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The Decline of Nationalism among Football Fans
Article  in  Television & New Media · November 2014
DOI: 10.1177/1527476414541968
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Ilan Tamir
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Television & New Media
2014, Vol. 15(8) 741­–745
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DOI: 10.1177/1527476414541968
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Article
The Decline of Nationalism
among Football Fans
Ilan Tamir1
Abstract
Throughout the history of the nation-state, political leaders have used sport as a means
of promoting individual and national agendas. Over the last few years, their hold over
sport appears to have weakened. In an era of commercialization, individualism, and
globalization, many sport fans have access to matches from all over the world at all
hours of the day. This commentary argues that while the broadcasting of international
football tournaments remains highly profitable for national television networks, their
close relationship with national political agendas will continue to weaken.
Keywords
sport, nationalism, globalization, media, social networks
Research on sport and nationalism over the last few decades has described how sport
plays an active role in instilling nationalism in forming citizens’sense of their national
identity. Many studies have also emphasized the role of national media in influencing
the nationalist sentiments of sports fans (Ytterstad 2012). This research illustrated how
nation-states appropriated sporting events, the achievements of its local and national
teams, and appointed their own athletes as “ambassadors” who effectively work on
their behalf to represent their nation in the international arena. In turn, researchers
have considered sport fandom as a civil religion in which the rituals activate nationalism
(Butterworth 2008).
To this second point, this short commentary discusses the decline in nationalism
among football fans in recent years and the root causes of this shift. National football
teams nowadays receive less enthusiastic support from their fans, and at times, even
rejection. Globalization and the rise of social networks, along with economic and
1Ariel University, Israel
Corresponding Author:
Ilan Tamir, School of Communications, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel.
Email: ilantamir125@gmail.com
541968TVNXXX10.1177/1527476414541968Television & New MediaTamir
research-article2014
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742	 Television & New Media 15(8)
individual agendas, have all been steadily chipping away at nationalism’s hegemony
over sport.
Sport and Nationalism
Sport’s role in creating national identity and sentiment is well documented in scholarly
research. Anderson’s (1991) exploration of national discourse and the impact it has
had on one’s consciousness and imagination offered insight for the first time into how
sport in all its forms boosts national spirit (Hargreaves 2000). Moreover, with its dominant
media presence and ever-surging popularity, modern-day sport as whole has
become the primary, unifying, nationalist framework, carefully designed to rally the
masses and generate national sentiment (Hobsbawm 1990; Poulton 2004; Topic and
Coakley 2010).
The power of sporting events lies in the fact that for fans, sport teams stand for
something beyond the game itself. Aligning oneself with a sport team is undoubtedly
one of the more public declarations one can make about one’s own identity, seeing as
sport teams are often identified with certain political ideologies and economic realities
(Polley 2004). Within a national context, one might even argue that contemporary
sport is directly tied to the geopolitical ideology of nationalism. The notion that
national sport teams confront other political entities automatically implies that the
nation would band together around the flag; for all the individual rewards and acclaim
their positions entitle them to, these athletes are first and foremost seen as national
icons (Hobsbawm 1990).
Politicians, who recognize the power and impact of sport and its athletes on the
people, have been keen on generating national myths via sport as a means of glorifying
the state and its leaders, while also boosting national identity and sentiment in the
process (Bairner 2001). Some twentieth-century fascist leaders even went as far as to
interfere with the direct outcome of football matches (in particular), in a bid to promote
their own political agendas (Karush 2003; Large 2007; Martin 2004; Murray
2003; Rein 1998).
Sporting events promote a sense of social education. Their media coverage educates
many football fans worldwide about the very existence of countries, their symbols,
their national flags, and their historical events through (Holsti 1995; Rowe 1995).
The tiny South American Republic of Suriname, for example, gained worldwide recognition
as football stars on the Dutch national team (Leeds and Leeds 2009). The
historic tensions between Germany and its neighbors, the war between Britain and
Argentina over the Falklands, and the Serbo-Croatian tensions prior to the collapse of
Yugoslavia are but a few examples of major historical events that people learned about
through media coverage of football (Kuper 2003).
Indeed, sport media plays a pivotal role in boosting national sentiment among football
fans. Television’s meteoric household infiltration rate was most influential in raising
people’s interest in football, regardless of class. In Israel for example, the media
had an important role in encouraging national spirit through sports. The soccer matches
between Israel and the USSR in the summer of 1956 and their media coverage have
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Tamir	 743
become a part of the national pantheon (Harif 2009). Football’s high-profile international
competitions have become the highest rated telecasts worldwide. To illustrate
the tremendous impact national football teams have on the lives of football fans, look
no further than the streets themselves in the aftermath of the telecast of a national team
match that has ended in victory, as tens of thousands of fans take to the streets in frenzied
celebration (Kuper 2012, 138).
Winds of Change
In a popular article on sport, Kuper (2012, 140–141) describes how “more and more fans
watch tournaments with transnational loyalties instead of the old single-minded nationalism.”
Nationalism’s decline in sport fandom can be explained by three different but
intertwined factors with media: globalization, commercialization, and regionalism.
Globalization
Globalization has significantly weakened the ties between nationalism and football as
evidenced by the international sporting organizations, the frequent emigration of footballers
for better contracts, and the worldwide adoption of Western football rules
(Galily 2009). These changes have been broadcast through global media, which have
aimed to attract more international audiences to the European Champions League as
well as regional tournaments around the world. This has disrupted the timing of televised
football European matches to the earlier hours of the afternoon to maximize East
Asian viewership. With so much content readily and steadily available, fans have
begun to develop a sense of loyalty to football clubs competing in foreign leagues.
Commercialization
The 1995 “Bosman Ruling” banned restrictions on foreign-born soccer players within
national leagues in the EU and allowed players in the EU to change clubs without paying
a transfer fee. As a result, more foreign-born footballers have been signed by
domestic teams in the EU, and sports clubs have severed local ties to become metanational
brands (Ben-Porat 2010). A team’s commercial identity has become a much
higher priority than its national one. Nike CEO Phil Knight even admitted that when
his native USA was playing Brazil during the World Cup, he was actually rooting for
a Brazil that was donning full Nike gear, over a Adidas-dressed, U.S. national team
(Galily 2009, 143).
Regionalism
National games have increasingly become the sites of interregional violence and jingoism.
One only has to look as far as the weekly league matches for Hapoel Tel Aviv
to see fans holding up banners that read “We represent Hapoel, not Israel!” Using
primarily social media, football fans in recent years have become increasingly
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744	 Television & New Media 15(8)
comfortable with expressing their support of foreign and regional football teams
alongside criticism, anger, and disdain for their own national team with its achievements
and values. Some Israeli fans have even gone as far as to wish harm onto footballers
during national team matches if they happen to play for a rival domestic football
team (Tamir 2014). In other words, the national is no longer necessarily the glue that
holds teams together, but rather it is simply the setting where domestic teams engage
in head-to-head clashes and settle old scores.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
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Author Biography
Ilan Tamir, PhD, is a mass media researcher and lecturer at Ariel University and Bar-Ilan
University, Israel. He writes for the sport section of Israel’s popular website Walla!.
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