Women fans have entered the traditionally male domain of the sports stadium in growing numbers in recent years. Watching professional sport is important for women for so many reasons, but their expectations and experiences have been largely ignored by academics. This book tackles these shortcomings in the literature and sheds new light on the many ways in which women become sports fans. This groundbreaking study is the first to focus on the phenomenon of the feminization of sports fandom. Including original research on football and rugby union in the UK, it looks at the increasing opportunities for women to become sports fans in contemporary society and critically examines the way this form of leisure is valued by women. Drawing upon feminist thinking and intersectionality, it shows how women from different social classes and age groups consume the spectacle of sport. This book is fascinating reading for any student or scholar interested in sport and leisure studies, sociology and gender or women’s studies.

Women fans have entered the traditionally male domain of the sports stadium in growing numbers in recent years. Watching professional sport is important for women for so many reasons, but their expectations and experiences have been largely ignored by academics. This book tackles these shortcomings in the literature and sheds new light on the many ways in which women become sports fans. This groundbreaking study is the first to focus on the phenomenon of the feminization of sports fandom. Including original research on football and rugby union in the UK, it looks at the increasing opportunities for women to become sports fans in contemporary society and critically examines the way this form of leisure is valued by women. Drawing upon feminist thinking and intersectionality, it shows how women from different social classes and age groups consume the spectacle of sport. This book is fascinating reading for any student or scholar interested in sport and leisure studies, sociology and gender or women’s studies.

Women worldwide are making their presence felt as sport fans in rapidly increasing numbers. This book makes a distinctive and innovative contribution to the study of sport fandom by exploring the growing visibility and interest in women who follow sport. It presents the latest data on women’s sport spectatorship in different regions of the world, posing new theoretical paradigms to study the globalised nature of female sport fandom. This book goes beyond conventional approaches to analysing the practices of women sport fans. By using a critical feminist perspective to investigate cultural conditions and social contexts (including globalisation, digital networked technologies, consumerism, neoliberalism and postfeminism), it brings into view a diversity of women’s voices and experiences as sport fans. It sheds new light on the power dynamics of gender, ethnicity and sexuality influencing women’s participation in sport spectatorship and interrogates the ways female sport fandom is made visible through transnational media networks. Women Sport Fans: Identification, Participation, Representation is fascinating reading for all those interested in sport and gender, the sociology of sport, or women’s studies.

Why do women follow sports? How do they participate from the sidelines and what is the significance of this contribution? What can female fandom tell us about gender relations in sport? This book explores these and related questions by bringing together the varied strands of research being conducted internationally across the social sciences and humanities on this emerging and topical field. While sports spectatorship is a popular and well-respected site of analysis, no book-length, scholarly contribution documents women’s experiences of sports fandom. For this reason, there is an obvious need for a book that offers researchers, students and non-professional readers an authoritative introduction to women’s modes of sport support. Sport and Its Female Fans will be a landmark contribution in the field of sport research and in studies of sports fandom, making an original contribution to the growing, yet under-researched, area of female sports spectators.

This is the first book to explore the full significance of sport fans and fandom from an international and interdisciplinary perspective, across different sports, communities and levels of engagement. It gives a comprehensive overview of the undeniable economic and cultural influence of sport industries for which fans are the driving force. The book examines different theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of fans, including typologies of fandom, and presents cutting-edge discussion across broad thematic areas such as performance and identity, the business of fandom, and fandom and media. It considers the experiences of diverse and marginalized fan groups, with an emphasis on intersectional analysis, and shines new light on key contemporary themes such as fan activism, violence and deviance, mobility and migration, and the transformative effects of digital and social media. This volume includes chapters by many of the leading scholars responsible for having laid the foundation for sport fan research as well as early-career scholars who examine the newest developments in media technologies, legalized betting, gaming, and fantasy sports. Including perspectives from disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, management, economics, and media studies, this book is essential reading for anybody interested in the study of sport and wider society or fans and subcultures more broadly.

This book assesses the transformation of football fan culture from a gender perspective. Referring to the notions of homosociality, hegemonic masculinity and performative perspectives on gender and fandom, it investigates the processes of women entering the world of football fandom. Drawing on multidimensional qualitative and quantitative research, the book analyses different aspects of female fandom, such as women’s socialisation to be a fan, building their sense of fan identity, ways of performing fandom, and gender. Also, it explores the response of male fans by shedding light on the sense-making process of a growing number of female fans in the stands and its consequences for prevailingly male football culture. This study stands out for its richness and diversity of empirical material used in order to make a significant contribution to our understanding of social dynamics related to the changing nature of female football fandom. The book is fascinating reading for researchers and students in a broad range of areas, including gender studies, sociology of sport, football, women’s studies and Central Eastern European studies. It is also a valuable resource for scholars, and football and club authorities who have an interest in understanding the development of female football fandom and its impact on the male fandom community.

This volume draws upon social science and historical approaches to provide insights into the world of women’s football and female fans. It gives an in-depth analysis of the development of the women’s game in different European countries and examines the experiences of female fans. An overview about women’s football in Europe shows the rise and development of the game and the increasing inclusion of girls and women in football and fan communities. To date, there has been a lack of research on female participation in football, but drawing on research studies from various European countries, the volume explores a range of issues, including how girls and women become football fans and players, how women combine football with their everyday lives, and how they may encounter stereotypes and barriers when they challenge male dominance by entering this traditionally male sport. This collection will be of interest to students and scholars in a range of fields, including sports sociology, sport sciences, gender studies, leisure studies, women’s studies as well as fandom and cultural studies.

This book analyses women as spectators at men’s association football (soccer) in Britain from 1863 to 1939. The author shows that women have always been present at men’s football in Britain, a fact not always acknowledged in modern popular accounts of the game, albeit as a small minority in overall attendances. Some women have always been ‘authentic’ fans of football, both knowledgeable and enthusiastic in their support, and this book will demonstrate that.

This book combines pieces of work on Europe and Latin America, the two continents where football arouses the most ardent passions among its spectators. Curiously, an undertaking to compare on a large scale the forms extreme fandom takes in these two geographical areas is still lacking. A situational analysis of the scientific literature devoted to the subject over the last two or three decades represents a step in this direction, making a scattered store of knowledge accessible. It thus answers a need to clarify regional differences in identities and in the practices of supporters.

While recent years have seen the emergence of a significant body of research on LGBT inclusion in sport, little is known about LGBT fans. This book provides the first in-depth examination of LGBT football fans’ experiences and sense of place in the contemporary English game. Drawing on almost 100 semi-structured interviews with LGBT fans, it explores several important findings, including how these fans represent ‘authentic’ notions of fandom, the emergence of LGBT Fan Groups, improved stadium environment for LGBT fans, LGBT-themed chanting and the role of governing bodies and professional football clubs. The research presented in this book extends current theorising of under-represented groups of sports fans. This is fascinating and important reading for those with an interest in the sociology of sport, sports fandom, gender and sexuality.