And Mckeown, M. (2012) a critical exploration of using football in health and welfare programs: Gender, masculinities and social relations. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. 36(4): 387-409 A
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1248-1269 Taylor, L. (2008) Middle-aged, middle-class and muted – meet today’s fan. The Guardian (Sports Section), 14th August, p5 Time to Change (2011) Imagine your goals. http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/about- us/imagine-your-goals accessed December 2011 Weed, M. (2008) Exploring the sport spectator experience: virtual football spectatorship in the pub. Soccer & Society, 9(2), 189-197 White, A. & Witty, K (2009) Men’s under-use of health services – finding alternative approaches Journal of Men’s Health 6(2), 95-97 Williams, R. Robertson, S. Hewison, A. (2009) Masculinity, 'men's health' and policy: the contradictions in public health. Critical Public Health 19(3), 475-488. i Football chants can be humorous, creative, poetic, but also nasty and offensive (Armstrong & Young, 1999). Some football chanting also exposes the murky side of football and masculinities and can connect with violent and aggressive forms of expression and action. Shouting ‘Die you bastard, die’ at injured opposition players is quite unexceptional, but the goading of Manchester United and Liverpool fans with doggerel about the Munich Air Disaster and Hillsborough tragedy respectively plumb depths of viciousness (Brick, 2000). Chanting coloured by particular expressions of sexism and homophobia are illustrated starkly by such examples as the unfortunately commonplace ‘get your tits out for the lads’ or the homophobic baiting of Brighton and Blackpool fans (both cities are known as having a visible gay community) (Pink News, 2008). ii For example, David James (a former England International goalkeeper) is a public supporter of the White Ribbon campaign (men working to end violence against women) http://www.whiteribboncampaign.co.uk iii As the heart of the Industrial Revolution, where people moved to work in large industrial cities, it has been argued that the English population tends to be particularly transitory with weak connections to place and community (Kuper and Szymanski, 2009, pp.253-4) iv With reference to the high tide of hooliganism in English football during the 1980s, Dunning et al. (1988) link achieving the social status and intra-group prestige of ‘manhood’ to participation in football violence, especially for men from lower socio-economic groups. This violent and aggressive male habitus is compounded by seeking out gender segregated work and social circles which escape any softening effect of female company. Spaaij (2008) identifies common features of hooliganism across international and local contexts, and these include expressions of hard masculinity, defence of reputation and sense of solidarity and belonging. v Burton Nelson (1994) is actually referring to American football but the argument could equally be made about any culturally dominant sport. vi This idea of ‘doing gender’ is based on various theories of the social construction of gender e.g. ethnomethodologists who argued that gender is ‘achieved’ through action and interaction and post-structuralist ideas about how gender is ‘performed’ (West and Zimmerman. 1987; and Butler. 1999). This idea has been applied to men’s expression of health and distress (e.g. Ridge et al., 2010). vii It is important to note that women can also ‘do masculinity’ (or hyper masculinity) and in some contexts, they can often ‘do it better’ than men. For example, recent research has shown how women footballers often ignore their injuries and ‘play on’, even more so than male players in order to demonstrate their competence and embody a specific form of ‘masculine culture’ within sport, especially when their physical abilities are frequently questioned. Download 5.87 Mb. Share with your friends:
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