J Cleland
Biographic Data
| ID | 8209 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J Cleland |
| GIVEN NAMES | J |
| FAMILY NAME | Cleland |
| SIGNATURE | CLELAND J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of South Australia |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8852-2257 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 510 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 13 |
‘They’re making it really hard for us’: AFLW players’ experiences of barriers, progress, and inequality in Australian Rules football
The Women’s Australian Football League (AFLW) operates within a broader expansion of women’s sport, yet players continue to navigate a landscape shaped by structural inequities and male-oriented cultural norms. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with five current and former players, this paper examines how organisational and socio-cultural factors shape AFLW players’ experiences and the league’s development. Data were analysed using reflexive …
The Changing Role of Alcohol Among Male Australian Sports Fans: A Preliminary Social Practice Analysis
This article presents the views of 692 adult male Australian sports fans, collected via an online survey from July 2024 to September 2024, regarding the role of alcohol when attending professional sports events in Australia. While the popular orthodoxy is that sport, alcohol, and masculinity are entwined, our data illustrates a different picture. Just under three-quarters of the sample (74%) explained how consuming alcohol was not an important pa…
Digital Patriarchy and the Perceived Threat of Andrew Tate: Women’s Experiences in the Platformed Risk Society
This article examines how digital infrastructures mediate the production and circulation of gendered harm through the cultural prominence of Andrew Tate, a controversial online figure associated with misogynistic rhetoric. Drawing on Ulrich Beck’s theory of the risk society, Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of liquid modernity and feminist critiques of platform governance, the study introduces the concept of the platformed risk society to theorise how di…
Will Euro2024 struggle to keep war protests out of football? 8 out of 10 fans oppose using the tournament as a political platform for Ukraine and Gaza
Eighty percent of football fans involved in the present study do not want EURO2024 to be deployed as a platform for protest against the extensively covered conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The majority accept that, as one of 2024's global sports spectacles, EURO2024, like the Paris Olympics, will be watched by billions and command the attention of the global media. They also understand how sport has catalysed geopolitical change, for example, playi…
Spectator racism in three professional men's football codes in Australia: Observations from White spectators
This article explores spectator racism across three high-profile professional men's football codes in Australia (Australian Football League, National Rugby League and the A-League). To pursue this goal, the study conducted an online survey from April 2021 to June 2021, securing 2047 responses. Our focus in this article centres on those participants who self-identified as White to gather their insights on racism as they witnessed and understood it…
Toxic whiteness in sports fandom: A reflective analysis of fan racism between football codes in the United Kingdom and Australia
This article commentary highlights the pattern of findings from various projects conducted in the United Kingdom on football fans and in Australia on football, Australian Rules football, and rugby league fans, regarding the extent of fan racism present in each sport. It is from these projects I argue that toxic Whiteness is present in a White dominant society through a practice that locates the characteristics associated with Whiteness (power, pr…
Banter and the rise of LGBTQ+ awareness in football cultures: A bourdieusian approach
Using data from a 2020 survey of 2,663 football fans, this paper explores their perspectives on LGBTQ+ language at UK men's football matches. Results revealed that 95 percent of participants expressed their support for LGBTQ+ players, challenging the assumption that football fans are homophobic. Paradoxically, 78 percent acknowledged encountering language with LGBTQ+ themes when attending stadiums but interpret this in contrasting ways: 41 percen…
Why are There STILL No Gay Professional Association Football Players in Men's Major Leagues? Revisiting the Views of Football Fans in the United Kingdom
In a survey of 3,500 association football fans conducted by members of the research team over a decade ago, most participants predicted that at least one gay football player would feel comfortable enough to disclose their sexuality publicly by 2014, and that many other players would follow this lead in the following years. Ten years on, gay players can be found in all major sports, but association football remains an outlier. Using an anonymous o…
Masculinities, Media and the Rugby Mind: An Analysis of Stakeholder Views on the Relationship Between Rugby Union, the Media, Masculine-Influenced Views on Injury, and Concussion
Rugby union, alongside other collision and contact sports, faces ever mounting pressure from increased recognition of concussive injuries and the risks they present to athletes, both in the short-term and long-term. Here, the media is a central component of increasing pressure for cultural change. This research analysed data from 524 self-selected survey respondents to examine rugby union fans’ and stakeholders’ perceptions of media portrayal of …
A little less conversation’: An exploration of soccer fan attitudes towards ‘the knee’ protest and the anti-racism message
Taking the knee has become an enduring feature of many sports since 2020: it is a powerful social and political gesture signalling a resistance against racism, not only in sports but in all forms. The research sampled 1001 sports fans, inviting them to share their beliefs, experiences and perspectives on racism in football. In particular, they were asked whether the knee should remain an expression of the sport’s fight against racism. While 34.8%…
Kicking It Out? Football Fans' Views of Anti-Racism Initiatives in English Football
This article explores the views of 906 football fans (96% of whom selfidentified as White), collected via an online survey from May-June 2019, regarding the impact of the leading equality and inclusion organization, Kick It Out, in delivering initiatives to challenge the multifaceted expressions of racism by some White English football fans. Whilst fans recognize the importance of raising awareness of racial discrimination, nearly three quarters …
Fan Reflections on Sexuality in Women's Football in the United Kingdom
This article presents the responses of 1,432 male association football fans, collected via an online survey from March 2020 to April 2020, regarding their views on sexuality in women's football in the United Kingdom. The analysis focuses on two broad themes that emerged from the data: (1) the association of women footballers with masculinity and how they subsequently transgress the traditional characteristics of femininity; and (2) a reduced stig…
Men's Football Fandom and the Performance of Progressive and Misogynistic Masculinities in a 'New Age' of UK Women's Sport
This article offers an original contribution as the first to focus empirically on men football fans' attitudes towards women's sport in a 'new age' of UK media coverage, in which women's sport has experienced a significantly increased and more positive media profile. We draw on online survey responses from 1950 men football fans of different age groups from across the UK. Our methodological approach used techniques emerging out of the principles …
Analyzing the Presence of Homosexually- Themed Language Among Association Football Fans in the United Kingdom
This article is based on the views of 2,663 association football fans, collected via an online survey from March 2020 to April 2020, regarding the presence of homosexually-themed language at men’s professional football matches across the United Kingdom. The results indicate that whilst 95% would support a gay player at their club, 41% have heard language they interpret as malicious or toxic, while 37% believe it is not intentionally hostile and a…
Fair Go? Indigenous Rugby League Players and the Racial Exclusion of the Australian National Anthem
This article explores the implications of widely publicized national anthem protests by several Indigenous rugby league players in Australia during 2019. With a goal of doing justice to these Indigenous voices (and in this case also their silence), a critical race theory framework was deployed to both listen to and interpret the reasons behind the protests. The data source was online media reports that centered on the perspectives of players and …
I Do Worry That Football Will Become Over-Feminized”: Ambiguities in Fan Reflections on the Gender Order in Men’s Professional Football in the United Kingdom
This article draws on the responses of 2,347 football fans (male = 83.4%; female = 16.6%) collected via an online survey from September 2015 to January 2016 regarding the position of women (as fans, coaches, referees, journalists, board members, and administrators) in the gender order in men’s professional association football in the United Kingdom. Engaging with the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity, the authors addressed two recurr…
Charismatic leadership in a far-right movement: An analysis of an English defence league message board following the resignation of Tommy Robinson
This article analyses 1115 posts made across 67 threads on an English Defence League (EDL) message board from 5 October 2013 to 19 October 2013. During the two-week research period, the then leader of the EDL, Tommy Robinson, resigned (8 October 2013) and the posts that existed before, during and immediately after his resignation became the focus of this article. After thematically analysing the posts, the article outlines a sense of betrayal, wi…
Racial folklore, black masculinities and the reproduction of dominant racial ideologies: The case of Israel Folau
This article examines the continued presence of racial folklore and the reproduction of dominant racial ideologies as presented by the media and fan interactions. The case of Israel (Izzy) Folau's time at the Greater Western Sydney Giants Australian football club is presented, utilising an analysis of the club's email communications, media coverage and discussions by sports fans on online message boards. The analysis identifies the significance o…
Perhaps She Only Had a Banana Available to Throw”: Habitus, Racial Prejudice, and Whiteness on Australian Football League Message Boards
This article presents the findings of 2,415 posts collected from two prominent Australian Football League message boards that responded to a racist incident involving a banana being thrown at Adelaide Crows player, Eddie Betts, in August 2016. It adopts Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to examine the online practice of fans for evidence of racist discourse and the extent to which this was supported or contested by fellow fans. The overall findings a…
Collective Action and Football Fandom
Screen Society
Sports Fandom in the Risk Society: Analyzing Perceptions and Experiences of Risk, Security and Terrorism at Elite Sports Events
This article focuses on the reflections of 1,015 sports fans collected via an online survey from June 2017 to September 2017 regarding their experience and perception of risk, security, and terrorism when attending an elite live sport event. Drawing on the conceptual risk society framework of Ulrich Beck, the results outline how some fans demonstrate defiance, resistance, and pragmatism towards the risk of terrorism whilst nearly one-third of fan…
The Internet as a Site of Decreasing Cultural Homophobia in Association Football: An Online Response by Fans to the Coming Out of Thomas Hitzlsperger
This article analyzes 5,128 comments from thirty-five prominent football fan online message boards located across the United Kingdom and 978 online comments in response to a Guardian newspaper article regarding the decision by former German international footballer, Thomas Hitzlsperger, to publicly come out as gay in January 2014. Adopting the theoretical framework of inclusive masculinity theory, the findings demonstrate almost universal inclusi…
Respect? An investigation into the experience of referees in association football
This article focuses on the response by 2056 football referees across all 51 County Football Associations in England, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey to an online survey conducted from 30 September 2015 to 30 November 2015 regarding their experience of officiating since the implementation of a Respect programme in 2008 by the English Football Association. In assessing the impact of the programme, whilst 54 per cent of referees felt that it h…
Sexuality, masculinity and homophobia in association football: An empirical overview of a changing cultural context
Influenced by the industrial working classes in the nineteenth century, the emergence of regulated and professional association football became a symbol of masculinity for millions of boys and men that subsequently became engrained in future generations of male fans. One particular element of this was heightened sexism and homophobia and was illustrated by the dreadful reaction by fans, the media, team mates and opposition players to the decision…
Fans, homophobia and masculinities in association football: Evidence of a More Inclusive Environment
This article draws on 3,500 responses from fans and professionals involved in association football (soccer) to an anonymous online survey posted from June 2010 to October 2010 regarding their views towards gay footballers. The overall findings are that, contrary to assumptions of homophobia, there is evidence of rapidly decreasing homophobia within the culture of football fandom. The results advance inclusive masculinity theory with 93 per cent o…
Racism, Football Fans, and Online Message Boards: How Social Media Has Added a New Dimension to Racist Discourse in English Football
This article presents the findings of a discourse analysis carried out from November 2011 to February 2012 on two prominent association football (soccer) message boards that examined fans' views toward racism in English football. After analyzing more than 500 posts, the article reveals the racist discourse used by some supporters in their online discussions and the extent to which the posts were either supported or contested by fellow posters. Th…
Race, Ethnicity and Football: Persisting Debates and Emergent Issues
Daniel Burdsey (ed.), RACE, ETHNICITY AND FOOTBALL: PERSISTING DEBATES AND EMERGENT ISSUES, London: Routledge, 2011, xv + 288 pp., £85.00 (hard) It is widely acknowledged that racism in football is
Glasswing Butterflies: Gay Professional Football Players and Their Culture
Only one association football (soccer) player in history has declared his homosexuality during his professional active playing career. Before or since that player's death in 1998, no other professional footballer player has come out. The prohibitively traditional culture of association football is popularly regarded as being responsible for this. Fans habitually use homophobic epithets to abuse players. In recent years, England's governing organi…
The Internet as a Site of Decreasing Cultural Homophobia in Association Football: An Online Response by Fans to the Coming Out of Thomas Hitzlsperger
This article analyzes 5,128 comments from thirty-five prominent football fan online message boards located across the United Kingdom and 978 online comments in response to a Guardian newspaper article regarding the decision by former German international footballer, Thomas Hitzlsperger, to publicly come out as gay in January 2014. Adopting the theoretical framework of inclusive masculinity theory, the findings demonstrate almost universal inclusi…
Football Fans' Views of Violence in British Football: Evidence of a Sanitized and Gentrified Culture
This article draws on the responses of 1,500 fans from across the United Kingdom to an online survey posted from August 2013 to November 2013 regarding their experience of football violence. Reflecting the 2013 Home Office report that indicated a continued long-term decline of football fan violence in England and Wales, 89% of fans illustrate a decrease in violent behavior from the 1980s with 56% indicating this is due to better policing, 56% att…
Association Football and the Representation of Homosexuality by the Print Media: A Case Study of Anton Hysén
In March 2011, Anton Hysén (a semiprofessional footballer currently playing in the Swedish fourth division) became only the second association football (soccer) player of any professional disposition to publicly declare his homosexuality while still playing the game. This article provides a textual analysis of the print media's reaction to Hysén coming out and examines whether, in 2011, they portray more inclusive notions toward homosexuality tha…
Discussing homosexuality on association football fan message boards: A changing cultural context
This article presents the findings of a discourse analysis carried out on 48 association football (soccer) message boards from across the United Kingdom concerning fans' views towards the presence of gay footballers. It draws on over 3000 anonymous posts to examine whether hegemonic or more inclusive forms of masculinity existed. The overall findings are that, despite evidence of heteronormativity and some orthodox views towards homosexuality, a …
From passive to active: The changing relationship between supporters and football clubs
The changing relationship between football clubs and supporters has been the subject of recent debate but has received relatively limited empirical analysis based on case study research. This article draws on interviews and a questionnaire fan survey to assess the extent to which four football clubs had developed mechanisms to include ‘active’ supporters in club‐related decisions. The article then examines the strategies put in place by each club…
Why aren't there more black football managers
Closed access. This article was published in the journal, Ethnic and Racial Studies [(c) Taylor & Francis] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.595556
Bisexual Erasure in the British Print Media: Representation of Tom Daley's Coming Out
In December 2013, British Olympic diver Tom Daley announced that he had begun dating a man but was still attracted to women. In doing so he became the highest profile male athlete to disclose that he has bisexual attractions. This article provides a textual analysis of the British print media's reaction in the week after Daley's ‘coming out’ announcement and examines whether the portrayal of him is consistent with the inclusive response to gay ma…
Football fans' views of racism in British football
This article analyses 2500 responses from association football (soccer) fans to an anonymous online survey conducted from November 2011 to February 2012 that examined the extent of racism in British football. Eighty-three per cent of the participants stated that racism remains culturally embedded and when exploring the reasons behind its continuation from the 1970s and 1980s, Bourdieu's concepts of field and habitus proved useful for understandin…
I Do Worry That Football Will Become Over-Feminized”: Ambiguities in Fan Reflections on the Gender Order in Men’s Professional Football in the United Kingdom
This article draws on the responses of 2,347 football fans (male = 83.4%; female = 16.6%) collected via an online survey from September 2015 to January 2016 regarding the position of women (as fans, coaches, referees, journalists, board members, and administrators) in the gender order in men’s professional association football in the United Kingdom. Engaging with the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity, the authors addressed two recurr…
Sexuality, masculinity and homophobia in association football: An empirical overview of a changing cultural context
Influenced by the industrial working classes in the nineteenth century, the emergence of regulated and professional association football became a symbol of masculinity for millions of boys and men that subsequently became engrained in future generations of male fans. One particular element of this was heightened sexism and homophobia and was illustrated by the dreadful reaction by fans, the media, team mates and opposition players to the decision…
Black and whiters’: The relative powerlessness of ‘active’ supporter organization mobility at English Premier League football clubs
This article examines the reaction by Newcastle United supporters to the resignation of Kevin Keegan as Newcastle United manager in September 2008. Unhappy at the ownership and management structure of the club following Keegan’s departure, a series of supporter-led meetings took place that led to the creation of Newcastle United Supporters’ Club and Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust. This article draws on a non-participant observation of these m…
Kicking It Out? Football Fans' Views of Anti-Racism Initiatives in English Football
This article explores the views of 906 football fans (96% of whom selfidentified as White), collected via an online survey from May-June 2019, regarding the impact of the leading equality and inclusion organization, Kick It Out, in delivering initiatives to challenge the multifaceted expressions of racism by some White English football fans. Whilst fans recognize the importance of raising awareness of racial discrimination, nearly three quarters …
Analyzing the Presence of Homosexually- Themed Language Among Association Football Fans in the United Kingdom
This article is based on the views of 2,663 association football fans, collected via an online survey from March 2020 to April 2020, regarding the presence of homosexually-themed language at men’s professional football matches across the United Kingdom. The results indicate that whilst 95% would support a gay player at their club, 41% have heard language they interpret as malicious or toxic, while 37% believe it is not intentionally hostile and a…
Men's Football Fandom and the Performance of Progressive and Misogynistic Masculinities in a 'New Age' of UK Women's Sport
This article offers an original contribution as the first to focus empirically on men football fans' attitudes towards women's sport in a 'new age' of UK media coverage, in which women's sport has experienced a significantly increased and more positive media profile. We draw on online survey responses from 1950 men football fans of different age groups from across the UK. Our methodological approach used techniques emerging out of the principles …
Perhaps She Only Had a Banana Available to Throw”: Habitus, Racial Prejudice, and Whiteness on Australian Football League Message Boards
This article presents the findings of 2,415 posts collected from two prominent Australian Football League message boards that responded to a racist incident involving a banana being thrown at Adelaide Crows player, Eddie Betts, in August 2016. It adopts Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to examine the online practice of fans for evidence of racist discourse and the extent to which this was supported or contested by fellow fans. The overall findings a…
A little less conversation’: An exploration of soccer fan attitudes towards ‘the knee’ protest and the anti-racism message
Taking the knee has become an enduring feature of many sports since 2020: it is a powerful social and political gesture signalling a resistance against racism, not only in sports but in all forms. The research sampled 1001 sports fans, inviting them to share their beliefs, experiences and perspectives on racism in football. In particular, they were asked whether the knee should remain an expression of the sport’s fight against racism. While 34.8%…
Nothing Will Be the Same Again After the Stade de France Attack: Reflections of Association Football Fans on Terrorism, Security and Surveillance
Following the attempted terrorist attack at the friendly match between France and Germany at the Stade de France on November 13, 2015, this article draws on the response of 1,500 association football fans to the threat of terrorism in the world's most popular sport. Its primary focus was to ask fans to reflect on their own experiences of security and surveillance and what extent the attempted attack on the Stade de France will have on the managem…
Islamophobia, war and non-Muslims as victims: An analysis of online discourse on an English Defence League message board
This article analyses 845 posts across 78 threads on an English Defence League message board from 20 September 2013 to 4 October 2013 that examined how online activists construct and develop their racial prejudice. Through seeing whites as blameless victims, the posts highlighted the presence of hostility towards Islam and Muslims in a clear in-group and out-group racial binary, where racist comments were never contested or challenged. Rather, th…
Fan Reflections on Sexuality in Women's Football in the United Kingdom
This article presents the responses of 1,432 male association football fans, collected via an online survey from March 2020 to April 2020, regarding their views on sexuality in women's football in the United Kingdom. The analysis focuses on two broad themes that emerged from the data: (1) the association of women footballers with masculinity and how they subsequently transgress the traditional characteristics of femininity; and (2) a reduced stig…
Banter and the rise of LGBTQ+ awareness in football cultures: A bourdieusian approach
Using data from a 2020 survey of 2,663 football fans, this paper explores their perspectives on LGBTQ+ language at UK men's football matches. Results revealed that 95 percent of participants expressed their support for LGBTQ+ players, challenging the assumption that football fans are homophobic. Paradoxically, 78 percent acknowledged encountering language with LGBTQ+ themes when attending stadiums but interpret this in contrasting ways: 41 percen…
Fair Go? Indigenous Rugby League Players and the Racial Exclusion of the Australian National Anthem
This article explores the implications of widely publicized national anthem protests by several Indigenous rugby league players in Australia during 2019. With a goal of doing justice to these Indigenous voices (and in this case also their silence), a critical race theory framework was deployed to both listen to and interpret the reasons behind the protests. The data source was online media reports that centered on the perspectives of players and …
From passive to active: The changing relationship between supporters and football clubs
The changing relationship between football clubs and supporters has been the subject of recent debate but has received relatively limited empirical analysis based on case study research. This article draws on interviews and a questionnaire fan survey to assess the extent to which four football clubs had developed mechanisms to include ‘active’ supporters in club‐related decisions. The article then examines the strategies put in place by each club…
The media and football supporters: A changing relationship
The research presented in this article The development of ‘new’ media at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s has radically\nchanged the relationship between the media and football supporters. Firstly, a growth in\nmedia sources created a very competitive media environment and, secondly, led to greater\ninteraction between the media and its audience. Drawing on forty seven semi-structured\ninterviews with media personnel and eight hundred and twe…
Glasswing Butterflies: Gay Professional Football Players and Their Culture
Only one association football (soccer) player in history has declared his homosexuality during his professional active playing career. Before or since that player's death in 1998, no other professional footballer player has come out. The prohibitively traditional culture of association football is popularly regarded as being responsible for this. Fans habitually use homophobic epithets to abuse players. In recent years, England's governing organi…
Why aren't there more black football managers
Closed access. This article was published in the journal, Ethnic and Racial Studies [(c) Taylor & Francis] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.595556
Race, Ethnicity and Football: Persisting Debates and Emergent Issues
Daniel Burdsey (ed.), RACE, ETHNICITY AND FOOTBALL: PERSISTING DEBATES AND EMERGENT ISSUES, London: Routledge, 2011, xv + 288 pp., £85.00 (hard) It is widely acknowledged that racism in football is
Fans, homophobia and masculinities in association football: Evidence of a More Inclusive Environment
This article draws on 3,500 responses from fans and professionals involved in association football (soccer) to an anonymous online survey posted from June 2010 to October 2010 regarding their views towards gay footballers. The overall findings are that, contrary to assumptions of homophobia, there is evidence of rapidly decreasing homophobia within the culture of football fandom. The results advance inclusive masculinity theory with 93 per cent o…
Reproductive Preferences and Contraceptive Use: A Comparison of Monogamous and Polygamous Couples in Northern Malawi
There is now widespread agreement on the importance of men's role in reproductive decision-making. Several studies have argued that fertility preferences and their translation into behaviour differ between polygamous and monogamous unions. Studies investigating the dominance of men's preferences over women's preferences, in cases of couple disagreement, found mixed evidence of the effect of polygamy. However, an often cited limitation of these st…
Black and whiters’: The relative powerlessness of ‘active’ supporter organization mobility at English Premier League football clubs
This article examines the reaction by Newcastle United supporters to the resignation of Kevin Keegan as Newcastle United manager in September 2008. Unhappy at the ownership and management structure of the club following Keegan’s departure, a series of supporter-led meetings took place that led to the creation of Newcastle United Supporters’ Club and Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust. This article draws on a non-participant observation of these m…
Association Football and the Representation of Homosexuality by the Print Media: A Case Study of Anton Hysén
In March 2011, Anton Hysén (a semiprofessional footballer currently playing in the Swedish fourth division) became only the second association football (soccer) player of any professional disposition to publicly declare his homosexuality while still playing the game. This article provides a textual analysis of the print media's reaction to Hysén coming out and examines whether, in 2011, they portray more inclusive notions toward homosexuality tha…
Racism, Football Fans, and Online Message Boards: How Social Media Has Added a New Dimension to Racist Discourse in English Football
This article presents the findings of a discourse analysis carried out from November 2011 to February 2012 on two prominent association football (soccer) message boards that examined fans' views toward racism in English football. After analyzing more than 500 posts, the article reveals the racist discourse used by some supporters in their online discussions and the extent to which the posts were either supported or contested by fellow posters. Th…
Discussing homosexuality on association football fan message boards: A changing cultural context
This article presents the findings of a discourse analysis carried out on 48 association football (soccer) message boards from across the United Kingdom concerning fans' views towards the presence of gay footballers. It draws on over 3000 anonymous posts to examine whether hegemonic or more inclusive forms of masculinity existed. The overall findings are that, despite evidence of heteronormativity and some orthodox views towards homosexuality, a …
Football fans' views of racism in British football
This article analyses 2500 responses from association football (soccer) fans to an anonymous online survey conducted from November 2011 to February 2012 that examined the extent of racism in British football. Eighty-three per cent of the participants stated that racism remains culturally embedded and when exploring the reasons behind its continuation from the 1970s and 1980s, Bourdieu's concepts of field and habitus proved useful for understandin…
Football Fans' Views of Violence in British Football: Evidence of a Sanitized and Gentrified Culture
This article draws on the responses of 1,500 fans from across the United Kingdom to an online survey posted from August 2013 to November 2013 regarding their experience of football violence. Reflecting the 2013 Home Office report that indicated a continued long-term decline of football fan violence in England and Wales, 89% of fans illustrate a decrease in violent behavior from the 1980s with 56% indicating this is due to better policing, 56% att…
Bisexual Erasure in the British Print Media: Representation of Tom Daley's Coming Out
In December 2013, British Olympic diver Tom Daley announced that he had begun dating a man but was still attracted to women. In doing so he became the highest profile male athlete to disclose that he has bisexual attractions. This article provides a textual analysis of the British print media's reaction in the week after Daley's ‘coming out’ announcement and examines whether the portrayal of him is consistent with the inclusive response to gay ma…
Collective Action and Football Fandom
Screen Society
Sports Fandom in the Risk Society: Analyzing Perceptions and Experiences of Risk, Security and Terrorism at Elite Sports Events
This article focuses on the reflections of 1,015 sports fans collected via an online survey from June 2017 to September 2017 regarding their experience and perception of risk, security, and terrorism when attending an elite live sport event. Drawing on the conceptual risk society framework of Ulrich Beck, the results outline how some fans demonstrate defiance, resistance, and pragmatism towards the risk of terrorism whilst nearly one-third of fan…
The Internet as a Site of Decreasing Cultural Homophobia in Association Football: An Online Response by Fans to the Coming Out of Thomas Hitzlsperger
This article analyzes 5,128 comments from thirty-five prominent football fan online message boards located across the United Kingdom and 978 online comments in response to a Guardian newspaper article regarding the decision by former German international footballer, Thomas Hitzlsperger, to publicly come out as gay in January 2014. Adopting the theoretical framework of inclusive masculinity theory, the findings demonstrate almost universal inclusi…
Respect? An investigation into the experience of referees in association football
This article focuses on the response by 2056 football referees across all 51 County Football Associations in England, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey to an online survey conducted from 30 September 2015 to 30 November 2015 regarding their experience of officiating since the implementation of a Respect programme in 2008 by the English Football Association. In assessing the impact of the programme, whilst 54 per cent of referees felt that it h…
Sexuality, masculinity and homophobia in association football: An empirical overview of a changing cultural context
Influenced by the industrial working classes in the nineteenth century, the emergence of regulated and professional association football became a symbol of masculinity for millions of boys and men that subsequently became engrained in future generations of male fans. One particular element of this was heightened sexism and homophobia and was illustrated by the dreadful reaction by fans, the media, team mates and opposition players to the decision…
Nothing Will Be the Same Again After the Stade de France Attack: Reflections of Association Football Fans on Terrorism, Security and Surveillance
Following the attempted terrorist attack at the friendly match between France and Germany at the Stade de France on November 13, 2015, this article draws on the response of 1,500 association football fans to the threat of terrorism in the world's most popular sport. Its primary focus was to ask fans to reflect on their own experiences of security and surveillance and what extent the attempted attack on the Stade de France will have on the managem…
Islamophobia, war and non-Muslims as victims: An analysis of online discourse on an English Defence League message board
This article analyses 845 posts across 78 threads on an English Defence League message board from 20 September 2013 to 4 October 2013 that examined how online activists construct and develop their racial prejudice. Through seeing whites as blameless victims, the posts highlighted the presence of hostility towards Islam and Muslims in a clear in-group and out-group racial binary, where racist comments were never contested or challenged. Rather, th…
Perhaps She Only Had a Banana Available to Throw”: Habitus, Racial Prejudice, and Whiteness on Australian Football League Message Boards
This article presents the findings of 2,415 posts collected from two prominent Australian Football League message boards that responded to a racist incident involving a banana being thrown at Adelaide Crows player, Eddie Betts, in August 2016. It adopts Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to examine the online practice of fans for evidence of racist discourse and the extent to which this was supported or contested by fellow fans. The overall findings a…
Fair Go? Indigenous Rugby League Players and the Racial Exclusion of the Australian National Anthem
This article explores the implications of widely publicized national anthem protests by several Indigenous rugby league players in Australia during 2019. With a goal of doing justice to these Indigenous voices (and in this case also their silence), a critical race theory framework was deployed to both listen to and interpret the reasons behind the protests. The data source was online media reports that centered on the perspectives of players and …
I Do Worry That Football Will Become Over-Feminized”: Ambiguities in Fan Reflections on the Gender Order in Men’s Professional Football in the United Kingdom
This article draws on the responses of 2,347 football fans (male = 83.4%; female = 16.6%) collected via an online survey from September 2015 to January 2016 regarding the position of women (as fans, coaches, referees, journalists, board members, and administrators) in the gender order in men’s professional association football in the United Kingdom. Engaging with the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity, the authors addressed two recurr…
Political science (36 works) · Sociology (36 works) · Sports, Gender, and Society (36 works) · Law (33 works) · Football (32 works) · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts (32 works) · Gender Studies (27 works) · Media studies (25 works) · Law (24 works) · Gender Studies (20 works)