The socialisation of football fans – a grounded theory study

Hutchinson, Matthew Thomas (2023) The socialisation of football fans – a grounded theory study. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

Sport fans have been studied extensively. However, the field of sports fan socialisation, specifically socialisation into a team, is under researched. This study therefore addresses the question ‘how do people become football fans?’, focusing on the socialisation of three groups of fans: expansion club, female and long-distance. This thesis adopts constructivist grounded theory, gathering rich empirical data through interviews (n=33) and netnographic data. The study focuses on eight football clubs; Liverpool FC, Everton FC, Manchester City FC, Manchester United FC, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, LA Galaxy, and Los Angeles FC. In keeping with grounded theory principles (Glaser, 1967; Charmaz 2014), data were analysed upon collection. This thesis makes three key contributions. The first is identifying the socialisation agents that impact expansion club, female, and long-distance fans, surfacing a broader range of agents than previously identified. The second explores the role played by each agent, going beyond detecting their relevance. Both contributions answer calls from previous work. Finally, in synthesising the socialisation agents identified, this thesis develops the Person-Centric Socialisation Agent Framework, which categorises the agents according to the extent to which they are Person-Person or Club-Person in focus. This allows socialisation agents to be operationalised by clubs in a bid to increase the fan base.