‘To Try and Gain an Advantage for My Team’: Homophobic and Homosexually Themed Chanting among English Football Fans

Abstract

Association football (soccer) fans are becoming increasingly liberal in their attitudes towards homosexuality. However, the continued presence of homosexually themed chanting – normally interpreted as evidence of homophobia by footballing authorities – has received little academic attention. Through 30 semi-structured interviews with 30 male football fans of various English football clubs, this article uses McCormack’s model of homosexually themed language to investigate the prevalence, triggers and interpretation of this chanting. It highlights that, despite unanimous acceptance of homosexuality, all but five participants engaged in homosexually themed chanting. This was predominantly facilitated by the nature of sporting competition and matches involving rival clubs. Alongside a variety of perceived weaknesses, fans interpreted these chants as a way of attempting to benefit one’s team. Accordingly, this research highlights a discursive gap between fans’ inclusive attitudes and their practice of chanting homosexually themed language inside football stadia.

The experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual students and staff at a Further Education college in South East England

“…Like many of the respondents in previous studies (McCormack et al ., ; Magrath, ; Sexton, ), the students and teachers in our research suggested that homosexually themed language is more complex than often expressed in academic research or popular media. The use of homosexually themed terms, such as ‘that's so gay’, can be used in a positive fashion, such as a mechanism for bonding between friends.…”

“…However, as cultural homophobia has declined, so too has the use of homosexually themed language to wound LGB people (see McCormack, ). Indeed, participants in our research (both staff and students) suggested that homosexually themed language was complex—and rarely employed with intent to wound (Magrath, ). Instead, it served two main purposes: first, as a means of friends bonding, such as the phrase ‘fag hag’ to affectionately describe a female student; or second, as a ‘cathartic expression of dissatisfaction’ (McCormack, 2012, p. 116).…”

“…Whereas most of the previous scholarship on inclusive masculinities has primarily focused on adolescent and emerging adults (cf. Dashper, 2012; Magrath, ), this research has included a variety of older demographics. Significantly, when research has focused on older demographics, there has often been found to be a cohort effect on their experiences (McCormack et al ., ).…”

A New Age for Media Coverage of Women’s Sport? An Analysis of English Media Coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup

“…It is focused upon the display of sociability and is linked to the private domain, especially marriage and childcare. Connell (2005: 54) identifies sport as the 'leading definer' of masculinity and football in the UK is particularly associated with masculinity due to its association with physical strength, skill and power (Magrath, 2017). Professional sportsmen are held as 'exemplars' of 'hegemonic masculinity' -symbols that have authority despite the fact that most males do not live up to them (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005: 846).…”

“…When women do participate in traditionally 'masculine' team sports, the media focus on performance-irrelevant aspects such as their private lives or physical looks (see Crossman et al, 2007;Kian et al, 2008). This has a number of potential consequences for the coverage of women's football -a sport which has typically been associated with masculinity (Magrath, 2017). Kian et al (2008) discuss how the exclusion and trivialization of female athletes and women's sports are major themes that consistently emerge in research.…”