In the past three decades, English men’s football has undergone considerable structural and social change. Ongoing commitment by the footballing authorities to tackle discrimination has led to the diversification of fandom inside English stadia, including the emergence of LGBT Fan Groups throughout the country.
Dr Rory Magrath interviewed 35 gay male fans of various professional clubs for a study looking into their experiences and their sense of place in football. The study found that English football is now an overwhelmingly inclusive environment, evidenced by the growing number of LGBT fans attending matches and the decline of discriminatory chanting.
This is partly attributed to the increase in LGBT fan groups, of which there are over 40 across English professional football; among the participants were seven founders or co-founders of such groups. Most of the supporters interviewed for the study said that Fan Groups provided the chance to establish a safe community and a sense of belonging, with the potential to affect social change on English football. While it was clear that these groups had encouraged greater involvement among LGBT fans, some argued that fan groups were now redundant given the increasingly inclusive environment at stadia, and even went so far as to state that Fan Groups nowadays are actually ‘othering’ gay fans unnecessarily.
...all this and more in the 25th episode of the Football and Society podcast.
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Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.
From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.