TY - JOUR
T1 - 'Surf's up!'
T2 - A call to take english soccer fan interactions on the internet more seriously
AU - Gibbons, Tom
AU - Dixon, Kevin
N1 - Subject to an 18 month embargo, author can archive post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing).
PY - 2010/9/14
Y1 - 2010/9/14
N2 - Soccer fandom practices in England have been significantly impacted by globalization. The creation of the Premier League in 1992, and the way in which satellite television company BSkyB dominated coverage of this, together with other developments, have led to changes in how fans consume top-level English soccer. Whilst such global transformations are well documented in the sociology of soccer literature, the implications of the rise of the most advanced global form of communication - the Internet - on the practices of fans of English soccer clubs, have not been fully taken into account by academics. As such, the significance of the Internet as a site for fans to interact remains under-investigated. This article argues that online interactions between fans of English clubs need to be taken more seriously by academics if they are to more fully understand how soccer contributes to the maintenance of social identities in contemporary England.
AB - Soccer fandom practices in England have been significantly impacted by globalization. The creation of the Premier League in 1992, and the way in which satellite television company BSkyB dominated coverage of this, together with other developments, have led to changes in how fans consume top-level English soccer. Whilst such global transformations are well documented in the sociology of soccer literature, the implications of the rise of the most advanced global form of communication - the Internet - on the practices of fans of English soccer clubs, have not been fully taken into account by academics. As such, the significance of the Internet as a site for fans to interact remains under-investigated. This article argues that online interactions between fans of English clubs need to be taken more seriously by academics if they are to more fully understand how soccer contributes to the maintenance of social identities in contemporary England.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77956399703&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14660970.2010.497359
DO - 10.1080/14660970.2010.497359
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77956399703
SN - 1466-0970
VL - 11
SP - 599
EP - 613
JO - Soccer and Society
JF - Soccer and Society
IS - 5
ER -