Football Remembers’ — the Collective Memory of Football in the Spectacle of British Military Commemoration

Bibliographic Data

ID12914742
AuthorsDanny Fitzpatrick (0000-0002-7044-0103, Aston University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume16
Issue1
Pages57-79
Publication date2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17526272.2021.1930701
OpenAlexW3168384947
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited69

This article examines two major rituals of contemporary national life in the UK: association football and military commemoration. It explores the ways in which remembering is enacted and performed within UK football and how these processes are related to issues of power, agency and identity in Britain today. Employing the concepts of collective memory and spectacle, this article argues that ‘memory entrepreneurs’ have sought to embed football as ‘site of memory’ in the performance of military commemoration. It concludes that this has contributed to the transformation of military commemoration, from a ritual that is observed to a spectacle that is consumed. This paper thus contributes to emergent debates on the militarization of civilian space, the shifting nature of civil–military relations in the twenty-first century, and the role of military remembrance in the reproduction of Britishness

Agency (philosophy · Britishness · Collective memory · Football · Media studies · Militarization · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Social science · Sociology · Spectacle · Canadian Identity and History · History · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access