English Football Fan Groups in the 1990s: Class, Representation and Fan Power

This article considers the nature of organized football fans in their 1990s incarnation, Independent Supporter Associations (ISAs). It addresses the role of the modernization of English football in the 1990s in the growth of ISAs, the role of class, the extent to which ISAs can be seen as a democratizing force, and how best to define them within the politics of protest. It finds little scope to explain the growth of ISAs via recourse to football's modernization, that very few ISA members have been excluded from active attendance, and that ISAs have features that reduce the applicability of concepts of democratization.