Football Fandom Research Articles

When the private sphere hides from the public sphere: The power struggle between Israeli national identity and football fandom

On 13 May 2012 Israeli sports fans were deprived of one of the season’s most important soccer tournaments, after the scheduling of both legs of the UEFA Champion’s League semi-final matches overlapped with national days of remembrance. A week before, Israel’s sports channels refused to play the first leg of semi-final matches since one of the games coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day. And, again, a week later, Israeli sports fans were confounded with the same issue, with Memorial Day coinciding with the soccer tournament’s second leg of semi-final games. It is well known that sports spectatorship is a transformative experience through which fans escape their humdrum lives, just as religious experiences help the faithful to transcend their everyday existence. In an era where alternative channels (television, Internet, etc.) are easy to find, we used in-depth interviews with sports fans to learn more about the dilemma of both public and private media expressions and watching and enjoying soccer matches while the Israeli nation is in agony. Findings reveal a whole different viewing experience whereas instead of group watching, cheering and eating together rituals, on a regular match day, an unaccompanied, quiet and even embarrassing experience was marked.

Uses and meanings of ‘Yid’ in English football fandom: A case study of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club

This is the first empirical study to explain the contested uses and meanings of ‘Yid’ in English football fan culture. A pertinent socio-political issue with important policy and legal implications, we explain the different uses of ‘Yid’, making central the cultural context in which it is used, together with the intent underpinning its usage. Focusing upon Kick It Out’s The Y-Word campaign film (which attempted to raise awareness of antisemitism in football by advocating a ‘zero tolerance’ policy approach to ‘Yid’), the complex relationship of Tottenham Hotspur with Judaism is unpacked. The origins of this complexity stem from Tottenham traditionally attracting Jewish fans due to nearby Jewish communities. As a consequence, Tottenham is perceived as a ‘Jewish’ club and their fans have suffered antisemitic abuse from opposing supporters who have disparagingly referred to them as ‘Yids’. In response, Tottenham fans have, since the 1970s, appropriated and embraced the term by identifying as the ‘Yid Army’. Critical analysis of fan forum discourse suggests that many Tottenham fans thought The Y-Word film failed to sufficiently understand or demarcate between the multiple meanings and intentions associated with use of ‘Yid’ as both an ethnic epithet and term of endearment. We call for an appreciation of the nature of language that acknowledges the fluidity and temporality of linguistic reclamation and ‘ownership’ in future policies to combat antisemitism.

An Ethnography of English Football Fans: Cans, Cops and Carnivals

In the latest book in the ‘New Ethnographies’ series from Manchester University Press Geoff Pearson has provided us with a much needed fresh perspective on football fan research. It should become a leading text in the field. There are three excellent participation observation studies presented here, all conducted by the author, from a period of fifteen years of fieldwork. They focus on fans of Blackpool FC, Manchester United FC and England; in Pearson’s words ‘the loud and noisy subculture of wider football fandom’. I have argued for many years that sociology of sport should produce better and more rigorous ethnographies of football fans to counter the litany of misinformation and fantasy which abounds on this topic, often stemming from tabloid journalism, the hooligan memoir books and internet sites and the ‘media hooligan wars’ that have been created. Geoff Pearson has certainly answered the call. The book is outstanding. Max Gluckman, and his colleagues, who founded the Department of Anthropology at the University of Manchester in the 1940s and created ‘the Manchester School’, would be proud of Pearson as one the new practitioners of that ethnographic work in a book series explicitly building on their fine legacy.

Football fan culture and politics in modern Greece: the process of fandom radicalization during the austerity era

The article explores the intersection between politics and football focusing on political activism in football fandom starting from its origin in late 1970s to the contemporary mass protests against austerity policies. The analysis focused on ideological conflicts between fascist and anti-fascist fans within football lifeworlds and the ways organized fans use current political circumstances to negotiate and re-interpret their identities. In the context of the Greek economic crisis, the intersection between fandom and political activism as well the newly emerged political formations that come from football elites and big business signify an important turn towards the ‘footballization’ of Greek politics. This trend reflects the growing disillusionment of Greeks towards a discredited political system and their anxious seeking of some savours come from outside the politics, as a magical solution to the social pressures and deadlocks of a society in crisis.

Soccer and the city: the game and its fans in Solo and Yogyakarta

Football fandom and sports culture are largely neglected in studies of Indonesia. This is despite the highly complex nature of football fandom in Indonesian cities. This essay draws on experiences in two cities in central Java: Yogyakarta and Solo. Contemporary football culture in Solo and Yogyakarta is linked to the policies of decentralization that have emerged in the post-New Order (1998 onwards) and to the deeply contested identity politics. The essay privileges the perspective of a capo (dirigen, conductor) from Solo in articulating the experience of identifying with a particular football club (Persis Solo) and that of an ex-player of PSS Sleman from the province of Yogyakarta. It explores how football culture plays a vital role in the establishment and maintenance of, and contestation over city and urban identity.

(Dis)locating nations in the World Cup: football fandom and the global geopolitics of affect

ABSTRACTThe World Cup, as a tournament that pits national teams against one another, initially seems to be a site where support for sports is tied to nations. However, situating this sporting event at the intersection of discourses of globalization, transnational circulation of capital and populations, and theories of fandom, our examination of diasporic populations found that the choice is not a simple one between ‘origin nation’ and ‘residence nation.’ Instead, the decision of which team to support relies much more on an attenuated, complex notion that we call transnational affinity. We examine this concept in relation to the context of transnational flow of players, media, spectators, and capital, contending that locating nations or national preference in the World Cup requires understanding the contemporary de- or trans-nationalization of not only sports but identity itself beyond the binary of national and global.

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.

The Social Phenomenon of Football: The opposition in the service of culture – constituting of the structure and identity football fandom

The Social Phenomenon of Football: The opposition in the service of culture – constituting of the structure and identity football fandom

Where are the hooligans? Dimensions of football fandom in Poland

The present paper aims to outline and explain the social world of the most committed football supporters in Poland. The analysis proceeds from the assumption that such a community is based on a particular culture established by its own discourses, constituting the habitus of individuals who generate strong social bonds and a normative structure, and is a source of social capital. Since this sub-culture can be understood as a multidimensional sphere, the article argues that fans can no longer be adequately described in terms of the ‘hooligan’ discourse. Although hooligan behaviour has not vanished entirely, it has been pushed out of the stadiums and increasingly functions in a niche outside the immediate context of football. The present article is intended as a contribution to the discussion on European football hooliganism/fandom and its transformation.

Broadcast media: live and in-person

Radio broadcasts brought fans into the drama of the football match in real time for the first time. The indelible impact of radio shaped the development of football fandom in the early to middle 20th century. While television is now the biggest financial supporter of top-level football, owners used to worry that TV would diminish gate receipts. Mass media are often suspected of contributing to social alienation, this chapter shows how fans use television broadcasts to create social events. This essay discusses various viewing contexts such as pubs and fan clubhouses in order to illustrate how media is used by fans to create social bonds.

Fan politics: dissent and control at the stadium

This essay delves into the theoretical and practical dimensions of political expression at the stadium. While previous chapters are organized around the form of media, this essay considers the breadth of media put to use to convey political sentiments. While the notion of sport as apolitical has surface appeal, the stadium has always been political, and provided that sport continues to aggregate tens of thousands of fans in an enclosed space, there is little hope of eliminating politics. The stadium offers the chance for average citizens to gain a voice and, I argue, the stadium is an important part of the public sphere. The chapter considers how the stadium is used for dissent in several contexts. In Italy, the stadium has long been a site of political expression while more recently, in Cairo and Istanbul, football fandom has provided the tools to directly confront the state.

Online discourse of masculinities in transnational football fandom: Chinese Arsenal fans’ talk around ‘gaofushuai’ and ‘diaosi’

This study examines the constructions of masculine discourse by Chinese fans of European football through online discussions. A critical discourse analysis of 50 online discussions by Chinese Arsenal fans shows how these fans use ‘gaofushuai’ and ‘diaosi’ to reproduce, contest, and racialize the dominant masculine order originally embedded in these two masculine terms. It also discovers these fans’ enactment of fluid gender identities in their self-reference to the terms during interactions. Yet the patriarchal assumption still prevails in their discursive struggles, forming football and its fandom as completely gendered practices. This complex process is seen as the negotiation between the globalized European football culture and the local cultural meanings for Chinese masculinities. It offers implications for how the cyberspace of transnational sports fandom can form a site for discursive struggles over the hegemonic masculinity in contemporary China.

‘We are the boys from the Black Country’! (Re)Imagining local, regional and spectator identities through fandom at Walsall Football Club

The Black Country, a region that is only loosely defined geographically, is an area located in the West Midlands of England, which its inhabitants claim holds a distinct geographical and cultural personality. However, despite the territory's perceived uniqueness, popular imaginations of England have often overlooked the Black Country's historical and socio-cultural individuality. Therefore, given those working in a number of disciplines have recognised local football spectator communities to be significant cultural arenas, through which localism is performed and remade, this article explores the role of fandom in imagining, preserving and/or contesting notions of ‘Black Countryness’. Utilising semi-structured interviews, netnography and participant observation, as key methodological techniques, this study explores how local-spectator communities at Walsall Football Club (one of three professional football teams based in the Black Country) continually (re)negotiate a collective sense of local and regional identity. By adopting a critical approach, guided by Hall's notion of ‘cultural identity’, this research, in line with other similar studies, highlights the significant role football fandom plays in imbuing particular locales with meaning. However, more importantly, by understanding football fandom is emergent from complex, productive and interconnected cultural processes, this article is also critical of local football spectator communities and their exclusionary, as well as inclusionary, practices and customs.

Voetbalfans als verbeelde gemeenschap?

Soccer fans as imagined community? Soccer fans as imagined community? Football fandom in Germany is said to unite people who, outside of football, do not have much contact: it creates imagined communities. To study how that works, I carried out anthropological fieldwork among fans of Borussia Dortmund. While interviews and observations initially confirmed the presence of an imagined bond among the fans, later on I observed many cleavages between the fans, based on socio-economic and ideological factors. Other than celebratory high points of football matches, it appears that the imagined community does not transcend such cleavages. It shows that fanhood is a partial identity marker, which is ultimately weaker than identification with the direct community of family and other significant others.

My football fandoms, performance, and place

In this personal essay, the author discusses negotiation of identity in the various spaces of football fandom.

The impact of the supporters’ trust movement on women’s feelings and practices of their football fandom

This article looks at the ways in which female football fans in England have responded to and become involved in the cooperative supporters’ trust movement. It examines the history and development of the movement, which offers a new, democratic and equitable way for supporters to become involved in the life of their club, and become part of a new, wider fan community, broader than simple club allegiance. The involvement of respondents in the supporters’ trust movement is explored, profiling the ways in which they have immersed or distanced themselves from the trust concept and community, and comparing their experiences as they have described them in interview. I argue that the trust movement offers the opportunity for supporters to help the game progress in a way that is advantageous to all fans, not just females; and this seems to be an element of the movement that has great appeal to women.

‘Today you are not a white man, you are a Black Man’: Inauthentic whiteness in Johannesburg football fandom

ABSTRACTWhile whiteness studies often begin from the assumption that being ‘white’ means having access to an unspoken centre of power, the third wave of whiteness studies focuses on nuanced forms of whiteness. In the post-apartheid context, various discursive strategies are employed by South African whites to retain privilege. Yet whiteness is also constructed spatially. Through an autoethnographic methodology, the paper explores the ‘inauthentic whiteness’ of the author. Drawing from the case studies of football supporters’ clubs in Johannesburg, South Africa, the actions of the author travelling through different racialised spaces in Johannesburg football fandom destabilised the supporters’ understanding of whiteness and what it was to be white. This inauthenticity created new opportunities for the supporters’ clubs to engage with the other, which had previously not existed.

The role of football in the Yugoslav crisis. “Nationalisation” of the football fandom in the former Yugoslavia

The strong connection between everyday politics and football fandom represents a distinctive characteristic of a football culture in contemporary Serbia. This paper focuses on the issues related to strong political influence of “nationalised” political space in the former Yugoslavia that caused specific politicisation of football supporters in the country. I argue that political capital of the football fans derives from the specific social and political environment that characterised the process of disintegration of the former Yugoslavia. The aim of this article is to emphasize the connection between growing nationalisation of politics and specific events that took place on football stadiums during the late 1980s and the early 1990s in the SFRY. Through the analysis of the particular events from that period, this article aims to analyse the causes that led to transformation of the subculture of the football fans to political agents par excellence.

Modern English football fandom and hyperreal, ‘safe’, ‘all-seater’ stadia: examining the contemporary football stage

Through a critique of various social, cultural, political and technological changes in English football as a result of the Taylor report into the safety of football stadia post-Hillsborough in 1989, this paper explores the way in which the modern ‘safe’ all-seater stadium is often experienced by fans in a hyperreal and relatively passive fashion. The paper then considers some of the challenges posed by these developments and the potential for fans to renegotiate and adapt in the face of a middle classing of football discourse. Finally, the paper examines the social control agenda inherent within the neoliberal development of all-seater stadia, whilst highlighting the response of the English Football Supporters Federation and their ‘Safe Standing Campaign’. The paper will conclude by offering a tentative critique of an innovative response by Manchester City F.C. supporters and their participatory ‘Poznan’ celebration in all-seating areas based on auto-ethnographic interpretation.

Football and its continuity as a classless mass phenomenon in Germany and England: rethinking the bourgeoisification of football crowds

Considering football’s popular notion of a working-class sport in England and Germany – at least in the 1950s – the shift towards present classless fandom in football is mainly explained by the genesis of a middle-class fan culture induced by the process of football’s accumulating (hyper-) commodification. However, this so-called ‘bourgeoisification thesis’ cannot be verified on the basis of empirical data – neither on the basis of the employment status of people attending football matches in the stadia of the top league clubs in England and Germany between 1977 and 2009 nor on the basis of representative data pertaining to the social-class profile of regular readers of German football magazines carried out in 1954. It is demonstrated that football has enjoyed continuous popularity among all social classes. Hence, the bourgeoisification of football fandom can basically be ascribed to the inter- and intra-generational upward mobility in postmodern societies induced by socio-structural change.