ABSTRACT
In this final chapter we return to the fans – not of the local clubs or national team – but of overseas club teams. Given the historical dual influence of Britain and Italy, the preponderance of such support lies with teams from England or Italy. In a situation in which the home game is universally acknowledged as hopeless, and local teams, while supported passionately, are dependent on the patronage and political acumen of the ‘big-men’, foreign club teams offer both quality and participation in a genuine sporting spectacle. That this spectacle is largely virtual – mass mediated, vicarious – is a product of the new international sporting ecumene (Hannerz 1996); a sporting mediascape, or sportscape to match Appadurai’s vision of the new global world.
