KeywordsNational identity successes were celebrated, though not as much as those by 'true Brits', whereas 'plastic Brit' 'failures' were generally relegated to the sidelines; (3) hosting the Games and showcasing the country to the watching world encouraged journalists and politicians alike to (re)interpret and attempt to make sense of modern Britain.
This article reflects upon being a female academic researcher in the hyper-masculine subculture of ‘football hooliganism’. With this subculture being a male-dominated field of study, the article argues that gender blindness has prevailed in most studies conducted by male researchers, with a failure to consider the positioning, practices and performances of the gendered self in the gendered field. Nor has this been a consideration of the rare female researcher working on the phenomenon. This article breaks this gendered silence by drawing on my own fieldwork experiences with (‘retired’) football hooligans to identify the methodological challenges specifically (re)negotiated as a female academic throughout the gendered research process and offers some strategies and field tips to future researchers faced with gendered incongruence with their informers. The key concerns for me were: first, gaining access to a hyper-masculine subculture; second, entering and developing rapport within the subculture; and third, ‘doing gendered research’ in the hyper-masculine field. Central to negotiating these challenges was a very conscious and performative presentation of self, often for self-preservation, during the research process. In practice, this sometimes required demonstrating that I had the (metaphorical) ‘balls’ in terms of my (gendered) image management. The article argues for consideration of the performativity of social research with a need for wider disclosure of the complexities and ‘messiness’ of qualitative research practices and the emotional labour required.
This is the first empirical study to explain the contested uses and meanings of ‘Yid’ in English football fan culture. A pertinent socio-political issue with important policy and legal implications, we explain the different uses of ‘Yid’, making central the cultural context in which it is used, together with the intent underpinning its usage. Focusing upon Kick It Out’s The Y-Word campaign film (which attempted to raise awareness of antisemitism in football by advocating a ‘zero tolerance’ policy approach to ‘Yid’), the complex relationship of Tottenham Hotspur with Judaism is unpacked. The origins of this complexity stem from Tottenham traditionally attracting Jewish fans due to nearby Jewish communities. As a consequence, Tottenham is perceived as a ‘Jewish’ club and their fans have suffered antisemitic abuse from opposing supporters who have disparagingly referred to them as ‘Yids’. In response, Tottenham fans have, since the 1970s, appropriated and embraced the term by identifying as the ‘Yid Army’. Critical analysis of fan forum discourse suggests that many Tottenham fans thought The Y-Word film failed to sufficiently understand or demarcate between the multiple meanings and intentions associated with use of ‘Yid’ as both an ethnic epithet and term of endearment. We call for an appreciation of the nature of language that acknowledges the fluidity and temporality of linguistic reclamation and ‘ownership’ in future policies to combat antisemitism.
This article analyses the relationships between sport, national identity and the media in the English press during the European Football Championship, EURO 96. Our objective is to highlight some of media representations that surround and underpin sport in general and (association) football in particular in the context of contemporary European politics. This is done primarily through a qualitative discourse analysis of some the English newspaper coverage of EURO 96. In examining the identity politics that were evident during the championships, we will also consider the specifically English position relative to their/its continental European neighbours. More broadly, we want to make the case that, while the concepts of `imagined communities' and `invented traditions' are of considerable help in making sense of identity politics, Elias's examination of the socio-genesis of more deeply sedimented national character and habitus codes also sheds important light on current European identity politics. As such, the article is based on a specific approach to the study of sport and national identity, derived from a process-sociological perspective.
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