The Role of Football in Everyday Life

Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending live events and overlooks how sport is consumed within people’s everyday lives. Recent research into the nature of football fandom has offered ethnographic accounts detailing more complex relationships between supporters and their clubs that indicate associations that go beyond match day scenarios.Forming the basis of a recent doctoral research project, this article offers a theoretical formulation of the embedded position of football as a part of the fabric of people’s everyday lives. In contrast to Robson’s work on embodied football identities, a more fluid exploration of how football culture affects individuals’ notions of self identity, belonging and interpersonal relations is offered through the theoretical ideas of Baumah, Butler and Maffesoli.