Football fan-dom, part 3

The sixth question in my survey was open-threaded. It asked readers: Do you have some other observations about the phenomenon of mass following of soccer and other team sports?

It was interesting to see how their spontaneous thoughts fell roughly into 3 categories: commercialisation, the excesses of group dynamics, and the choice of team to support.

 
Commercialisation

A number of readers wrote about the degree of commercialisation that football has seen. A guy wrote, "As in all discernable social patterns, this one gets infiltrated by crass commercialism. Condoms by Durex for British soccer fans? Underwear with national emblems? Sheesh!"

It's a view supported by another writer, Dante.

Another aspect of commercialisation is the use of celebrity players for their public relations. But the result may be, as an anonymous reader commented, "Every sport has its stars which exhibit skills which aren't too fantastic but are hot because they look good."

Between the two trends, a female reader said, "at the end of the day though, I wonder whether it's all about money."

Indeed, it is hard to imagine any sports passion reaching the heights that they do without money and an organised campaign to win mass popularity. In any case, most will say it's unavoidable. The money is there and the demand is there too, whether you call that a demand for identity, entertainment, or whatever you make of mass sports following. If the result is benign and people are happier for it, why not? 

But is it benign?

 
The excesses of group dynamics

Timebomb thought not. "The world is dumbing ourselves down," he said. "We treat soccer players like Ronaldino and David Beckham like heroes just because they can kick a ball well.  The real heroes of the world are those who have contributed something to society, not people who simply entertain."

Orangeboy wrote: "If sports can be likened to a religion, then sports can be an opiate of the people too."

In the same vein, another writer said, "spectator sport is a subtle form of indoctrination." It teaches people, he added, to respect rules and regulations and casts out those who refuse to abide by them. "Just the sort to .... turn out obedient and law-abiding citizens."

Another wrote that the mass following of sports is a "legitimised expression of nationalism as well as codified form of masculinity." 

While on the subject of masculinity, I should bring in what another reader wrote: "Sports are often not as physical as commonly perceived. More importantly, a range of sports seem to me to propagate a certain value system/ideology/ethic: 'team spirit,' the discourse of the 'fit' body, manliness, etc. These have become so naturalized that their hegemonic mechanisms are largely ignored."

All these writers thus saw the culture of popularised sports and mass following as deeply regimenting. But on the other hand, Kenneth remarked, "people get carried away... because they want to be".

Moreover, as, KiWeTo pointed out, the alternatives could be worse. Sports can channel nationalistic urges in non-destructive ways. It has been a "replacement for war in Europe," he noted. "On that point alone, it justifies its existence."

The World Cup may be "the one time where you're allowed to be nationalistic without looking sort of Third Reich," said Mezzo. "Reading the antics of the English press is almost as much fun as the game itself." 

The English are equally known for their football hooliganism, a concern at every international tournament. Chrisloup's comment made the connection between the nationalism fanned by mass following (and press antics) and bad behaviour: "hooliganism is just a matter of degree."

Likewise, kingfubunny wrote: "It's just amazing how everything becomes some inspirational load of sportsmanship overcoming all odds *cue inspirational music* when there's all that hooliganism going on underneath." 

 
Choice of team to support

Johnny B wondered how Singaporeans chose which Premier League or World Cup team to support "since none of us Singaporeans have any locality attachment to any of the teams."

Others have obviously looked at our fans' behaviour too. One writer came to the conclusion that "Singaporeans tend to support 'obvious' winners... big names ... famous teams."

A young woman thought this somewhat shallow. "Real fans support the same team through thick and thin," she said. "The rest just support the winners."

© Yawning Bread 

Footnotes

1. The appendix contains verbatim replies to
   Question 6

Addenda

None