ABSTRACT
The relation between football fans and politics is a popular research topic today approached from various perspectives. Some focus on the politics of selected clubs. The others examine the political commitment of the supporters. There is also a large scholarship that focuses on analysing selected fans’ political actions (banners, slogans, chants). Nevertheless, all of them deliver the important knowledge about the politicalness of this large and specific community. This chapter discusses the social significance of research on football fans and politics. Using the example of Poland, it explains the significance of the phenomenon. It stresses that the analysis seem especially important in this very moment – during the growing political tension all over the continent (e.g. refugee crisis, the resurgence of nationalism in many countries, the rise of populism, Brexit and the crisis of the European Union). Additionally, the case of Polish football fandom shows the patterns of the reaction of the young generations in Central and Eastern Europe towards contemporary challenges.
