Decoding Human Behaviours. The Devotion of Football Fans
authors
keywords
- Fans
- Human behaviours
- Professional football
- Religiosity
- Sacred experience
document type
ARTabstract
Professional football has unchained passions for many decades and the countries that are not affected by this phenomenon are rare. International competitions, as well as national championships, incite the passion within football fans, who also are consumers of the products that derive from the clubs’ merchandising strategies. Professional football has progressively become a powerful entertainment industry, extensively examined by numerous economic and management studies, but that has not given rise to in-depth research on the mystical devotion that fans demonstrate towards their favourite club. The aim of this research note is to underline in what way the football passion resembles a religious experience. A reading grid showing the four pillars of the main monotheist religions –the Community, the Law, the Way and the Experience– is used in order to underline how football fans undergo a sacred experience.