Football: Game, Religion or War?

For many men, their identity as a supporter of a given football club is fundamental to how they define themselves in terms of others, as well as organizing multiple dimensions of their inner worlds. As with every identity, that of the football fan essentially differentiates or contradistinguishes the supporter from others, and manifests itself in a range of related behaviors. Our discussion will explore the kinship between these behaviours and others typical of different, powerful, exclusive identities (gender, sexuality, race, party) in an effort to understand the growing politicization of sport and the increasingly powerful role sport plays in the public sphere.

Approaching football from this angle, we will discuss political positions and behaviors that exist over almost the entire political spectrum in the light of research data both published and unpublished. We will also be focusing on other crucial subjects like the role of ‘machismo’ in the sports fan identity, the important role this identity plays in sexual behavior in general, the issue of hate and its cultivation, and extreme nationalism made manifest in the football sphere (see “inter alia” Greece-Albania football matches).

Finally, we will be talking about the formation of a singular normality in private life through the filter and the ‘diary’ of a sports fan.