Beyond Cheering

Football Fandom as a Form of Human Play

Bibliographic Data

ID3757073
AuthorsF Lebed (0000-0001-7293-3692, Kaye Academic College of Education), Elia Morgulev (0000-0002-1669-4006, Kaye Academic College of Education, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume67
Issue11
Pages1368-1381
Publication date2023-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027642221118261
OpenAlexW4293254668
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited26

Lebed formulated play as "other being," a unique state of escape from reality. If football fans are also "players" and not just spectators, then their interactions with the club are characterized by play-like behaviors. To test this premise, we delivered questionnaires to 488 respondents who identified themselves as football followers or fans. We revealed that the most emotionally involved fans ("hot") tend to playful behaviors significantly more than others, whereas less involved fans were more inclined to influence their team's "life." The obtained results shed light on additional motivations and priorities of fans, motivations that can be overlooked in literature where fans are being considered as "ordinary" customers. Consequently, this realization may assist decision-makers to address the specific groups of fans with adequately designed strategies

Advertising · Business · Club · Fandom · Football · Media studies · Political science · Premise · Sociology · Test (biology) · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports Analytics and Performance · Sports, Gender, and Society

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