The Football and Society Podcast
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
The wilting of the Purple Violets: How female football fans have become marginalised in Turkey
01 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Turkish society today, women have become more and more invisible under the rule of President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party, illustrate...
Kissing the badge: The challenges of rebranding a football club
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After the backlash in response to plans for a European Super League, and numerous protests targeting the wealthy owners of clubs such as Everton recen...
The sound of silence: How Chile's football authorities are trying to marginalise vocal fans
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Matchday atmospheres are often the subject of taunts from rival fans, as supporters of Manchester City and Arsenal will know; a lack of chanting and o...
A scarf of two halves: the growth of tourism in the Premier League
01 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’re looking at the growth of ‘football tourism’ in the English Premier League. Between 2008 and 2017, companies in the touris...
Deconstructing '¡puto!’: What football terrace chants tell us about the state of Mexican manhood
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re looking at the political and economic issues concerning a controversial chant used by Mexican football fans. During the 2018 ...
Are football chants naturalising violence in Argentina?
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Accounts of violence in Argentinian football run all the way back to the late 19th century, and violence still plagues domestic football today. In a s...
From Fanzines to Foodbanks: football fan activism in the age of anti-politics
01 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since the creation of the Premier League in 1992, collective identities developed in resistance to the commercialisation and commodification within fo...
Unpaid football scouts in England: a route into the industry, or exploitation?
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’re looking at unpaid work in football scouting in men’s professional football in England, joined by Jacob Griffiths of the Uni...
Football as a peacemaker? How Colombia's government used sport to combat the threat of the FARC
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known as the FARC) were formed in 1964, and for over half a century they were locked in a gruelling, blood...
'A rich white kid sport'? Rising inequality in women's soccer in the USA
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018, statistics showed that nearly 400,000 girls in the US played high-school soccer, making it the fourth most-played sport among girls. However,...
Scotland's Old Firm and the experiences of fans of Pakistani descent in Glasgow
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The rivalry between the two Glasgow-based teams Celtic and Rangers is one of football’s fiercest, and one that has been marred by sectarian division...
Football and the legacy of Portugal's colonial past
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Éder Lopes’s goal in the 2016 European Championship Final won Portugal its first ever major football trophy, and catapulted him to the status of a...
Iceland: the ‘Black Swan’ of international football
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2016, Iceland stunned the footballing world with its performance in the European Championship Finals. The nation of 340,000 reached the quarter-fin...
The lived realities of female footballers
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2011 the FA Women’s Super League was created, affording female footballers the opportunity to practice the sport professionally for the first tim...
Neo-imperialism in action? The experience of African football players in Europe
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1980s, the president of the African Football Confederation stated that 'African football must make a choice' with regards to the exportation an...
Re-born in the USA: How FIFA helped football conquer Stateside
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first FIFA video game was released by EA Sports on 15th July 1993, and since then it has become the most popular and successful soccer video game ...
Qatar, the 2022 World Cup and the country's status as a footballing 'other'
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past 20 years Qatar has hosted international tournaments in a range of sports including tennis and golf, but it has never hosted a sporting m...
Football: Indonesia's number one cultural product?
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Indonesia, soccer is everywhere: on newsstands, a city’s soundscape, fashion boutiques, and in the graffiti and murals of city walls. While in re...
The rise of soccer betting in Zimbabwe
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, the money invested in sports betting has reached staggering levels. In the EU alone, the value of online betting is estimated at £16...
The increasing visibility of gay male football fans
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the past three decades, English men’s football has undergone considerable structural and social change. Ongoing commitment by the footballing aut...
Far-flung fans: Keeping connection with a club from the other side of the world
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For most of us, it’s been over a year since we were last able to go and see our team play alongside fellow supporters. But many fans support their c...
Home away from home? Belonging and resistance on the terraces of Chile's Deportivo Palestino
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Club Deportivo Palestino was founded in 1916 by Palestinian immigrants to Chile. After a decade of success in the 1970s, the club has retained a loyal...
Starting them young? How the gambling industry is targeting football fans from childhood
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The revenue generated by gambling sponsorship for English Premier League teams rose to nearly £350 million in the 2019-20 season. The logos of gambli...
David vs Goliath - The footballing rivalry between Hong Kong and China
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, political tensions between China and Hong Kong have boiled over, leading to mass protests in the streets of Hong Kong and a clampdown...
The challenges of being a Muslim football player in Europe
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1992, there was just one Muslim player in the English Premier League. Twenty years later, there were 40, and Muslim players like Mohammed Salah are...
Pioneers: The legacy of Celtic's Lisbon Lions and what they tell us about Catholic identity in Scotland
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1967, Celtic became the first ever club from Britain to win the European Cup. At the Estádio Nacional near Lisbon, the team that became known as ...
Our thing?: Exploring the involvement of the Mafia in Italian football
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The influence of the mafia is widely acknowledged on the Italian island of Sicily, where the mob gained influence in the 19th century when rising dema...
You'll never watch alone: The culture of the sports bar
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the midst of the Covid pandemic, we have clearly been missing that familiar pilgrimage to the stadium on a Saturday afternoon. Equally, many of us ...
Walking contradictions: The rise of Poland's 'hooligan bourgeoisie'
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Poland, the term ‘hooligan’ refers specifically to supporters who focus on competitive violence with rival fans, while ‘ultras’ are those w...
Weaponising the sick-note: How managers maintain a position of power through their treatment of injured players
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In August 2015, Jose Mourinho criticised his first-team doctor, Eva Carneiro, for running onto the pitch to attend to an injured player, and she was s...
The world at their feet? The gendering of football's defining moments
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The 2019 Women’s World Cup semi-final between England and the USA was watched by a record television audience of 11.7 million in the UK. It lived up...
An escape from violence? Youth football's fight against crime in South Africa's townships
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Soweto, located in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa is a township beset by crime and unemployment. In the midst of all this, however, its reside...
Changing perceptions of disability in Zimbabwe through Blind Football
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The history of sports participation for people with visual impairments can be traced back to the early 19th century. Since then, sport for people with...
Challenging gender stereotypes through mixed-sex football
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While women’s football has grown in popularity in the last few decades and female superstars now grace our television screens alongside the stars of...
How President Erdoğan is co-opting and cracking down on football in Turkey
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past decade, President Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party have promoted a vision of a ‘New Turkey’ undergoing a process of I...
Women in black: Female referees and the battle against sexism in football
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As women’s football has grown in popularity, there has been a corresponding growth in attention on female players, yet little attention has been pai...
The game is over: Football and the state of exception in Pinochet's Chile
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the history of modern football, dictatorships have attempted both to suppress football and to use major footballing events on the world sta...
Do community football initiatives really help young people in our inner cities?
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At the turn of the 21st century, the UK’s New Labour government championed ‘Football in the Community’ initiatives as a way of addressing issues...
The rite stuff: Fans’ relationship with football as seen through the lens of magic
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Watching football games being played behind closed doors lately has highlighted how important supporters are in creating that unique atmosphere on a m...
The rise, fall (and rise again) of Les Bleus: France's complicated relationship with its national football team
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1998, the French football team won the World Cup for the first time, on home soil. The nation fell in love with heroes such as Zinedine Zidane and ...
Home is where the heart is? How football fans react to a stadium move
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Since 1995, a third of all clubs in the English Premier League and Football League have moved stadiums, including West Ham and Manchester City. Neit...
Flying the flag: How football clubs build and reinforce regional pride
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For many football fans, support for their team is linked to a local identity; the club, for them, represents a town or region with which they strongly...
The hidden language of goal celebrations: politics, protest and personalities
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Goal celebrations have come to define some key moments for football fans, and we may even remember a player’s celebration more than the goal itself....
The Auld Enemy? What England and Scotland’s football rivalry tells us about national identity in the 21st century
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In November 1872, Scotland and England played each other in what is now recognised as the first-ever international football fixture. Nearly 150 years ...
The Football and Society Podcast (Trailer)
29 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Football and Society podcast is coming soon! Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman will explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game...