Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

'It's Just Such a Class Thing': Rivalry and Class Distinction Between Female Fans of Men's Football and Rugby Union

Pope, S.

'It's Just Such a Class Thing': Rivalry and Class Distinction Between Female Fans of Men's Football and Rugby Union Thumbnail


Authors



Abstract

This article draws on 85 interviews with female fans of men's football and rugby union to explore sporting preferences and social class in one locale in Britain. Although it has been widely contended that social class is no longer a major source of people's identity and people will usually deny class identities, these findings demonstrate that sport can operate as a unique space in which people openly discuss class distinctions. The findings examine the perceived class differences between football and rugby union fans and rivalry between respective groups of supporters. There is very little work on the cross sport perceptions of sports fans so this article makes an original contribution to sociological research.

Citation

Pope, S. (2015). 'It's Just Such a Class Thing': Rivalry and Class Distinction Between Female Fans of Men's Football and Rugby Union. Sociological Research Online, 20(2), Article 11. https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3589

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 12, 2015
Publication Date May 31, 2015
Deposit Date Jan 15, 2015
Publicly Available Date May 31, 2016
Journal Sociological Research Online
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 20
Issue 2
Article Number 11
DOI https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3589
Keywords Football, Rugby union, Social class, Sports fandom, Female fans.
Publisher URL http://www.socresonline.org.uk/20/2/11.html

Files




You might also like



Downloadable Citations