ABSTRACT
Worldwide, sport is at the centre of public attention. International football matches are followed by huge audiences, and the most important sporting event, the Olympic Games, is followed by several billions of viewers around the globe. Not only international, but also national, regional and local competitions in popular sports fill numerous pages in newspapers and hours of airtime. Sports consumption seems to be a central part of the everyday lives of large groups of the population in many countries, and the sports news provided by the mass media are the sporting realities to which they have become habituated (e.g. Crawford 2004).
