Page 116 - Cultural Change and Ordinary Life

Enthusing 107

sport, such as the work of Crawford (2004) discussed in Chapters 3 and 4, who
argues that:
The proliferation of mass media resources, consumer goods and the
increase in social performativity, have extended an individual’s ability to
form links with multiple fluid communities in their everyday lives. In
particular, due to the decline of many ‘traditional’ communities, such as
those based upon locality and extended family networks, other sources
of community, such as sport fan culture, offer individuals the opportun-
ity to ‘buy into’ a sense of community and ‘play out’ their roles as active
participants within these.
(Crawford 2004: 159)
It is in this light that the work of Sandvoss (2003) can be considered. This
is a book that offers a range of insights into the contemporary football experi-
ence in a number of ways. I shall focus at this point on two main strands in
Sandvoss’ argument. These concern the nature of identity and place and space
in the context of globalization.
Sandvoss (2003: 27) introduces a thesis of significant importance when
he argues that:
My hypothesis is the following. Football fans – through consumption in
a supermediated world – communicate a projection of themselves. The
main object of consumption in football fandom and hence the crucial,
if not exclusive, vehicle for this act of articulation (and projection) is
the football club, as fans as consumers of performances constitute an
audience engaged with a text.
The identification with a club becomes a significant part of the fan’s
personality. It is important (as with Crawford’s earlier argument) that this
identification does not depend on locality: ‘Fans who started following a team
for the colour of their shirts were as likely to be committed followers of a
team as those born in the vicinity of the same club. To all these fans, regard-
less of the origins of their fandom, clubs serve as spaces of self-projection’
(p. 35).
These processes are exemplified by the way in which fans use ‘we’ in
relationship to the club. For Sandvoss, therefore, these forms of fandom are
‘an extension of the self’ (p. 38). He develops this idea of the extended self
of fandom via the work of McLuhan, but offers the idea that these forms of
fandom are both projections of the self and reflections: ‘The object of fandom
is therefore a reflection of the fan. What fans are fascinated by is their own
image, an extension of themselves’ (p. 39). Fans’ bond is based on an exten-
sion of who they are. The club is a reflection, but Sandvoss argues that they do
not recognize it. As clubs change, argues Sandvoss, these changes are incorpor-
ated back into the self. So as changes affect the club or are driven by the club,
so the fans are able to bring these changes into their own personality and their
everyday lives. However, this is not necessarily a straightforward process as
the club and the world may be changing in ways that are not welcomed by
the fan. This causes tension that the fan may seek to reconcile. Moreover,
Sandvoss develops this argument in the context of our previous arguments