Paper Presentation VI:
The Organization of Women’s Elite Football
Saturday, April 10, 14.15–16.15

Stacey Pope
UK

The Hillsborough Stadium disaster of 1989 enforced major structural changes in football in England, leading to the so-called ‘post-hooligan’ era, and producing a safer and more ‘civilised’ environment at matches, one promoted by all seater stadia (Williams, 2006). These changes coincided with the England national team reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in Italy in 1990, which contributed to more middle class interest in the sport. Debates surrounding the recent ‘gentrification’ and/or ‘feminization’ of football in England are therefore closely linked to ideas that ‘new’ football is being shaped by patterns of middle class consumption, and in some accounts the recent, growing, active female support for English football has been associated with notable class changes in the makeup of the typical football crowd.

This may have played a role in sustaining the gendered hierarchy that seems apparent in sports fan research between males as ‘traditional’ and ‘authentic’ supporters with a meaningful local identification with their sport, and females as more typically ‘new consumer’ fans with a ‘naturally’ weaker and contingent identification (e.g. King, 2002). Drawing on 51 interviews with female football fans, this research shows how many female supporters also value ‘traditional’ or ‘authentic’ ties to the sport. This is explored by examining the shifting historic experience of different generations of female football fans in the English city of Leicester.

Many respondents exhibited strong place ties and a local identification with their club, claiming considerable distinction and superiority as ‘authentic’ fans over so-called ‘glory supporters’. The local football club was also argued to be crucial for place marketing and for generating a sense of civic pride; fans felt more needed to be done to promote the city’s local sports in order to generate a more positive local and national response. Finally, Bale (1994) discusses the ‘topophilic’ attachments that typical male fans experience towards their respective home grounds, but here women fans expressed similar sentiments to the home stadium: some oppose the recent move to a new, more rationalised, stadium in 2003.

My findings reveal the cultural importance of football in the lives of generations of Leicester women. It shows how many female fans value more ‘traditional’ aspects of sports club support, and in some cases even merge aspects of this ‘traditionality’ with more ‘consumer’ driven styles of fandom.

References

• Bale, J. (1994) Landscapes of Modern Sport, Leicester: Leicester University Press.
• King, A. (2002) The End of the Terraces (see chapter 14 ‘The New Consumer Fans’) London: Leicester University Press.
• Williams, J. (2006) “Protect me from what I want’: Football Fandom, Celebrity Cultures and ‘New’ Football in England’, Soccer and Society, 7:1, pp. 96-114.