Football passion as a religion: the four dimensions of a sacred experience

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that football as a sacred experience is often raised, but has never led to an argued approach. Professional football (soccer) is a genuine societal phenomenon, both through the medias’ interest they cause and through the financial stakes that are related to it. It is common to read that football, through the passions it unleashes, for example in terms of tribal violence, has become a type of religion, with its believers (the fans) and its place of worship (the stadiums). Design/methodology/approach – The authors reviewed the literature, research reports and electronic documents on professional football practices to understand the religious dimension of fan passion in Europe (ritualism, collective beliefs, using of totemic objects, etc.). Findings – The paper suggests a reading grid of religions, founded on four interdependent dimensions (the Community, the Law, the Way and the Experience) and applies it to professional football by underlying its relevance in the singular context of sports show. Originality/value – Beyond well-known economic stakes, the paper clarifies the football passion from a religious perspective and identifies the main pillars of the fan conversion process according to a heteronomous logic.

Television Series Review – Sunderland ‘Til I Die

“…We did massive employment in Sunderland in the 60 s, 50 s, 40 s, 30 s with the shipyards and the pits. In the context of post-industrial hardships, sharing an experience with others in your community by supporting your team can reinforce a sense of community, creating a "tribe" that shares these sacred experiences (Fulconis and Pache, 2014). Being a diehard football fan of a particular club, such as Sunderland, creates a sense of identity (Porat, 2010).…”

Sustainability Challenges in Professional Football: The Destructive Effects of the Society of the Spectacle

“…The attachment and creation of an emotional bond between the club and the fans results in a massive consumption of licensed merchandise (Busse and Damiano, 2019). Nevertheless, this consumption is symbolic in nature, in order to mark the group's commitment to values: for some observers, it is in this respect that it is possible to say that football is a sacred and iconic experience (Derbaix and Decrop, 2011;Fulconis and Paché, 2014;McDonagh, 2017). Such an approach no longer satisfies the owners of professional football clubs, whose priority is now to maximize non-ticketing revenue in a context of making investments more profitable.…”

Football Disasters and Pilgrimage: Commemoration through Religious and Non-Religious Ritual and Materiality

“…Although most analyses of football by social scientists have treated it as a secular phenomenon, football and other sports have been seen as quasi-religious, para-religious, or even as a new religion (Miller-McLemore 2001;Fulconis and Pache 2014;Cusack 2023), while other studies have taken a narrower approach by focusing on the relationship between football and institutional religion in the UK and Western Europe (Alomes 1994;Davie 1993;Boyle 2001;Mills 2002;Henkel 2007;Lawrence 2013;Jones 2018). The role played by ethnoreligious divisions/cleavages has also been analysed through studies of football rivalry and conflict in the UK (see Finn 2000;Boyle 2001;Giulianotti and Gerrard 2001;Giulianotti 2007), and attention has been paid to the ways in which gender, religion and ethnicity shape the playing of football (van den Bogert 2018Bogert , 2021Al-Khanbashi 2022).…”