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

Pope, S.

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
• Electronic ISSN: 1360-7804
• 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.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1416898
• Publisher URL: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/20/2/11.html