The Female Vikings’, which support a professional football club, Lyngby Boldklub (BK), in a city north of Copenhagen. The article explores the backgrounds and motivations of female fans, as well as their ways of staging femininity in a man's world. Drawing on available information about football and fans in Denmark, we have reconstructed the developments of both Lyngby BK and its supporters. Special focus was placed on the histories and cultures as well as the experiences of female fans in this club. Insights into the foundation of the women's fan group were provided by problem-centred interviews which also contained open questions. The foundation and activities of the Female Vikings show how women can perform gender in the fan's stands and how they play a significant role in the fan movement. The interviews also reveal the loyalty of the female fans during the club's ‘crisis’ and their ‘collective memories’.