ABSTRACT

Football fans and football culture represent a unique prism through which to view contemporary society and politics. Based on in-depth empirical research into football in Poland, this book examines how fans develop political identities and how those identities can influence the wider political culture.

It surveys the turbulent history of Poland in recent decades and explores the dominant right-wing ideology on the terraces, characterised by nationalism, ‘traditional’ values and anti-immigrant sentiment. As one of the first book-length studies of fandom in Eastern Europe, this book makes an important contribution to our understanding of society and politics in post-Communist states.

Politics, Ideology and Football Fandom is an important read for students and researchers studying sport, politics and identity, as well as those working in sports studies and political studies covering sociology of sport, globalisation studies, East European politics, ethnic studies, social movements studies, political history and nationalism studies.

chapter 1|9 pages

Introduction

chapter 5|14 pages

The pathological 1990s

Violence, anomie and political extremism among fans

chapter 8|39 pages

Ideology on Polish terraces

chapter 9|20 pages

Polish national team supporters

From the politicisation to the depoliticisation of fandom

chapter 10|13 pages

Conclusion

Football fans and politics in Poland: between universality and peculiarity