Beyond Cheering: Football Fandom as a Form of Human Play

Abstract

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.