Female football consumers and fans in Denmark
Gertrud Pfister, Verena Lenneis, Svenja Mintert
Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen,
Denmark
Gertrud Pfister
University of Copenhagen
Faculty of Science, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports
Nørre Allé 51–55, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
Phone: +45 35 32 08 61
E-mail: gpfister@ifi.ku.dk
Verena Lenneis
University of Copenhagen
Faculty of Science, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports
Nørre Allé 51–55, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
E-mail: verena.lenneis@gmail.com
Svenja Mintert
University of Copenhagen
Faculty of Science, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports
Nørre Allé 51–55, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
Phone: +45 35 32 08 53
E-Mail: sm.mintert@ifi.ku.dk
Pfister, Gertrud Ursula, Lenneis, Verena, & Mintert, Svenja-Maria. (2013). Female fans of men's football - a case
study in Denmark. Routledge.
Female football consumers and fans in Denmark
Football is an invention by men for men and today the majority of players and
fans are men. There is an abundance of literature on football and fandom,
however, gender is mostly not an issue in these publications. Research about
female football supporters and fans is very limited. This is also true for Denmark,
the country, which is the focus of this article. Based on gender and socialization
theories, this contribution addresses women and their (lack of) interest in men’s
football. The main questions refer to the numbers of female supporters and their
patterns of football consumption. The sources of information are reader and user
data of mass media, results of surveys about the habits of the Danish population
and the results of an interview study with female fans. A specific focus of this
article is on the minority of female supporters who attend football games. How
do they adapt to a “man’s world” and what are their roles in this “male
environment”? The statements of interviewees revealed that female fans have to
cope with a measure of sexism, but that they can adopt the men’s perspectives in
order to be accepted as “authentic fans”. Other women reacted on men’s
domination in the football stadium by founding a women only fan group which
allows them to find their own way to be women and fans.
Keywords: word; another word; lower case except names
Football. female fans, gender, socialisation, Denmark
Introduction
Football was invented by men, and from the 19th century right up to today, the large
majority of players and consumers are boys and men. In many countries football –
men’s football – has developed into the most popular sport, which attracts large crowds
of fans and triggers a high degree of dedication to and identification with their clubs and
teams. In the last two decades football has developed into a “global cultural reference
point and a mega business involving media and corporate ownership structures”.1
Consumers and fans are an essential part of this culture and the driving force behind the
football business.
In some European countries women had already played football at the turn of the
20th
century; however, a strong and continuing women’s football movement was not
able to develop.2
Being a woman and playing (real) football were, and perhaps still are,
considered contradictions. Only after official recognition by football federations in 1970
did women’s football experience a continuous growth worldwide. In Denmark girls and
women already started to play the game in the 1960s, and in 1972 women’s football was
integrated into the Danish Football Federation.3
Currently, football is quite popular
among Danish children and adolescents, with roughly a quarter of all girls (26%) and
more than half of all boys (55%) playing the game.4
Around a quarter of young players
(under 19 years of age) registered with the Danish Football Federation are girls.5
According to information provided by UEFA, 21% of all Danish players are girls and
women. The percentages in other countries are: Germany 15%, England 5%, Italy 2%,
Greece 1%.6
In addition, Danish pupils of both genders encounter football in physical
education, which is co-educational in all schools.7
This raises the question of whether the football expertise of Danish women
transfers into football consumption and fandom. Do girls and women in Denmark
follow football, identify with clubs and join the local, national and transnational fan
communities? Further questions concern the influences of gender and socialisation as
well as the backgrounds, experiences and identities of female football consumers. Last
but not least, it must be asked if women are interested and engaged in men’s and/or in
women’s football.
Until recently female football fans have been quite invisible, at least in the
scientific discourses on football and its followers. The overwhelming majority of
studies and publications on fans focuses on men. Only in the past decade has interest in
female sports consumers increased: historians have discovered women in the stands of
hockey, cricket or football stadiums since the19th century,8
while sociologists have
explored the occurrence and meaning of women’s fandom, in particular in AngloAmerican
and German contexts.9
A number of studies have provided information on
football consumers and fans in Scandinavia.10
However, the authors have either placed a
focus explicitly on men or they have failed to provide any information about gender
ratios among their target groups.
The lack of scholarly interest in female fans is surprising, considering the high
degree of gender equality in Scandinavian countries, where women and men have – at
least on paper – equal access to leisure activities, and thus also to football and fandom.
Several studies have confirmed that playing a sport is closely intertwined with
supporting this sport as a fan;11
therefore, it might be expected that the relatively large
number of female football players is mirrored in a large crowd of female supporters.
The claim of gender equality and the popularity of the game among girls make
Denmark an interesting case study for exploring women’s interest in football and
particularly in women’s football. Supporting women’s teams would provide an
opportunity for female fans to identify with female players and same-gender
identification may create a particularly strong interest and commitment among the fans.
Various sources, e.g. newspaper reports, show clearly that only a very small
minority of football consumers is interested in women’s football and only few fans
attend women’s games. In 2012, the average number of spectators at matches in the
highest Danish women’s league 3F was 123.12
The record number of the year was 3,649
spectators at the quarter finals in the Champions League between Brøndby and Lyon.13
Precise information about the gender and age of these spectators is not available. Helle
Riis, a journalist who focuses on women’s football, wrote in an email to the first author
that 10 to 15-year-old girls, often a football team with their coach, and the families of
the players form the majority among audiences at women’s football games. In addition,
there are also some male supporters, e.g. boyfriends, but also other men with an interest
in women’s football.14
Surveys in Germany have revealed that quite a few older men
watch matches between female teams because they like the more traditional way of
playing.15
Based on this information it can be assumed that the large majority of female
football fans supports men’s teams. Therefore, this group of fans is the focus of this
article. “Life is too short for women’s football,” said a female fan in an interview with
the second author. It has to be seen whether charismatic players such as Marta, who
currently plays for the Swedish club Tyresö FF, or a “feminized” branding of the
players as in LdB Malmö can trigger interest and enthusiasm among male and female
fans.
Aims and methods
The aim of this article is to explore the participation of girls and women in football
consumption and to investigate potential reasons for their interest or disinterest. A focus
will be placed on the numbers of female consumers and fans, the forms and intensity of
their involvement, their fan identities, as well as on the reasons for and backgrounds of
their fandom.
Women with an interest in football are rather invisible, not only among the
crowds of “hardcore” fans but also in Danish research. To gain information about
women’s football-related attitudes and practices, we have used a variety of available
sources ranging from audience statistics and newspaper articles to semi-structured
interviews and the police hooligan register. This information is analysed and interpreted
against the backdrop of theoretical approaches, among others gender and socialisation
theories, as well as Bourdieu’s concept of fields and capitals. These approaches provide
an understanding of the gender-specific identification with football as well as the
opportunities and challenges, the incentives and deterrents which women meet in their
encounters with this stronghold of masculinity.
Female football consumers and fans – numbers and figures in Denmark
Little is known about the demographics of Danish football fans. An internet-based
survey of fans conducted in 2006 revealed that 9% of the respondents were female.16
The questionnaire was distributed via football and fan organisations as well as via
relevant websites. Unfortunately, the answers of the 1,775 participants were not
differentiated according to gender, so that in-depth information about female fans is not
available.
TV and website consumers
The easiest access to sports consumption is via the media, i.e. newspapers, magazines,
TV and the internet, and it can be assumed that people interested in football use all of
these opportunities to gain information about their favourite pastime. The reader and
user profiles of the media provide reliable and meaningful information about gender
proportions among sports consumers.
The two Danish newspapers with a large focus on sport are BT and Ekstra
Bladet, both of which have separate sports supplements and address their messages to
specific readers. BT’s magazine sporten names men older than 25 with a great
knowledge of and interest in sport as its target group.17
According to the reader profile,
the paper reaches this group: on weekdays 72% and on Sundays 71% of the readers are
men.18
62% of Ekstra Bladet’s 400,000 readers are men and they also get special
attention.19
The paper publishes the football magazine Tipsbladet as a section of its
Tuesday and Friday issues.20
85% of the readers of this magazine are men, 58% are
younger than 39 years and 42% watch football in the stadium. Men predominate even
more among the users of the online version of Tipsbladet: 96% of them are men. The
disinterest of women is not surprising as young men with a strong commitment to
football are the main targets of the online and the paper versions of the magazine.21
As all over the world, the most popular medium in Denmark for consuming
sport – and in particular football – is television. According to telemeter data football has
dominated TV sport in the country for decades. In 2006, 29% of sports broadcasts and
44% of sports reports on Danish television focused on football.22
It can be assumed that
the increasing numbers of sports channels and programmes in recent years have also led
to an increase in football coverage and consumption. Current data relating to TV
providers in Denmark confirm that channels focusing on sport have a relatively small
audience (compared with the large public channels such as DR1), but around twice as
many men as women tune into, for example, TV3+ or TVSport 1.23
The viewing rates of important football events provide another perspective on
media sports consumption.24
The highest TV audience in recent years was reached by
football on October 10, 2011, when Denmark defeated Portugal in the qualification
game for the World Championship in 2012. More than 1.7 million Danes (53% of the
women and 69% of the men watching TV at this time) saw the match. Another highlight
was the semi-final between Germany and Spain.25
The share of male TV consumers was
71%, but only 54% among women viewers. The match between England and Italy
reached only a 43% share of women, but a 59% share of men. These data indicate that
national identification, as an incentive to watch football, increases women’s interest in
football in particular.26
The relatively large numbers of women watching these games
may be attributed, at least in part, to TNS Gallup’s measuring instrument: viewers
register whenever they enter a room with a TV set which is turned on.27
This system
cannot measure the intensity of involvement as the people in the room may be paying
more, or less, attention to the TV programme.
Another perspective on the gender of TV sports consumers is provided by the
advertising strategies of popular sports channels, for example those owned by Viasat.
Their “business information” reveals that they target their sports programmes (which
are dominated by football) exclusively at boys and men between 15 and 50 years of
age.28
Viasat’s website onside.dk supplements the TV programmes with news and information
on numerous international football events. According to information on its homepage,
onside.dk has around 100,000 users; however, there is no indication of their gender.
Another Danish website specialising in football is BOLD.dk, founded in 1999, which
claims to be the first and largest football news provider on the web, attracting 140,000
users per week. According to a survey published on its homepage, around 95% of its
users are men. In addition, there are numerous websites on the internet with
information, talks, discussions, quizzes and games related to football. All of these sites
seem to be used only by men.
The information which is available about female football consumers and fans
presents a clear picture: men form the large majority of media sports consumers; they
predominate in particular among the users of sport-related websites, i.e. of a medium
which demands active access and cannot be consumed together with others or along
with other activities. The use of these media provides not only entertainment but also
insights and knowledge, the opportunity to exchange emotions, to be part of a fan
community and to identify with players and teams. These activities and relations are
part of the socialisation of boys and men into football fandom.
Survey data
Surveys provide additional information about the sport-related habits of the Danish
population. According to the results of a representative survey among the Danish
population conducted in 2007, adult men form the largest and girls the smallest group
among consumers of sports reports and programmes.29
Adult women, too, spend
considerably less time on media sports than men. 31% of the female but only 17% of
the male respondents claim to be uninterested in media sports, and 44% of the women
and 31% of the men follow media sports for one hour or less per week. Girls are even
less involved in media sports consumption than adult women: 42% of them are not
interested at all (compared with 25% of boys), and 42% consume sport for less than an
hour per week (compared with 35% of the boys). 83% of the “heavy users”, i.e. the
relatively small group of respondents who follow media sports for more than five hours
per week, are boys and men. Media sports consumption is closely related to sports
participation, and this is true of both genders and all age groups. According to the
statements of the respondents, individuals who are active in sports report more often
that they are interested in following sports in the media than people with an inactive
life-style.30
The most popular medium for both information and entertainment is television,
which is used for sports consumption by around 70% of the Danish population. In
contrast to most female respondents of this survey, most boys and men indicate that
they seek additional information about sports events in the internet, on the radio or in
newspapers.31
The large space devoted to football on television is in keeping with the interests
of viewers since more than 60% of the informants who watch sports on TV favour
football or handball. Related to the whole sample, 26% of adults are interested in
watching football, 18% in handball and 3% in motor sports (named as first choice). If
the second and third choices are also taken into consideration, 45% of the Danish
population likes to watch football on TV. A gender-differentiated perspective on these
data reveals that girls and women are much less interested in TV football than boys and
men. Football is the first choice for only 17% of the girls but for 48% of the boys who
watch sport on television while only 35% of the girls but 61% of the boys have at least
some interest (taking into consideration first, second and third choices).
17% of women younger than 40 and only 11% of women older than 40 are
interested in TV football broadcasts (their first choice). 37% of the younger and 33% of
the older women show at least some interest. The corresponding figures for men in the
same age groups are 43% and 39% respectively (for their first choice) and 57% and
59% respectively (for all three choices). Men also follow other sports on television in
relatively high numbers. They seem to consume TV sports as a social event with other
men whereas women watch sport primarily together with their families.32
These results and interpretations are supported by the findings of Rasmus
Macdonald,33
who analysed Danish TV audiences during the European Football
Championship in 2004 (when the Danish team lost to the Czech Republic team in the
quarter finals) and in 2008 (when the Danes did not survive the qualification round). In
2008, 55,000 men and 33,000 women watched the matches on average. In 2004, the
numbers of viewers were higher and the gender differences smaller, in particular during
the Danish team’s matches, which attracted a large audience, 45% of whom were
women. Macdonald explained the differences in the gender ratios among the viewers in
2004 and 2008 by pointing to the phenomenon of “national identification”, which drew
female audiences to television sets. His analysis of TV meter data indicates that women
are particularly interested in “important” games and not so much in “normal” football.34
This study also confirms the results obtained by Pilgaard35
on sports consumption as a
social activity and draws attention to the great importance of the social context of
watching sport. This is true of both genders but applies in particular to women.
According to Macdonald,36
in 2008 only 33% of the women but 53% of the men
watched the games alone; 52% of the women and 34% of the men watched them
together with one other person; and 15% of the women and 12% of the men watched
them in a group. Almost all the women who did not watch TV alone did it together with
one or more men whereas 35% of the men watched football together with other men.
These results indicate that not only sports consumption but also its social use are
gendered. Women do not watch football with other women; they follow the games
alone or, much more often, in the company of men, as a rule with male family members.
By contrast, men watch sport relatively often in a men-only environment. The latest
survey on the cultural habits of the Danish population, published in 2012, confirms
gender differences in TV sports consumption: 11% of men and only 2% of women give
sport highest priority in their TV consumption habits.37
These results indicate that TV
sports consumption may play a role in the fan socialisation, in particular for boys and
men, because their interest is boosted by TV programmes streamlined to cater for the
anticipated tastes of male viewers. Media sports are clearly made by men, for men and
about men.38
Particularly the commercial channels not only indulge men’s traditional
interest in sports such as football but also create new habits and tastes by setting
“exotic” sports such as American football, boxing, ultimate fighting or motor sports on
the agenda. These are sports which do not attract large female audiences, not least
because women tend to be interested in sports which they themselves play or have
played.39
However, women’s sports, e.g. ice skating, horse riding and dancing, are
clearly marginalised on Danish television.
The study on sport in the everyday lives of Danes revealed a gendered use of the
various media (besides TV). Around 60% of men over 40 but only 20% of the women
of this age group make use of newspapers to obtain information about football. Among
men under 40 the percentage was 54%, among women 20% (all three choices). Many
more boys (21%) than girls (8%) get information about football from the internet; and
the internet is also used for news about football by 35% of younger men, but only by
12% of younger women.40
According to these data men are much more inclined than
women to search actively for information on football.
Media sports consumption is an important part of men’s socialisation into
fandom; it is a way of increasing knowledge and expertise and demonstrating loyalty to
and identification with their clubs. The little interest of women in media sports may be
both the outcome of and the reason for their widespread indifference towards football.
Doing gender in the football stadium
Women – a minority among the audiences
Football fans may belong to various denominations but support their club – whenever
possible – in the stadium.41
According to the report referred to above about the cultural
habits of Danes, 32% of men and 21% of women have attended at least one sports event
live at the local/regional level and 11% of men and 5% of women at the international
level.42
There is a clear predominance of men among the audiences of sports events;
however, information about the type of events is lacking.
Although there are no “hard data” available, football experts can provide
qualified assumptions about the gender ratios among football spectators. In an interview
with the Danish newspaper Information in 2007, Birger Peiterson, one of the most
renowned experts on fans in Denmark, stated that around 10-12% of the spectators at
Danish Super League matches are women.43
Verena Lenneis44
observed several games
at the Brøndby stadium (in a suburb of Copenhagen) from the fan section. She guessed
that the percentage of female fans in her section was less than 10%. Surveys of the
audiences at UK Premier League matches confirm the predominance of men on the
stands. The “Supporters Survey 2010” found 8.5% women among the spectators.45
Another fan survey revealed that 70% of the female and 39% of the male population in
the UK is not interested in football at all and that only 5% of women and 18% of men
attended football matches in 2012.46
In Germany women seem to be more interested in
attending football matches. At some Bundesliga matches, the percentage of women
among the crowds is around 20-30%.47
Numerous and various reasons can be put forward to help explain the
underrepresentation of women in football stadiums. On the one hand, as reported above,
there is the relatively low interest of women in football in general, particularly in club
football. Women’s interest in football increases when the national team plays.48
On the
other hand, women may feel uncomfortable in an atmosphere infused by beer, violence
and testosterone. Since the atmosphere in and around the stadium is also full of
excitement, however, this may be just as attractive for female as for male fans.49
Women as members of fan groups
Men’s fan groups
Women’s commitment to their football clubs depends, among other things, on the type
and intensity of fandom. Some groups, e.g. hooligans, are men only. However, studies
on female fans, particularly in Germany, Italy and the UK, show that many women are
just as enthusiastic and devoted fans as men are, although they are only a small minority
in the fan sections and in the various fan groups.50
In Denmark the “official” fan groups of football clubs are affiliated to an
umbrella federation, DFF, which prohibits discrimination based on gender, ethnicity or
sexual orientation.51
But this does not guarantee equal gender ratios or gender equality
among their members. Among the respondents of a survey among fans carried out in the
1990s 15% were women.52
A recent analysis of websites revealed that women were
among the members of the governing boards of most official fan groups
In contrast, women have no access to the small but very visible “firms” of
casuals and hooligans although some may accompany them sporadically.53
A recent
Danish study on hooligans based on the narratives of VIP members revealed the
extreme “machismo” of these groups.54
Information from the Danish hooligan register
confirms that football violence is gendered. There isn’t a single woman among the 66
individuals who are banned from stadiums; and of the 502 potential troublemakers, only
three are women.55
In their overview of the European Ultra Scene Pilz and Wölki-Schumacher56
reported that women were a small, tolerated minority in these groups. According to
Cere,57
women play an important role among Italian Ultras, and several women-only
Ultra groups are operating in Italy. In Denmark the most important Ultra groups, the
Urban Crew supporting FC Copenhagen and Alpha supporting Brøndby, do not
accommodate female fans58
. In some other groups women are tolerated; they help to
create the tifos and they may even be able to smuggle fireworks into the stadium.59
For
women, too, being an Ultra is a form of life which demands strong commitment and a
high degree of identification with their club.60
Women are welcome in the “Roligan movement”. ‘Rolig’ is Danish for ‘calm’, and
roligans are fans who support particularly the national team with innovative actions but
without violence. They cheer, drink a lot of beer, mingle with the fans of other teams
and have fun. After a decline in adherents during the last decade, the roligans now seem
to be reviving.61
According to Birger Peitersen62
the percentage of women among
Danish roligans is around 20%.
Gender ratios and relations in the various fan groups have a clear pattern: the
number of women decreases with the level of misogyny and violence. In all groups,
female fans form a minority which has to cope with a measure of sexism but, as a rule,
these women have developed strategies not only to survive in the group but also to
enjoy football. One of these strategies is to establish women-only fan groups.
Women’s fan groups
In recent decades almost 40 women’s fan groups have been founded in Italy, where
even a national association of female football supporters exists.63
In Spain women’s
peñas create a sense of community, which “acts as a counterbalance to the exclusion
and derision previously experienced by these women”.64
In other countries, too, for
example in Germany, women-only fan clubs have emerged. Some of them try to
counteract the deprecation of male fans with provocative names such as “tits abroad” or
“hooli-geese”. Selmer and Sülzle65
interpret the choice of these names as a strategy to
ridicule the misogyny of male fans and neutralise sexism.
In Denmark only one women’s fan club exists, namely the “Pink Lions”,
supporters of FC Copenhagen.66
The club was founded in early 2012 and has 14
members. Their aim is to support “their club” and live their fandom in their own way –
watching matches together, talking about football, throwing parties and having fun.
With the choice of their name, i.e. the combination of the emblem of the FCK, the lion,
and the feminine colour pink, they make fun of themselves, demonstrate a measure of
assertiveness and challenge stereotypes about female fans. The Pink Lions regularly
attend matches and thus have a good standing in the fan community.67
Women’s fan clubs provide the opportunity to develop new forms of fan
identities and activities. They offer women enjoyment of football on their own terms
and not as “add-ons” of male partners or their family. They create a designated space
for women and make the few female fans visible in the stadium which is “normally”
defined and dominated by men. However, there is still a long way to go before gender
equality is reached in football, on the field and in the stands.
Fans – appearance, commitment and activities
‘Doing’ masculinity in the stadium
Football provides an arena where men can still be men. With their dress, appearance,
activities and, in particular, with their slogans and songs, hardcore fans signalise that
they are real men and they do all they can to demonstrate this to their friends – and even
more to their “enemies”. Whereas drinking seems to be an essential element of fandom,
fighting is particularly important for some “firms”, although most of the organised fan
groups can become involved in physical contests. Fights and masculinity are closely
linked, as some of the more than 300 Brøndby fan songs demonstrate: “…We have to
go out and show that we are men. We shall defend our pride again”.68
These fans
construct masculinities by emphasising prowess and heterosexual virility, as well as by
degrading women to sexual objects. At the same time, they “feminise” their opponents
by intruding on their territory, taking their property and bragging about their power in
songs such as: “We shag your woman, And we drink your beer, The xx boys are here.”
The exclusion of women from these groups is a logical consequence of their masculinity
constructions.69
Staging a specific form of “football masculinity” is one, stigmatising female fans
as outsiders is the other side of the same coin. Male fans do this by denying women the
“cultural ticket” to fandom and depicting them as football groupies who do not know
the rules, want to “score” the players or are only in the stadium to find a boyfriend.70
Both practices have the aim of preserving football as a male domain. Most male fans
have played football as children; many women have not (see the numbers presented
above). This may contribute to doubts about their knowledge of the sport and their
expertise, as well as their credibility and authenticity – all of which is used as an
argument for their exclusion or marginalisation in the football stadium.71
Female fans: behaviour patterns
According to an email from Malene, who is in charge of fans travelling in Danish trains,
“the women are very different and they are in the fan groups for different reasons: they
like the atmosphere and the team spirit … Some are the girlfriends of male fans, some
love football, others love the fireworks, very few will participate in fights … They wear
the same type of clothes as the men, e.g. black clothes and clothes of a specific brand.
However, women very seldom wear masks.”72
Studies undertaken in several European countries, e.g. Germany and the UK,
have revealed that in many respects female fans act and react at football matches in
similar ways to their male counterparts.73
Jones74
concluded in her study about fans in
the UK that “women sometimes downplay their gender identities to reinforce their fan
identities”.
In Denmark, too, women’s “proper” conduct in the stadium is behaviour which
is “normally” attributed to men.75
Male and female fans shout, swear, insult the referee,
join in chants and cheer passionately for their team. “Real” fans, men and women, wear
similar clothing and are decorated with the same fan paraphernalia. Women, at least
those in the fan sections, do not “beautify” themselves; high heels and miniskirts are
misplaced in the stadium. In an interview one of the fans emphasised: “When I go to
football I am not a woman”.76
A young female Brøndby fan portrayed the atmosphere in
the stadium as follows: “It is fantastic to stand there with all the people around who
share your passion. Of course, there is a difference between boys and girls, but it is not
a large difference if one is a Brøndby fan. The passion for Brøndby is the same … and
when we enter the Faxe tribune and hear people sing then it tickles in the toes”.77
The
women in the fan stands seem to experience football in a similar way to male fans.
However, female fans have to cope with gender stereotypes and ignore sexism.
The Danish women interviewed by Lenneis78
regarded sexist fan songs either as “fun”
or as an offence to “other women” – not to themselves. They join in and sing, for
instance, “get your tits out for the lads” with the argument that “this is how it is in
football. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else”. Some of the interviewees also
accepted their exclusion from hardcore fan groups with the argument that “men have to
have some space of their own”. But at the same time they did not understand why
women, e.g. the members of the Pink Lions, founded a “women-only” fan group.
The existing studies indicate that female fans adapt to the habits and tastes (in a
Bourdieuan sense) of their male comrades. Compliance with the men’s rules and norms
seems to be the only way to be accepted and to gain the respect of the fan community.79
Emphasising their fan identity also means negotiating gender roles. However, gender
differences do exist: male fans consume, for example, more alcohol than females, but
drinking beer increases the acceptance of women among the fans. Although men also
show lots of emotion during a game – for instance they cry frequently80
– it may be
easier for women to embrace each other or kiss a neighbour. Female fans participate
very seldom in violence and, as a rule, disapprove of fighting. If their group gets
involved in a brawl, women are treated as “neutrals” who may not be attacked. Some
interviewees questioned by Lenneis81
reported that their comrades protected them.
Chivalry fits in with the masculinity constructions of male fans.
Further differences between male and female fans may refer to their
identification with the players and their “gaze” on their bodies as men identify with
individuals of the same, women with individuals of the other gender.82
In addition, we
do not know whether female fans, like many men, have developed “split” loyalties83
by
supporting their “own” club, but also other famous teams such as Real Madrid or
Manchester United. Sandvoss84
interprets men’s identification with teams in other
countries as a way of expressing their imagined identities. The women interviewed by
Lenneis85
seem to devote their attention only to “their” local club.
Understanding gendered sports consumption – theoretical approaches and
potential explanations
Sports consumption is a phenomenon which has no easy and one-dimensional
explanation. It is a moot question why and how individual men and women develop the
need, motivation and more generally the “taste” for watching sport and also what
benefits they expect and actually gain – plus the fact that various gratifications may be
intertwined.86
Furthermore, it must be asked why and how interest in sports
consumption is gendered.
Gender and socialisation – theoretical approaches
Interest in football is not given to men by nature but is adopted following the “scripts”
of the existing gender order, which is embedded in cultures and societies, as well as in
individual lives.87
Gender is here understood as a social arrangement which is
constructed by means of dominant discourses, anchored in institutions, negotiated in
interactions and integrated into individuals’ identities. Drawing on Haavind,88
gender is
understood as a “binary code”, i.e. a system of differentiation which defines meanings
and positions of the genders and creates a hierarchical order. According to Silverman,89
“a cultural code is a conceptual system which is organized around key oppositions and
equations in which a term like ‘woman’ is defined in opposition to a term like ‘man’
and in which each term is aligned with a cluster of symbolic attributes”. Hirschauer90
too emphasises that gender is part of the collective knowledge and anchored in
culturally defined patterns of interpretation which structure information using a binary
code.91
He understands gender as the result of a classification which divides the
population into two categories. Bodily differences are constructed as gender signs, and
the identification of gender differences depends on the existence of already defined
dichotomous categories. Before gender differences can be identified, it has been already
decided upon to differentiate between persons with different primary sexual
characteristics and place them in two different categories. Binary oppositions, and
especially gender opposites, influence not only the way we perceive, interpret and
evaluate information but also how we react and act, how we “do gender” as gender is
not something we are or have; it is a performance, something we do. Gender is
performed according to the “scripts” or “codes” provided by social groups or society as
a whole. Men’s and women’s habits and tastes, decisions and activities in and outside
the sports arena are not “self-evident” or “natural” but dependent on the gender order
and part of doing gender.92
Sport is an excellent example of the binary coding of positions and activities
because it is one the very few social institutions with strict gender segregation and a
gender hierarchy: men and men’s sports are the norm and at the centre of attention;
women are the “other sex” and their sporting activities are not acknowledged as the
“real thing”, but as different and negligible. As demonstrated above, football and
fandom are “coded” as male and used for “doing masculinity”. In the world of football,
women are the other sex disrupting the gendered football culture. On the one hand, they
may be even “gender troublemakers” who resist the binary gender oppositions and
reshape femininities.93
On the other hand, it could be argued that they strengthen the
gender hierarchy by accepting the norms and rules of the male fans, including their
sexism. As the example of the female fan groups shows, they stage both compliance and
resistance.
Women and men adopt gendered codes and “scripts” and acquire the prevalent
discourses of their culture including knowledge, abilities and competencies, as well as
sport-related habits and tastes in lifelong socialisation processes, where socialisation is
understood as ‘active learning’ and self-training in and through cultural practices.94
Via
interactions and encounters with the socio-ecological environment (e.g. family, peers,
physical surroundings), individuals react to and “appropriate” the gendered norms, rules
and expectations, i.e. the pertinent “scripts” of their respective communities. In doing
so, they also develop conceptions and attitudes, preferences and likings, knowledge and
skills relating to body and movement cultures, which either encourage or hinder
participation in a specific activity.95
This means that individuals will adopt an interest in
football and will play or watch the game when these activities suit their aptitudes,
aspirations and tastes, and are experienced as rewarding. The labelling of “real” football
as a men’s game and the “gender play” of the male fans make it difficult for girls and
women to develop an interest in consuming football.
In a similar way to Heinemann, Bourdieu describes interest and participation in
sports as the result of the interrelations between the supply of physical activities and the
dispositions of individuals which determine their demands and tastes. “On the supply
side, there is a space of sports understood as a programme of sporting practices. (…) On
the other hand, there is, on the demand side, a space of sporting dispositions which, as a
dimension of the system of dispositions (habitus), are relationally and structurally
determined”.96
Habitus links individuals and societies, reflects the social and cultural
conditions, including the binary gender codes, and determines thoughts, perceptions and
actions, thus reproducing specific cultural practices, e.g. gendered football
consumption.97
Using Bourdieu’s perspective, fandom and football expertise can also be
understood as assets which generate cultural capital and provide advantages in striving
for social status. In addition, several studies indicate that football fandom is integrated
into everyday lives. Thus, football fandom becomes a significant component of identity;
it is stable and effective.
Gendered socialisation into fandom
Based on the theoretical approaches described above, socialisation is assumed to play a
major role in the development of fandom, as sports consumption is an issue of gendered
habitus and taste, as well as a form of capital, all of which are already appropriated in
childhood.98
Ben-Porat99
describes fandom as “a life‐long project that begins at an early
age and ends with the life”.
In numerous recollections fans, both male and female, report how their first
encounters with football took place in childhood. Studies conducted in various countries
also reveal the important role of family, friends and school in the socialisation of fans.
Children develop interest in football watching television with family members or
friends, and it is often the father or a brother who take them to the football ground.
There they are infected by “football fever” and socialised into a fan community.100
School and peers have a decisive influence in particular on the football interests
of boys, who gain recognition in their groups through their talent at football.101
Among
girls being a good football player does not seem to count so much. According to the
results of an interview study on the “careers” of football supporters conducted by
Mewett and Toffoletti,102
the largest group of their female informants had been
“infected” by football fever through family members, mostly their parents.103
As
playing and watching football is regarded as a male activity by children and adults alike,
boys have a better chance than girls of being supported in their football interest by their
environment.
Women may also adopt an interest in football through their partners or develop
an appreciation for the sport progressively, often encouraged by other people. In the
English Premier League Fan Survey 2007-2008, female fans reported that they watched
football in the stadium mostly with their partners (45%) or with friends (38%). Men, by
contrast, preferred to watch with friends (59%); only 18% of the male respondents
attended games with their partners104
.
These findings are confirmed by Farrell,105
who conducted a PhD thesis on
female basketball fans in the USA. Nearly all interviewees reported that men, i.e.
brothers, fathers, boyfriends, husbands or sons, initiated, encouraged and supported
their interest in sports consumption.
Besides the “significant others”, it is the first experience of the atmosphere in the
stadium that has a decisive influence. The interviewees questioned by Lenneis106
emphasised that attending a football match was the crucial event which transformed
them from being mere football “followers” into dedicated fans. The atmosphere, in
particular in the fan section, the actions on the field and the drama of winning or losing
seem to increase interest and create addiction. A female fan describes her feelings in a
newspaper interview as: “That’s it. I’m sold”.107
For more than a hundred years football was first exclusively and later
predominantly a men’s game; thus, it is not surprising that playing and consuming
football has always been an important part of boys’ and men’s socialisation. Today,
girls and women play football, but for most girls football is not important for the
construction of their identities and their “doing gender”. As the data on media
consumption reveal, a large number of girls are not interested in the game. Boys, by
contrast, can use football as a marker of masculinity and an opportunity for gender
display.
Coombs and Osborne 108
propose approaching fandom as a series of
performances which are “socially constructed and vary based on context and audience”,
as well as on the gender and ethnicity of the performers. Performing fandom and
watching sport in a crowd of boys and men can be used as male bonding, and it can be
assumed that the football stadium is attractive for men because this is one of the places
where bonding has an aim, makes sense and can be bodily performed. In addition, the
stadium is one of the few spaces where men can still be “real” men and demonstrate
their virility to other men.109
Thus, in many ways football consumption draws on men’s
habitus and taste and constructs women as outsiders.
Identification processes in and through football
Through numerous socialisation processes, football fans develop an intensive emotional
relationship and a high degree of identification with “their” clubs.110
The myths and
heroes of the football narratives propagated by the media and shared by the fan
communities encourage these processes. Football fans identify with their clubs, thus
getting personally and emotionally involved in the game. Sharing the excitement of a
match and the exaltation after a victory is a major attraction of watching sport.
According to sports psychologists, “individuals are driven by the need to
participate in the success of others”.111
They are “basking in reflected glory”, which
explains some of the fascination of being a fan and identifying with a club or team.
There are, however, large differences in the degree of identification, ranging
from crossing one’s fingers for one’s team to total absorption in one’s role as fan. For
some groups – according to Guilianotti’s112
taxonomy, the supporters and fans – fandom
is a way of life and a significant component of identity.113
The identification theory, though, raises questions about the degree and the
meaning of ‘identifying’. Is identification connected with imagining oneself to be one of
the players? Is identification with players the viewers’ way of compensating for their
own incapability? Fans who “bask in the glory” of others may be attempting to adopt a
vicarious life by supporting “their” players and teams from the stands. Most supporters
seem to be “partisan fans” who focus not so much on the quality of the game but on the
success of their club’s or their country’s team. They believe that their support (for
instance cheering) has an impact, which is not necessarily the case.114
They may even
imagine that they are playing with the team on the field. Allen Guttmann emphasised
the importance of “representational sport”, pointing out that athletes and teams are
believed to represent groups, institutions, races, religions or nations: “In
‘representational sport’ individual identification with the athletes and collective
membership in the community combine”.115
However, in the wake of globalisation and
worldwide communication an increasing number of fans choose to follow teams with
cult status like Manchester United or Bayern Munich, regardless of nationality or
geography. They have no problem with “split loyalties” and side with teams which meet
their tastes and represent their identities.116
Identification seems to be easy for men; but what about women? Do they, too,
imagine themselves in the roles of football players? How does a cross-gender
identification function? According to the results obtained by Hedal,117
men and women
are more interested in players or competitors of their own sex. However, his sample is
not representative. Otte118
concluded – on the basis of available studies about fans (not
only related to sport) – that men tended to identify with male icons and that women also
preferred men; only one third of the women in his material were fans of women.
Horak119
explained the relatively high percentage of female football spectators in one
Austrian city by pointing to the large number of dedicated teenage girls. Do these girls
love the game or adore the players? Is the interest in the football players a reason for
becoming a fan?
The question whether athletes are “objects of desire” for female fans is
contested; nor does research provide an unambiguous answer: “Interviews with 37
followers of the Manchester Storm indicate no significant differences in the levels of
knowledge and commitment between male and female supporters, or that the physical
attractiveness of players performs any significant role in attracting women to ice
hockey”.120
Are the ‘Puck Bunnies’ and football groupies, the adoring female fans of ice
hockey or football players, myths? Or is it not acceptable for men to become an object
of the female gaze?121
Whereas the depiction of female fans as mere groupies is not supported by
current research, investigations into the “sexual objectification of sportsmen’s bodies
[revealed] the pleasure and enjoyment experienced by many women fans when
watching and talking about ‘hot’ male athletes”.122
At the same time, the women
described the players as tough and skilful, as sportsmen admired for their abilities. They
were also aware that their interest in the men’s bodies jeopardised their own status as
“legitimate” fans and agreed that the game, the team and the club should be the focus of
their devotion. In focus-group interviews Obel123
explored rugby knowledge and player
affection among women in New Zealand and discovered that romantic fantasies about
players may be part of the pleasures of fandom. In both studies the interviewees
distanced themselves from “groupies”, who were not considered authentic fans.
However, it must be taken into account that the various groups of female fans
may have different motives and reasons for enjoying the game although they develop
specific identities in and through fandom. Lenneis124
found that her interviewees tended
to downplay femininity in the stadium and Cere125
emphasized that the football provides
a space for staging androgynous identities. In addition, girls’ and women’s attitudes to
football may undergo change. Selmer126
interprets the adoration of girls for football
stars as the potential start of a fan career: “Infatuation with a player later turned into a
love of football.” Interviews with female fans in Denmark indicate that “girls were
interested in both – in football and the players”.127
Conclusion
Not only in Denmark, but worldwide decreases the number of female football fans with
an increase in identification and involvement. This article not only provides abundant
information about the gender ratios among various categories of football supporters but
also presents theoretical approaches which contribute to an understanding of
backgrounds and reasons for the gender differences. Football plays a different role in
men’s and women’s socialisation as well as in their lives, and it provides different
opportunities for identification for both genders. Football consumption – either live or
through the mass media – is an arena for doing gender, in particular for acting out a
traditional form of hegemonic masculinity in the community of male fans which cannot
be displayed in “normal life”. However, in recent decades football has increasingly
become an entertainment which attracts men and women and which offers spaces where
female fans can create their own forms of “doing gender” at the football ground.
Notes
1
Hognestadt, ‘What is a Football Fan?’, 377.
2
See, for example, Fan and Mangan, Soccer, Women, Sexual Liberation; Magee et al., Women,
football, and Europe; Williams, A beautiful game.
3
http://www.kvindebold.dk/viewpage.php?page_id=1; see also Brus and Trangbaek, ‘Asserting
the right to play’.
4
Pilgaard, Sport og motion, 243.
5
Numbers provided by the Danish Football Federation.
6
UEFA 2009/2010, 12, quoted in Pfister, Report, 26.
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/epas/resources/texts/INF25%20Gender%20equality%20and%20elit
e%20sport.pdf
7
Annersted, ‘Physical education in Scandinavia’.
8
Lewis, ‘Our Lady Specialists’.
9
See, for example, Crawford and Gosling, ‘The Myth of the ‘Puck Bunny’; Jones, ‘Female
Fandom’; Pope, Female Fandom; Pope, ‘Like pulling down Durham Cathedral’; Pope and
Kirk, ‘The Role of Physical Education’; Toffoletti and Mewett, ‘Oh yes, he is hot’.
10
E.g. Peiterson, Dem der ikke hopper; Andersson and Carlsson, ’Football in Scandinavia’;
Hognestad, ‘What is a Football Fan?’.
On hooligans see Carsten and Havelund, Glimt af dansk fodbold fankultur; Joern, Alle Hader
Os; Joern, Homo Fanaticus; Nyrup and Carstensen, Hooligan; Radmann,
Huliganlandskapet; and the list of publications in the Scandinavian Sport Studies Forum:
http://idrottsforum.org/merom/hooligans/
11
E.g. Stollenwerk, Sport – Zuschauer – Medien; Hedal, Sport på dansk tv.
12
E.g. http://www.tipsbladet.dk/content/kvindefodbold-p%C3%A5-vej-mod-gennembruddet.
13
http://tema.3f.dk/article/20120830/FODBOLD/120829866/1772/fodboldportal&template=fo
dboldportal
14
Email from 20.4.2013.
15
Mintert and Klein, Zuschauerbefragung, 17.
16
Havelund et al., Undersøgelse af dansk supporterkultur.
17
http://berlingskemedia.dk/75854/.
18
http://berlingskemedia.dk/uploads/berlingskeFileArchiveFiles/997/ann_bem_bt_sporten_laes
erprofil.pdf.
19
http://salg.eb.dk/multimedia/archive/00902/Brugerprofil_for_eb_902204a.pdf.
20
http://mediawatch.parnas.pil.dk/artikel/tipsbladet-dropper-loessalg-udkommer-med-ekstra-
bladet.
21
http://www.tipsbladet.dk/content/tipsbladetdk.
22
Hedal, Sport på dansk tv.
23
http://tv3.dk/tv3/tv3-sport-sportsrevolution-i-dit-tv.
http://tv3.dk/business/priser-maanedsplaner.
24
DR Medieforskning (ed.). Medieudviklingen 2011. Report.
http://www.dr.dk/OmDR/Nyt_fra_DR/Nyt_fra_DR/2013/01/113540.htm. The gender
segregated numbers have been provided by Grethe Fløe Mosgaard , DR Medieforskning
GFM@dr.dk.
25
The match took place on 7.7.2010.
26
The data are provided by the DR Medieforskning.
27
http://ing.dk/artikel/106151-ugens-ekspertspoergsmaal-hvordan-opgoer-dr-sine-seertal.
28
See the business webpage of TV3
http://tv3.dk/sites/default/files/custom/business/maanedsplaner/maj_2013.pdf.
29
Pilgaard, Sport og motion, 245 ff.
30
Ibid., 249.
31
Ibid., 253.
32
Ibid., 261.
33
Macdonald, Euro 2008.
34
For Germany see Sülzle, ’Titten unterwegs‘, 54; Sülzle, Fußball, Frauen, Männlichkeiten, 29.
35
Pilgaard, Sport og motion, 261.
36
Macdonald, Euro 2008, 46.
37
Kulturministeriet, Danskernes Kulturvaner 2012, 146.
38
Caldera and Danielsson, ’About Active Men’.
39
Pilgaard, Sport og motion, 275.
40
Ibid., 267.
41
See among others Hognestadt, ‘What is a Football Fan?’.
42
Kulturministeriet, Danskernes Kulturvaner 2012, 110.
43
Von Essen, ’Pigerne fra Vestegnen’; see also Peitersen, Dem der ikke hopper; Peitersen,
’Supporter culture in Denmark’.
44
Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark.
45
http://www.football-league.co.uk/staticFiles/65/51/0,,10794~151909,00.pdf.
46
http://fansurvey.premierleague.com.
47
Fürtjes, ‚Feminisierung ‘.
48
Macdonald, Euro 2008; see also the TV meter data presented above.
49
See the interview study conducted by Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark; see also
Selmer, Watching the boys play; Sülzle, ’Fußball als Schutzraum’; Sülzle, Fußball, Frauen,
Männlichkeiten.
50
Toffoletti and Mewett, Sport and its female fans.
51
See http://www.fairfans.dk/dansk.html.
52
Damsgaard et al., Det handler ikke om at vinde.
53
According to information given by Aage Radmann (email from 20.2.2013).
54
Nyrup and Carstensen, Hooligan; Radmann, Huliganlandskapet. See also
http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-11630690:hooligans-casuals-og-ultras-i-danmark.html.
55
Email received 4.02.2013 from the National Danish Police.
56
Pilz and Wölki-Schumacher, International Conference on Ultras.
57
Cere, ‘Forever Ultras’.
58
Joern, ‘Homo Fanaticus’.
59
See, for example: http://wildtigers.dk/index.php?aid=157.
60
E.g. Cere, ‘Forever Ultras’.
61
http://www.roliganklubben.dk/.
62
Von Essen, ’Pigerne fra Vestegnen’.
63
Cere, ‘Forever Ultras’, 56.
64
Llopis Goig, ‘Female Football Supporters'.
65
Sülzle, ’Fußball als Schutzraum’; Sülzle, ’Titten unterwegs‘; Sülzle, Fußball, Frauen,
Männlichkeiten.
66
http://pinklions.dk/.
67
Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark.
68
http://brondbysange.dk/vis_sang.php?id=277.
69
Connell and Messerschmidt, ‘Hegemonic Masculinity’; Meuser, ‘Hegemoniale
Männlichkeit‘.
70
See e.g. Agerklint, S. (19.12.2009). Blog: Kvinder og fodbold [Women and football].
Retrieved from
http://www.brondbysupport.dk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=258&cati
d=44:blog&Itemid=67.
71
Coddington, One of the Lads; Gosling, ‘Girls allowed’.
72
Email from 17.02.2013.
73
E.g. Sülzle, Fußball, Frauen, Männlichkeiten, 308; Pope, Female Fandom.
74
Jones, ‘Female Fandom’, 516.
75
Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark.
76
Ibid.
77
Von Essen, ’Pigerne fra Vestegnen’.
78
Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark.
79
Jones, ‘Female Fandom’; Sülzle, Fußball, Frauen, Männlichkeiten; Lenneis, Weibliche
Fußballfans in Dänemark.
80
E.g. SIRC, Football Passions.
81
Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark.
82
E.g. Rubin, ‘The offside rule’.
83
Hognestadt, ‘Split loyalties’.
84
Sandvoss, A Game of two Halves.
85
Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark.
86
Most of the following motivations for a receptive sport engagement are named by Bette
(2004).
87
Connell, Gender; Lorber, Paradoxes of gender.
88
Haavind, ’Kjønn i forandring’.
89
Silverman, The Subject of Semiotics, 36.
90
Hirschauer, Wie sind Frauen.
91
Ibid., 242.
92
E.g. Andersen & Witham, Thinking about Women.
93
Butler, Gender Trouble.
94
E.g. Heinemann, Einführung in die Soziologie des Sports.
95
Connell, Gender; Horne et al., Understanding sport.
96
Bourdieu, ‘Program for Sociology of Sport’, 158.
97
Bourdieu, Distinction.
98
E.g. Otte, ’Fans und Sozialstruktur’.
99
Ben-Porat, ‘Not just for men’.
100
E.g. Crawford, Consuming Sport; Pope and Kirk, ‘The Role of Physical Education’;
Hognestad, ‘What is a Football Fan?’, 31.
101
E.g. Crawford, Consuming Sport, 44.
102
Mewett and Toffoletti, The strength of strong ties.
103
See also Cecamore et al., Sports Fandom, 10.
104
Ibid.
105
Farrell , Why women don’t watch.
106
Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark.
107
Von Essen, ’Pigerne fra Vestegnen’.
108
Coombs and Osborne, ‘Sports Journalists and England's Barclays Premier League’.
109
E.g. Crawford, Consuming Sport.
110
On absolute identification see, among others, Biermann, Spieltag; see also Blain et al., Sport
and National Identity; on fans see Crawford, Consuming Sport.
111
E.g. Wann, Causes and Consequences.
112
Giulianotti, ‘A Taxonomy’.
113
E.g. Sandvoss, A Game of two Halves; Ben-Porat, ‘Not just for men’.
114
See, for example, Van de Ven, ‘Supporters’.
115
Guttmann, Sports spectators, 182.
116
Sandvoss, A Game of two Halves.
117
Hedal, Motivation og tv-sport, 70.
118
Otte, ’Fans und Sozialstruktur’, 92 ff.
119
Horak, ’Männerort Stadion‘.
120
Crawford and Gosling. ‘The Myth of the ‘Puck Bunny’’.
121
E.g. Rubin, ‘The offside rule’.
122
Toffoletti and Mewett, Sport and its female fans, 111.
123
Obel, ‘Fantasy, Fun and Identity’.
124
Lenneis, Weibliche Fußballfans in Dänemark.
125
Cere, ‘Forever Ultras’.
126
Selmer, Watching the boys play, 44.
127
Von Essen, ’Pigerne fra Vestegnen’.
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