ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter I have illustrated the degree to which football fans communicate their cultural and social position through their fandom. Yet, through this articulation of social and cultural determinants and their respective Weltanschauungen, football consumption constitutes an act of public as well as political communication. Some of the above examples, such as the racist fan to whom Chelsea FC was the ‘white’ club, or those fans who saw their fandom as part of a pro-cosmopolitan stance, are cases in point. In other cases interviewees expressed positions and attitudes that in turn formed the background to political discourses within football fandom. In the following extract Emil, a public-school graduate from West London, describes how he thinks that attending games at Chelsea’s ground at Fulham Road reflects his lifestyle:
It is very close to my house and is part of that area. And I suppose in some respect the type of players that are playing there, that also reflects the cosmopolitan area.
