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In this article, we critically assess a common discourse of the football fan as hooligan, with the help of insights generated from a linguistic ethnography of football fan behaviour in one of their natural environments – the football stadium during a live match. Football fans have long been stereotypically understood through notions of hooliganism, with violent and aggressive behaviour frequently identified as a marker of this social group. However, researchers like Gary Armstrong have begun to problematize these discourses, claiming that only a tiny minority of football fans are in fact violent. In this article, we contribute to these efforts by drawing on insights gathered from a linguistic ethnography of football fans at an English, League 1 professional football club – Burton Albion Football Club. Researchers collected over 10 h of observational data, primarily in the form of field notes that documented all manner of fan behaviour – including songs, talk directed at players on the field, interactions amongst fans, reactions to on field events – across different sections of the stadium. The findings not only challenge the stereotypical notion of the football fan as hooligan, but they also highlight distinct subcultures being constructed within the same stadium through different behavioural tendencies and expectations regarding acceptable behaviour. These findings not only illustrate that the view of football fans as hooligans is uncritical and unsophisticated, but that our broader understanding of football fans is under theorized. Empirical insights of the kind provided by linguistic ethnographic work can help to challenge unchecked discourses about football fans that are perpetuated without a well-founded evidence base and help locate new dimensions for studying this important group of people in the wider football landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, the authors acknowledge how "hooliganism" lacks a universally agreed-upon definition and, consequently, one must exercise caution "when trying to identify national trends in football-related "public disorder" (p. 45) such as increases in violence or football-related offences. Considering that this type of football events often represents circuits of "knowledge" or "policy-transfer", this underpins why the book's findings can be valuable for those managing football crowds more internationally, as the authors suggest (p. 15). Overall, this book - and its rich material - provides an exceptional insight into the complexity of football fan cultures and, indeed, the legal, social psychological and policing-related issues that continue to surround the present-day football world in the UK and beyond. [Extracted from the article]

The English Premier League (EPL) is the highest level in the UK professional soccer system and one of the largest and most competitive professional soccer leagues in the world. This research examines factors influencing transfer fees in the most popular transfer market for EPL using data spanning ten years. By building a Nash equilibrium model, a dynamic modelling system is developed to measure the transfer fee with the ordinal least square regression, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and neural network (NN) models. The study recognises the effect of bargaining power and provides optimised strategies for clubs and players. Moreover, clubs will be able to utilise NN as the most advantageous method to determine the transfer fees. The research can serve as a comprehensive decision support system for assessing the expenditure needs corresponding to the players scouted in the transfer market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is an exploration of the nexus between hooliganism and literary fiction in Philip Winkler’s 2016 acclaimed debut novel Hool. The novel thematizes a violent form of football fandom and mixes fiction with real-life facts surrounding the professional German team Hannover 96. The novel uses football and fandom as important elements in a coming-of-age story, but it only moderately highlights the game itself, the team, its players, results, and tables. Hool is a protagonist’s search for identity and purpose in life and for whom football and hooliganism serve as temporary constants and spaces of belonging. Fandom, or rather its violent variant hooliganism, however, reveals itself to be only a transitory space of comfort that Heiko can hold on to for a limited time during his adolescence. A key undertaking of this study is the exploration of how the novel maps various spaces of combat and struggle inside and beyond the football field. Furthermore, this essay contextualizes Hool as a unique German-language novel within the current debates about the significant commercialization of football in Germany and across Europe. These trajectories have caused a surge of resistance from the common football fan, who is increasingly pushed into the role of an estranged consumer of an over-priced commodity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the cultural and historical significance of football in Germany, tracing its impact from the late 19th century to the present day. Topics include the transformative role of football in German society, its portrayal in literature and cinema, and its influence on cultural production.

Introduction: Body composition is an important predictor of performance and a key component of health and physical fitness. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to compare soccer referees of the first and second divisions and field assistant referees from Iran and to analyze associations of a body shape index (ABSI), body adiposity index (BAI), abdominal volume index (AVI), body roundness index (BRI), conicity index (ConI), and body mass index (BMI) with body fat percentage (%BF). Methods: A total of 270 male soccer referees from the first (n = 124) and second (n = 72) divisions and assistant referees (n = 74) participated in this study. Skinfold thickness (measured at the chest, biceps, triceps, subscapular, abdominal, iliac crest, and front thigh), height, weight, hip circumference, and waist circumference were assessed to evaluate waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), %BF, and also ABSI, BRI, BAI, ConI, and AVI according to the ISAK protocol. Results: The main results indicated dierences in WHR, WHtR, ABSI, BRI, AVI, ConI, and BF% with the assistant referees presenting higher values (p < 0.05). When considering the backward selection model, there were some associations with %BF in each group, specifically BMI, BAI, and ABSI in the first division; BMI, WHR, and ABSI in the second division; and BMI in the assistant referee group (all p < 0.05). Discussion: The present study did not confirm the hypothesis that the first-division referees presented better body composition-related variables than the second division or assistant referees. Instead, it showed that the assistant referees that participated in both divisions showed a tendency to higher values which suggests that the level of division is not a major factor when analyzing body composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines online expressions of rivalry and hate speech in relation to antisemitic discourses in Dutch professional men's football (soccer), with specific attention devoted to how this has developed within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyses football-related antisemitic discourses in the Dutch-speaking Twittersphere between 2018 and 2021. Assuming that during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic fan activity has moved increasingly toward the online domain, we specifically examine whether and how the past pandemic years have influenced football-related antisemitic discourses on Twitter. Tweets were scraped using the Twitter application programming interface and 4CAT (a capture and analysis Toolkit), producing a dataset of 7,917 unique posts. The authors performed thematic analysis of the Tweets and a selection of the Tweets was analyzed in depth using narrative digital discourse analysis. The findings show how these Tweets, while seemingly targeted exclusively at football opponents, contribute to wider exclusionary discourse in football and society that may have become more aggravated during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional and amateur sport throughout the world experienced an industry-wide disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial stage of the pandemic required the postponement of leagues and games, until athletic events were resumed without fans. This disruption required the sport industry to adapt and supply substitute products to engage users without the access to the primary product, live sport. In this study, we compare how a North American league (National Basketball Association) and a European league (English Premier League) adapted to these changes using social media to engage with fans. We examine changes in the volume of Tweets and engagements with official team Twitter posts. Our data contain categorical control variables accounting for different stages of the pandemic. This includes when games were canceled for health and safety reasons, when play was resumed in a bubble format, in-season periods, and offseason periods. Examining social media engagement during these periods is a unique opportunity to compare team (supply) strategies and fan reactions (demand) to a disruption, and to explore the longer-term implications such as expanded engagement after the disruption has ended or when its effects have lessened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern era of commercialized, mediated, and global football, there is a decline in the importance of the local aspect of sports fandom. Nowadays, through television broadcasts, the Internet, and especially social networks, a fan continuously follows elite football clubs from around the world, which provide an alternative to local clubs. This has created a growing trend of football fan communities known as "transnational fans"—fans of sports clubs from other countries. Contrary to traditional definitions of fandom, the transnational fans are not close to the home stadium and therefore do not take part in the ceremonial ritual of actively supporting the club from the stands. Because of this, they are not seen as part of the club's traditional fans. This means that transnational fans are forced to redefine the image of the football fan and to place special emphasis on an active community and loyalty to the team as markers of devotion. Contributing to the study of the psychology of fandom, this article discusses the characteristics of those fans' communities in Israel and seeks to present an analysis of the construction of their members' social and personal identity. To this end, an anthropological approach was adopted, which involved attending community gatherings throughout an entire gaming season and also included a series of in-depth interviews with community members. The findings of the study illustrate two main premises: the use of personal and community resources for self-determination, and the community and its place in the modern fan typology. Each theme attempts to redefine the individual's role in the social setting and present a dynamic image of football fandom as it will take shape in coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home advantage and referee bias are two sport factors that have been widely studied in the football (i.e., soccer) context. However, the mediating effect of spectators on these factors is not well understood, especially in the Turkish Super League. We examined (a) how variables of home advantage, referee bias, and spectator presence interacted to affect the outcome of past football matches; (b) how these variables have changed over time in the Turkish Super League; (c) and whether home advantage and referee bias differ in matches with spectators and ghost matches (without spectators). We analyzed regular season matches played in the Turkish Super League between the 2014-2015 and 2021-2022 seasons. We found that home teams had a significant advantage over away teams in matches with spectators (p <.001) and in ghost matches (p <.05 and p <.001), with small to medium effect sizes (d =.09 and.34, respectively). Regarding referee bias, away teams received more yellow cards and fewer penalties than home teams in matches with spectators (p <.001; d = −.10), and away teams received fewer yellow cards than home teams in ghost matches (p >.05; d =.05). There was no statistically significant difference between home and away teams on number of red cards in either type of match (p >.05). Thus, our data reveal that home teams have an edge over away teams with and without spectators, but this advantage is reduced during ghost matches (without spectators). We also revealed weak evidence of referee bias in favor of home teams, but only for some variables and only when spectators were present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Football is the world's most popular spectator sport so supporters' satisfaction and happiness (wellbeing) is of considerable interest. We examined how gaps between supporters' expectations and teams' achievements affect supporters' wellbeing, and how social identity moderates this. Addressing previous methodological limitations, we examined such gaps objectively in a meaningful real-world scenario. We conducted a quasi-experiment around the 2018 FIFA World Cup with 278 supporters and 63 control participants, collecting data before, during, and after the championship. We also examined curvilinear effects and the moderating effect of social identity using polynomial regression surface modelling. Supporters' satisfaction increased when their national team's achievements exceeded expectations, decreased when achievements failed to exceed expectations, and remained stable for a control group. Happiness was unchanged in these conditions, however. Polynomial regression indicated that expectations and achievements explained a substantial 35% of incremental variance in satisfaction, and their three-dimensional curvilinear interaction accounted for a further 6% (a considerable 41% overall). The moderating effect of social identity on this relationship also approached significance. Increases in achievements increase satisfaction, and disproportionately so for high achievements. However, satisfaction is also increased by lowering expectations, particularly for supporters identifying strongly with their teams. For supporters identifying less strongly, though, moderate expectations increase satisfaction most. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much like in a myriad of other domains of the modern society, 'security' remains a highly contentious and debated area of 'online' and 'offline' football fan cultures. Against this starting point, this article critically examines how football fans respond to and contest key developments under the aegis of 'securitization' by employing relevant examples from elite English football. By subscribing to the contention that football fandom and its activism may be traced from fanzines to online digital media, this article draws from extant literature, fanzine archival material and digital sources to provide snapshots of two important examples that represent alternative forms of public communication and discourse – namely, (i) fanzines and (ii) digital media. The article's main arguments are that (1) fans' contestations of securitization have followed similar pathways as fans' opposition to other elements of the game; (2) fans' security contestations demonstrate both elements of continuity and responsiveness to emerging issues, and lastly, (3) English football's field of security contestations, to be fully captured by scholars, should be approached in relation to both its offline and online manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the phenomenon of drug-themed chanting among Greek Ultras. We reviewed 440 chants from 11 Greek football clubs to examine the role of these chants, discussing critically the reasons that led to their genesis and their reproduction. We found multiple references to substances which are used in the lyrics either as analogies, or referring to drug use, or to a 'state of mind'. The overall low degree of drug normalization in Greece, lead the Ultras to seek spaces and time where they can freely talk about drugs without the fear of social or legal control. In addition, drug-themed chanting is a part of a self-identification process through which Greek Ultras seek recognition by the audience in or outside the stadium. That recognition can be used as a process of distinction and differentiation, and also function as a symbolic opposition 'against modern football'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aimed to develop the brand equity model of football clubs in the Iranian premier football league. We emphasized the partial role of identity distinction, attractiveness, and fan-team identification. Methodology: The research method was quantitative, correlational, and practical. The participants consisted of football fans in the Pro League of Iran, and a sample of 450 fans was selected through random sampling in virtual pages attributed to chosen clubs. The research tool was a combination of standard questionnaires. Their content validity was verified using marketing experts' comments, and the structural validity was verified using confirmatory factor analysis. According to Cronbach's alpha equal 0/82, the questionnaire's reliability was confirmed. Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) by AMOS software has been applied to use the validity of the results. Finding: The results showed that identity distinction and attractiveness significantly and positively affected fan-team identification. Fan identification also had a substantial and positive impact on brand equity. The effect of identity distinction and identity attractiveness on fan-team identification and fan-team identification on brand equity demonstrated the importance of psychological and social elements in football club branding. Originality: Trying to make the identity of Iranian football clubs attractive and different can provide the necessary ground for the unity of the fans with the clubs and facilitate the branding by improving brand equity. This research can be one of the few studies conducted in the field of sports brands in Iran by combining identity distinction, identity attractiveness, fan-team identification, and brand equity as a comprehensive model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explored a new approach to football fandom by Liverpool F.C. supporters club in Nsukka, Nigeria. Between 2019 and 2020, this group embarked on thanksgiving ceremonies to commemorate the successes of Liverpool F.C. within that period. The study adopted participant observation and oral interviews as methods of data collection. Findings show that the reason for the thanksgiving ceremonies by the group is anchored on a tenacious faith in God, who can do all things, including helping Liverpool F.C. win trophies. This finding brings to scholarly attention the much-neglected role the Christian faith plays in football fandom among young people in Nsukka, Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments tested a basic assumption of the differential arbitrarily applicable relational responding effects (DAARRE) model by examining the extent to which functional (Cfunc) and relational (Crel) properties of stimuli affect performances on the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). Experiment 1 required participants to complete IRAPs in both their native and a foreign language. Twenty-one Brazilian participants (fluent in both Portuguese and English) completed two IRAPs, one in which Portuguese-language stimuli were predominantly used and a second in which English-language stimuli were predominantly used. The IRAP trial-type containing Portuguese-language (1) labels, (2) positively valenced targets, and (3) response options produced the largest IRAP effect across all eight trial-types (four within each IRAP). Consistent with the DAARRE model, the Cfunc properties of the native language stimuli appeared to dominate over the Crel properties, relative to the foreign language stimuli. Experiment 2 sought to extend Experiment 1 using a known-groups design involving stimuli that were assumed to possess differential Cfunc properties across two groups of Brazilian soccer fans. Two groups of participants were recruited, differing in their support for specific Brazilian soccer teams. They completed a single IRAP task that included the names of the teams and their corresponding team badges. It is critical to note that responding to the IRAP trial-types did not require any explicit evaluative response in that the IRAP required participants to simply categorize team badges with team names as "true" or "false." The largest IRAP effect observed for each group was for the trial-type that presented the name and badge for that group's supported team. Both experiments provide support for the DAARRE model analysis by indicating that the Cfunc properties of stimuli are critically important when interpreting IRAP performances. A number of caveats to this conclusion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In common opinion, football fandom constitutes a male space as men are perceived to be more 'authentic' and engaged fans, more attached to the club. This article makes a contribution to the discussion on the differences between female and male fans and their modes of engagement. We aimed to answer the question of whether there are any differences between male and female supporters in: (1) self-stereotyping (agency, communion, independent self-construal, interdependent self-construal), (2) strength of the bond with the fandom and perceived personal gains from attachment to the club (identity fusion with other fans, collective action on behalf of the fan community, self-expansion) and (3) acceptance of aggressive behaviours. We applied a mixed-method approach and conducted both in-depth interviews with female football fans and quantitative analysis based on a survey among Polish football supporters. In contradiction to gender stereotypes, the results of a study conducted among 864 fans show that women saw themselves as more agentic than men did, had a stronger independent self-construal, and declared more self-development and stronger personal gains that can be achieved due to the participation in fandom culture. Moreover, gender differences in the strength of identity fusion and collective action tendency on behalf of the fandom were not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the 2014 World Cup opening ceremonies in Brazil as part of practices of neoliberal multiculturalism. While intertwined racial and class inequalities remain embedded within sports structures and Brazilian society, the FIFA ceremonies elided difference while purporting multiculturalism as a value. As the state, FIFA, and global corporations co-opted multiculturalism for nation-building narratives and for global profit, the ceremonies repackaged colonial fantasies to regulate non-white bodies and to normalize neoliberal multiculturalism. Through the marketing and consumption of culture, racial hierarchies were performed that promoted whiteness as markers of modernity and indigeneity and Blackness as tradition fixed in the past. Thus, the hegemonic Brazilian narrative of racial democracy and global multiculturalism were reinforced as unifying rather than perpetuating inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research in Sports Science is the property of Aves Yayincilik Ltd. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Bunk uses a case study analysis centered on soccer in the city of Pittsburgh to highlight the expansion and subsequent downfall of adult soccer clubs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The rise of stable professional soccer leagues in the United States is providing youth participants with more outlets for soccer competition and allowing greater social bonding opportunities for fans of these teams. One of the strongest contributions that I From Football to Soccer i provides to the field of sport sociology is a deep exploration into underresearched areas of U.S. soccer history. [Extracted from the article]

Athletic success in women's sports, in particular in women's soccer, is strongly linked to macrolevel gender equality within societies. There is also evidence that macrolevel gender equality matters for sport consumption. This study explored the role of mesolevel institutions for the popularity of women's soccer. The example of reunified Germany illustrates that macrolevel gender equality might be less important for the popularity of women's sport than mesolevel gender equality, that is, policy priorities adopted by sport associations and other actors involved in sport policymaking. The study comes with practical implications for the future popularity of women's soccer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sports public relations has long been used to promote the big game and highlight key players. Then, the coronavirus crisis halted sports, and the constant stream of public relations content fell silent. There was no game to hype, no sports moment to celebrate. This essay is about the public relations lessons learned during the pandemic. It discusses how sports public relations prior to COVID-19 often valued relational breadth over depth. As a result, sports public relations operated at a superficial level of momentary engagements sustained by creative content rather than the deeper relational connections that public relations purport. The essay then illustrates how COVID-19 cultivated opportunities for relational breadth and depth to grow between players and fans. Finally, the essay questions if we really want sports public relations to return to normal or if sports public relations professionals should incorporate these lessons into sustainable, postpandemic public relations practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has given greater importance to the role of social media in sport, making it an essential way for fans to stay "in touch" with their teams. At the same time, the pandemic triggered additional actions from sport entities with the view to prove their commitment to society in an unprecedented moment of crisis. Professional team sport organizations have indeed initiated corporate social responsibility actions to collaborate in the fight against COVID-19. To explore these actions, the authors analyzed 3,906 posts on the official Instagram profiles of professional team sport organizations of La Liga (soccer, Spain), from March 11 to May 11, 2020, classifying them as philanthropic, sponsorship, or personnel engagement actions. The role of corporate social responsibility in a time of crisis and the potential of social media as a corporate social responsibility communication channel was also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this brand community analysis, the authors utilized both the social identity approach and network theory to examine the multiple identities and patterns of interactions among members of an official soccer supporters club. Based on the Multiple In-Group Identity Framework and the brand community triad, the authors differentiated between team and supporter club identity to explore how each affects consumption behaviors. Furthermore, the authors explored the nature of fan relationships based on network principles of multiplexity and homophily as they relate to consumption and socializing ties among fan club members. They also explored the network structure of the brand community. Using both network theory and network methodologies, the authors examined how the multiple identities and many relationships within the brand community affect the consumption behaviors of fan club members. Theoretical and practical implications were considered as they relate to sport consumer behavior and sport marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence among spectators in sports is a global phenomenon posing hazards for players, match officials, and other participants. Despite its widespread prevalence, scant criminological research has investigated the matter. To fill this void, this study examines the predictive efficacy of key theoretical constructs derived from Situational Action Theory on aggressive behaviour among a sample of 384 soccer spectators in Iran. Results reveal that crime propensity, criminogenic exposure, action alternatives, and choice have direct effects on spectator engagement in violent behaviour. Furthermore, results demonstrate that crime propensity and criminogenic exposure (propensity*exposure) and action alternatives and choice (action alternatives*choice) interact to increase violence among sport spectators in a manner consistent with the theory. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We utilize data from 5,010 soccer games in the top two Swiss divisions between the 2005/06 and 2018/19 seasons. In these games, a referee can share the same linguistic area with one of the teams. Using referee‐per‐season fixed effects, we find that referees issue significantly more penalties, in the form of yellow cards, to teams that are not from the referee's linguistic area. We also find some evidence, in the highest level league only, that referees issue more red cards to teams that are not from their linguistic area and that away teams achieve fewer points when home teams share the same linguistic area with the referee. Our analyses suggest that referees' bias is likely to be subconscious and reflexive rather than being a deliberate act of discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Football stadiums are one of the places where nationalistic views are presented. This is done by means of displays held by organised supporters – ultras. This study aims to examine (1) to what extent the postulates of performative national ideology presented by ultras in Polish stadiums are shared by fans of Polish football clubs; and (2) whether they translate into corresponding attitudes at the individual level. The study is based on a survey conducted on a sample representative for Polish citizens (N = 4030) from which football fans were extracted (N = 643). The results show that being a fan of a Polish football club accounts for significantly higher scores on postulates referring to ethnic and racial criteria of national identity, belief in permanent struggle of nations, small nation type of collective memory and glorification of past war heroes. They also indicate that a higher level of acceptance of these postulates by fans predicts higher levels of prejudice against minorities and other nations, and higher levels of national pride. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the knee has become an enduring feature of many sports since 2020: it is a powerful social and political gesture signalling a resistance against racism, not only in sports but in all forms. The research sampled 1001 sports fans, inviting them to share their beliefs, experiences and perspectives on racism in football. In particular, they were asked whether the knee should remain an expression of the sport's fight against racism. While 34.8% believed it was a worthwhile gesture and should remain, 65.2% opposed its continuance. The reasons are varied but shared a basic assumption: that the gesture has replaced the actual fight against racism. In other words, football has effectively done little to combat racism and instead offers a symbolic ritual of opposition. This finding contrasts with popular understandings of aversion to the knee, which presume it is a racist reaction. The present study concludes it is quite the opposite: fans accept football's disapproval of racism, but question the efficacy of the knee in countering it. "What change has it actually made?' one fan asked rhetorically "'We need action not continuous posturing' demanded another. "A little less conversation." The authors conclude: 1. Fans do not object to the sport they feel belongs to them being used to promote good causes. 2. While objectors to the knee are not motivated by racism,racism still has a residual presence in football. 3. Fans urge football's organizing bodies to clamp down on racism with severe punishments rather than ground closures or fines. 4. Fans see the knee as window dressing, disguising football's failure effectively to challenge racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined the factors that influence fan bond creation with a football club on social media. The aim of this work is to show what football fans are guided by when deciding to observe a given club on social media and thus create bonds with it. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of information acquisition, entertainment, pass time, fanship, and social interaction on creating a bond between fan and football club in social media. The study tested six hypotheses, all supported by the results. The partial least square method of structural equation modelling is employed to test the proposed research model. The study utilizes an online survey to obtain data from 202 Polish football fans. Results showed that the best predictor of creating a bond with a club is social interaction, followed by entertainment and information acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, fan attendance at sporting events has always been considered an advantage for the home team. The level of fan attendance at soccer matches was evaluated as a decisive effect to modify the performance of the home teams in the most important soccer leagues around the world. We exploit the effects of the absence of spectators driven by COVID-19 pandemic mitigation policies. We find that the advantage of the home field, measured by the proportion of wins and also by the numbers of goals and points scored, is remarkable in many leagues. We performed comparative hypothesis tests with eight of the world's top soccer leagues, confirming a decrease in the probability of a home win, greatly affecting the matches´ outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disturbances that turn into riots are very diverse. This can happen when farmers block highways during a protest or when residents protest at the Seimas against the Government's austerity policy and tax reform, or when they protest against the Government's restrictions for people who do not have immunity to the coronavirus and who do not get tested, as well as when football fans express their dissatisfaction with the result of the match. Why are these events considered riots and not public order violations? How do riot crimes differ from other public disorder crimes? What are the characteristics of riot crime investigation? What are the challenges faced by the officers investigating these crimes? The answers to these questions are discussed in the article. Scientific literature, legal acts, and court practice were analysed to achieve the aim. To identify the problems arising in handling riot cases, police officers were interviewed. The analysis shows that the definitions of the riot and the grave violation of public order, established in Article 283 of the Criminal Code of Lithuania, is not clear and leaves the court with wide discretion on how to interpret the content. The Criminal Code should provide definitions of "public order," "gathering of people", and "grave violation of public order." The law should establish that for determining a riot, it does not matter where the riot takes place - in a public or private place. In the "gathering of people" the focus should be on the number of active violators of public order instead of the total number of people present at the riot scene. Police officers lack knowledge about the effects of riots and need riot recognition and qualification training. In practice, police officers face some challenges in identifying riot organisers, instigators and active participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why does group loyalty sometimes take the form of cooperation or peaceful competition with rival groups and, at other times, violent outgroup hostility? We approached this question using online surveys and an experimental manipulation with British soccer fans. Identity fusion (a visceral sense of "oneness" with the group) is known to motivate strong forms of pro-group action, both peaceful and violent. We identified three crucial factors that influence fused supporters' intergroup behaviours: age, gender, and exposure to out-group threat. Intergroup behaviours included ingroup altruism (e.g., giving one's time, or emotional/financial support), barrier-crossing altruism (altruistic acts toward rival fan groups), and outgroup hostility (e.g., insulting, spitting at, or physically attacking). Overall, fused fans were more hostile towards outgroups than were weakly fused fans, but they prioritised ingroup altruism over outgroup hostility, and were most likely to report high levels of barrier-crossing altruism. Older fused fans desired future outgroup hostility only under high threat conditions. A clearer understanding of the factors that modulate these different behaviours is a crucial first step in devising more effective ways of reducing intergroup hostility and, crucially, of channelling extreme forms of group alignment into peaceful forms of prosocial action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Online Journal of Recreation & Sports is the property of Online Journal of Recreation & Sports and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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This study investigates what it takes to win a soccer game in three major soccer leagues, (i) English Premier League (EPL), (ii) Spain's La Liga and (iii) Major League Soccer (MLS) at the USA. To do so, a set of supervised machine learning models were trained and used to predict the outcome of soccer games and investigate the importance of predictors (features) contributing to the outcome. A total of 91 game and team related features (for both home and away teams, and the differences between them) that cover match statistics, attempt types, card situations, pass types and squad information were taken into consideration. The best prediction performance was achieved by a random forest (RF) model with a classification accuracy of 86.31% of the combined dataset. Relative importance percentages of the game and/or team features for each league are investigated to identify the most crucial factors of the winning/losing teams. Furthermore, each league's characteristics are discussed and compared through the lenses formed by the intuitive experiment results. For instance, the home field advantage in the MLS games has been shown to be two times more important than this advantage in the La Liga and EPL games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I argue that there can be an intersection between the rise and development of sports fandom, national identity, as well as political ideology. I contend that the rise of nationalist sports fandom can be driven by the emergence of the nationalist democratic movement. With an ongoing nationalist democratic movement against a cultural dominant "other" as the context, sports fandom becomes a container for nationalism and a reactive form of resistance against the dominant "other" who endangers them. Fans who have a stronger sense of "self" national identity and more political experience in the movement would see sports fandom as a subtle means of catharsis to counter the threat. I showcase the idea using the rise of collective fandom in the Hong Kong men's national football team in recent years as an example. I will trace how the development of the democratic movement and nationalism in Hong Kong paralleled the blossoms of the Hong Kong (men's) national football team (HKNFT) fandom over the last few years, and how the HKNFT fandom was transformed gradually into a reactive form of resistance against threats to political autonomy of Hong Kong and attempts of cultural assimilation from China. Multiple sources of data, including an onsite survey, focus group interviews, individual interviews, and secondary historical works will be utilized to support my arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how Austrian football fans, in a country outside the "Big-five" leagues and (semi-)peripheral to European top football, relate to the European elite competition. Our research builds on interviews with fans of Sturm Graz and Wacker Innsbruck. These clubs represent two different fan milieus at the sidelines of the Champions League: one for which European-level competition has been accessible at qualification stages, and one club with a remarkable European history, for which these competitions are currently far out of reach. Our analysis reveals that the positioning of the Austrian league detaches fans from the Champions League. The main division, however, is not along clubs, nor is there an overarching "Austrian" perspective of marginalization. Rather, we find a dividing line between those who affirmatively consider the Champions League a pipe dream and those who criticize its closed shop-structure and reject it as over-commercialized reality of "modern football". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several recent studies suggest that the home advantage, that is, the benefit competitors accrue from performing in familiar surroundings, was—at least temporarily—reduced in games played without spectators due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. These games played without fans during the Pandemic have been dubbed 'ghost games'. However, the majority of the research to date focus on soccer and no contributions have been provided for indoor sports, where the effect of the support of the fans might have a stronger impact than in outdoor arenas. In this paper, we try to fill this gap by investigating the effect of ghost games in basketball with a special focus on the possible reduction of the home advantage due to the absence of spectators inside the arena. In particular, we test (i) for the reduction of the home advantage in basketball, (ii) whether such reduction tends to disappear over time, (iii) if the bookmakers promptly adapt to such structural change or whether mispricing was created on the betting market. The results from a large data set covering all seasons since 2004 for the ten most popular and followed basketball leagues in Europe show, on the one hand, an overall significant reduction of the home advantage of around 5% and no evidence that suggests that this effect has been reduced at as teams became more accustomed to playing without fans; on the other hand, bookmakers appear to have anticipated such effect and priced home win in basketball matches accordingly, thus avoiding creating mispricing on betting markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a data-analysis rank-size approach to assess the features of soccer competitions and competitors. We investigate the championships rankings and the teams' final scores in the most relevant Italian league, the "Serie A", between 1930 and 2020. We use the final rankings and the teams' scores to explore the presence of rank-size regimes in the various yearly championships. Besides, we analyse the teams one by one, ranking their performance over the years and using the rank-size law's parameters to compare their performances across the tournaments. We chose to do so via the Discrete Generalised Beta Distribution, a three-parameter rank-size function. We offer a cluster analysis of the rank-size law parameters based on a k-means algorithm to provide additional insights and capture similarities and deviations among championships and teams. Concluding, we propose a measure of competitiveness within championships and per team. The best fit results are statistically outstanding, and the cluster analysis presents two main clusters capturing teams' performances and years in which they have competed in the "Serie A". The competitiveness analysis shows that the teams at the bottom of the championships ranking have obtained decreasing scores in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies deal with the development of advanced statistical methods for predicting football match results. These predictions are then used to construct profitable betting strategies. Even if the most popular bets are based on whether one expects that a team will win, lose, or draw in the next game, nowadays a variety of other outcomes are available for betting purposes. While some of these events are binary in nature (e.g. the red cards occurrence), others can be seen as binary outcomes. In this paper we propose a simple framework, based on score-driven models, able to obtain accurate forecasts for binary outcomes in soccer matches. To show the usefulness of the proposed statistical approach, two experiments to the English Premier League and to the Italian Serie A are provided for predicting red cards occurrence, Under/Over and Goal/No Goal events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twitter is one of the best online platforms for social interaction, introducing unique means of story-telling through tweets and enabling multiple approaches to the analysis of their content. This study was motivated by the increasing practice of incorporating Twitter into cultural studies and the research gap in Twitter-based cultural studies between emerging nations. This research aims to examine the emotional and sentimental cultural traits of Arabic and Hispanic viewers of a specific football match, as shown through their tweets, regardless of their distinct languages, to determine whether cultural diversity can be noticed in online interaction. Hundreds of tweets from both communities were translated into English as an intermediate language and then evaluated and contrasted using machine learning (ML) models. According to the research, Arabs are more collectivistic (as opposed to individualistic) and, as a result, exhibit less emotional arousal than Hispanics, which was partially supported by the collected Twitter data. This demonstrates how Twitter could play a key part in cultural research, and, therefore, this study contributes to cross-national comparative cultural research. We demonstrate that our method can also be used to evaluate the quality of machine translation based on how effectively it captures the emotions and sentiments of original languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of transnational fans to the globalisation of European football, there have not been many studies that aim to understand why they support specific overseas clubs. On the basis of qualitative interviews with transnational fans in Hong Kong and supplemented by findings from an online fan survey, I argue that most of them lack genuine choices when choosing their favourite overseas clubs. Even when all English Premier League matches are shown live in Hong Kong and with information about many European clubs available on the Internet, transnational fans tend to support teams that they were familiar with when they were still young, and clubs that star players play for. Such clubs are usually the richest ones that can help them achieve success on the pitch. Also, family members and peers can be influential to the origin of football fandom, but there is little pressure to support the same overseas club as their family members or peers. The choices of transnational fans based in Hong Kong should also be understood by taking the historical context of the city into account. Such findings suggest that globalisation has freed Hong Kong football fans from geographical constraints, but the individualisation thesis in the late modern era needs to be qualified since the wealth of European clubs and fans' immediate social context do often have important impacts on their decision to support an overseas club. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]