We are the boys from the Black Country'! (Re)Imagining local, regional and spectator identities through fandom at Walsall Football Club

Bibliographic Data

ID3978136
AuthorsStefan Lawrence (0000-0002-0975-8227, Southampton Solent University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume17
Issue2
Pages282-299
Publication date2016-02-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2015.1059481
OpenAlexW2208199542
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited61

The Black Country, a region that is only loosely defined geographically, is an area located in the West Midlands of England, which its inhabitants claim holds a distinct geographical and cultural personality. However, despite the territory's perceived uniqueness, popular imaginations of England have often overlooked the Black Country's historical and socio-cultural individuality. Therefore, given those working in a number of disciplines have recognised local football spectator communities to be significant cultural arenas, through which localism is performed and remade, this article explores the role of fandom in imagining, preserving and/or contesting notions of 'Black Countryness'. Utilising semi-structured interviews, netnography and participant observation, as key methodological techniques, this study explores how local-spectator communities at Walsall Football Club (one of three professional football teams based in the Black Country) continually (re)negotiate a collective sense of local and regional identity. By adopting a critical approach, guided by Hall's notion of 'cultural identity', this research, in line with other similar studies, highlights the significant role football fandom plays in imbuing particular locales with meaning. However, more importantly, by understanding football fandom is emergent from complex, productive and interconnected cultural processes, this article is also critical of local football spectator communities and their exclusionary, as well as inclusionary, practices and customs

Aesthetics · Art · Club · Ethnography · Fandom · Football · Identity (music · Media studies · Participant observation · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law · Music History and Culture · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

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