ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, the social history of football did not focus overtly on gender. This is not because of its lack of importance, but rather the central role gender and masculinity play in football need special focus, and has often been overlooked in previous histories of the game. Indeed, the history of sport is characterized by male domination (Polley, 1998), and has famously been described by Dunning (1986, p. 79) as a “male preserve,” and by Messner and Sabo (1990) as an institution created by men, for men. In England, football-at all levels of the game-has been the leading definer in embodying a dominant form of masculinity. Summar izing the professional game, Parker (2001, p. 59) described it as “a strictly gendered affair. . . . Its relational dynamics, its working practices, its commercial ventures, its promotional interests are replete with images of maleness.” This is not restricted to professional level: in their analysis of a university football team, Clayton and Humberstone (2006, p. 297) write that football “epitomizes the notion of sport as a male preserve, and basks in the philosophy of dominant masculinity,” while Epstein (1998, p. 7) goes as far to label football “as a major signifier of masculinity.” Indeed, English football’s historical prominence has shaped its position at the top of the country’s sporting hierarchy (Harris, 2009). It is statistically the most participated teamsport for both men and women at a variety of levels-professional, semi-professional, amateur and recreational-and in various guises-11-a-side, small-sided (including 5-a-side, 6-a-side) and futsal, for example. It is also the country’s most spectated sport: Roderick (2006a) argued that supporting a football team is an extreme element of some people’s lives, and also makes up a strong part of a person’s social identity. This chapter outlines the significance and structure of football throughout the twentieth century, with a specific focus on the 1980s. Here, a range of socio-political events made homosexuality increasingly visible, leading to a rise of homophobia in all Western cultures, eventually hitting an apex in 1988 (Clements & Field, 2014; Loftus, 2001). As a backlash, football-and indeed other competitive teamsports-took on renewed cultural significance
(Bullingham, Magrath & Anderson, 2014); a means of developing and emphasizing men’s masculinity in a culture of extreme hostility. This also had a significant effect on men’s expression of masculinity, with men going to great lengths to prove that they were not gay. This is what Anderson (2009) calls “homohysteria.” Indeed, playing or spectating football was seen as a way to align one’s identity with an extreme form of masculinity-either by becoming it (player), or supporting it (fan). This identity was one which rejected homosexuality, and venerated hyper-heterosexuality. As Pronger (1990, p. 22) wrote, “Combative sports are really a training ground for aggressive violent masculinity.”
