ABSTRACT
Given athletes find themselves increasingly at the intersection of politics and sport, this work explored how soccer fans perceived comments made by U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) forward Megan Rapinoe regarding her inclination to visit the White House if the team were to win the Women’s World Cup. Data drawn from a conversation that emerged on the social news website Reddit, analyzed via a grounded theory approach, revealed four major themes: discrediting, resistance, patriotism, and general support. In addition, consideration of the discourse overall suggests that fans may confront challenging identity threats when athletes advocate for political or social positions that diverge from their own, that gender may play a role in how the public frames athlete activism, and that the role and place of politics in sport remains contested territory.
