Predatory fandom and autoimmune community – Polish football fandom in the search for a pure homeland

One of the crucial aspects of football fans' identity is their antagonistic attitude towards rivals and real or imagined enemies and threats. This article investigates Polish football fans' antagonistic way of building group identity by applying the terms 'predatory identities' and 'immunized communities' as the guiding concepts. The article is based on a content analysis of the performances that Polish football fans present during football matches. An analysis of the cultural patterns presented by fans demonstrates that football fans react to changes in the political and social situation by establishing antagonisms towards ever-new groups and ideas, through which they maintain the immunized character of their own community. The radical search for the opposition between 'us' and 'them' results in an increasingly hermetic nature of fandom. The effect of building radical opposition is the constitution of an 'autoimmune' community, which can lead to the demise or significant diminution of fan culture.