Built heritage or lost nostalgia: Israeli fans and the conservation of sports venues

Levental, Orr

doi:10.1080/13537121.2020.1775938

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The professionalization and commercialization of sports emphasize the need for wins over participation. This combination of sportsmanship and competitiveness has created a conflict between values and functionality ( Levental, 2020 ). Thus, a moral dilemma arises, related to the desire and need to win against the importance of participation and following the rules of the game, or as Jones and David Howe (2005) suggest, a contest between fairness and merit ( Jones and David Howe, 2005 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morality and Values in Sports Among Young Athletes: The Role of Sport Type and Parenting Styles – A Pilot Study

et al. 2021

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Given the great importance of morality and values in modern sports, especially among young athletes, in this pilot study, we sought to broaden the exploration of the factors that may play role in these contexts, which have not been widely researched to date. Accordingly, the study tested the relationships between sport type (team or individual) and parenting styles (authoritative vs. non-authoritative), and moral decision-making in sport and sport values among 110 adolescent athletes whose age ranges from 11 to 22 (M = 16.04, SD = 2.86). The findings indicated that participants with authoritative parents, as compared to those with non-authoritative parents, are significantly less accepting of cheating in sport, while they also tend more to keep winning in proportion and hold significantly stronger moral values toward sports. Moreover, participants whose main sport is a team sport type tend to accept more cheating and gamesmanship than participants whose main sport is an individualistic sport type. While no differences were recorded between these groups in moral values, team athletes tend to value status in sport more than individual athletes, while the latter tend to value competence regarding their sport. The implications of the findings are discussed in light of no interaction between the effects of parenting styles and sport type on moral and sport values.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morality and Values in Sports Among Young Athletes: The Role of Sport Type and Parenting Styles – A Pilot Study

et al. 2021

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“…Our home can help the players even without the fans, and the fans will help even if I am not there, but when all this happens together it is different." These statements and others indicate that the fans charge the place with a symbolic and sometimes metaphysical meaning that can be found in the context of sport stadiums worldwide, including in Israel (Levental, 2020). Most interviewees related to the home stadium as the place that allows superstitions to succeed.…”

Section: Tangible Anchormentioning

confidence: 97%

Jinx, Control, and the Necessity of Adjustment: Superstitions Among Football Fans

2021

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Superstitions are behaviors human beings use to gain a sense of control over certain events in their lives. Thus, sport and its inherent uncertainty provide fertile ground for superstitious behavior. Research on this subject has focused mainly on athletes while examining the behavioral expressions, motivations, and characteristics of fans’ superstitions that have remained marginal; therefore, the present paper aims to address this lacuna by analyzing these behaviors as part of sports fandom and fans’ daily routines. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 24 Israeli football fans of local teams. Key findings illustrate two themes: time dependent acts of superstition; and place. It is argued that superstitious behavior serves fans in two ways. First, making them feel their actions influence the match outcomes and helping their favorite team beyond simply cheering in the stands. Second, reducing the level of uncertainty and subsequent stress level characteristic of being a sports fan. Furthermore, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic when fans’ access to stadiums was restricted, the results show that the fans’ absence from the stadiums led to a reduction in the quantity and frequency of their superstitious behaviors, pointing to the significance of sporting venues in fan behavior.

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“…Competitive sports have always included two important components: (a) symbolic and tangible connection to the space in which sports competitions take place; and (b) interaction with an audience (Levental, 2020). Components such as local pride, politics, and public interest were part of the early Olympic Games (Potter, 2011) and are also highly typical of modern sports at the local, national, and global levels (Vertinsky & Bale, 2004).…”

Section: Geographical Perspective On Sporting Fandommentioning

confidence: 99%

The 21st Century Globetrotters’ Fans: The Case of Israeli Transnational Football Supporters’ Communities Before and During the Pandemic

Levental

Laor

Galily

2022

American Behavioral Scientist

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In the modern era of commercialized, mediated, and global football, there is a decline in the importance of the local aspect of sports fandom. Nowadays, through television broadcasts, the Internet, and especially social networks, a fan continuously follows elite football clubs from around the world, which provide an alternative to local clubs. This has created a growing trend of football fan communities known as “transnational fans”—fans of sports clubs from other countries. Contrary to traditional definitions of fandom, the transnational fans are not close to the home stadium and therefore do not take part in the ceremonial ritual of actively supporting the club from the stands. Because of this, they are not seen as part of the club’s traditional fans. This means that transnational fans are forced to redefine the image of the football fan and to place special emphasis on an active community and loyalty to the team as markers of devotion. Contributing to the study of the psychology of fandom, this article discusses the characteristics of those fans’ communities in Israel and seeks to present an analysis of the construction of their members’ social and personal identity. To this end, an anthropological approach was adopted, which involved attending community gatherings throughout an entire gaming season and also included a series of in-depth interviews with community members. The findings of the study illustrate two main premises: the use of personal and community resources for self-determination, and the community and its place in the modern fan typology. Each theme attempts to redefine the individual’s role in the social setting and present a dynamic image of football fandom as it will take shape in coming decades.

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Built heritage or lost nostalgia: Israeli fans and the conservation of sports venues

Cited by 10 publications

References 12 publications

Morality and Values in Sports Among Young Athletes: The Role of Sport Type and Parenting Styles – A Pilot Study

Morality and Values in Sports Among Young Athletes: The Role of Sport Type and Parenting Styles – A Pilot Study

Jinx, Control, and the Necessity of Adjustment: Superstitions Among Football Fans

The 21st Century Globetrotters’ Fans: The Case of Israeli Transnational Football Supporters’ Communities Before and During the Pandemic

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