Whether helping to bring down Jose Mourinho, leading marches against their club’s owners at Chelsea or pushing back against plans to commercialize football, fans show that fan activism is far from a fad and that they are a force to be reckoned with in the fight for the game’s future. While their protests may not be as grand as a tifo, they are still powerful.
For many fans, their teams and their games are part of their identities and when something goes wrong, it can be a major blow to their sense of self-worth. That is why they can take matters into their own hands and try to force the authorities to do what’s right by launching letter-writing campaigns, billboards or even hunger strikes.
The glocal motivations, tactics and spaces of fan activism are shaped by local contexts that differ across the globe. A recent study by Christian Brandt, Maryna Krugliak and Robert Warnecke analyzed fan activism in Germany and Ukraine to explore this dynamic. They found that the activism of these activist supporters is rooted in a combination of devotion to their clubs, a desire to protect figures of fandom and a sense of civic responsibility.
Journalists covering fan protests can help facilitate the movement by putting a face on the story. By reporting on the five W’s—who, what, where, when and why—and including details like the protester’s hobbies or family, they can help readers empathize with the person in question and feel more connected to them. In fact, one recent experiment showed that stories that humanized the teenager whose death spurred the protest led people to have more positive attitudes toward the teenage, the protest and the protesters.