Fans United
It’s that time of year in Australia. Gather Round and Magic Round are behind us, there is a crispness in the air, manifested by Queenslanders donning their woollen coats and beanies to cope with the 20-degree freeze. There is excitement about the upcoming Women’s FIFA World Cup and the footy and netball seasons are well underway. And now it’s down to state v state, north v south, maroon v blue, the roaches v the cane toads. State of Origin time.
Sporting codes from grassroots to professional come together to support their states. Families, schools, workplaces, communities gather to watch the big events.
In Queensland, our state’s identity is wrapped in maroon. Ditto the Blues. Our sporting teams don their jerseys with pride built upon history, tradition and meaning. Tight club team members born in another state are bounced, as Origin camps commence.
Fans put on their jerseys, paint their faces and yell war cries. There are tears. There is jubilation. And it’s tribal.
The competition is intense, and its meaning extends beyond the field to deep, culturally held loyalty. In workplaces on game days, we need to think twice about the colour of our outfits. I remember one year accidentally wearing a blue shirt on game day 1. I won’t repeat that error!
The intensity of the rivalry of State of Origin is globally renowned, but what drives this level of supporter involvement in sport? What is the making of a fanatic fan? And is it a good thing?
The Making of a Fan
Fandom is psychological, social and cultural, and allegiance is formed by birth, social influence, online, or positive experiences. Evidence suggests that children will follow the team of the first jersey they own, which is testament to the powerful effect of symbolism in sport. Colour, design, halftime rituals, collectibles and pregame events form a collective, tribal identity affiliated with the team and the sport. Individual behaviour of fans identifying with teams can extend to self-representation through social media, engagement in fantasy sports, face painting and cheering.
Motivations for becoming a fan are just as varied as measures of fandom and include a sense of belonging, spending time with family, entertainment, financial gain through gambling and self-esteem through strong identity with a winning team. The key motivation for fandom is community – a shared identity, whether in person or virtually. Even ‘eustress’ (the positive form of stress experienced through the energising feeling associated with the uncertainty of outcome in sport) has been identified as a key fandom driver.
Geography isn’t a barrier to strong avidity, with many displaced fans living remotely from their teams. For example, Bayern Munich has more fans in China than in Germany; FC Barcelona more fans outside of Spain than in Spain; and expats scattered around the world often continue to follow teams from their home cities.
Fans are fickle when they are weaker in their involvement with the team or sport. Winning does matter for these fans of weaker avidity who could also be called ‘bandwagoners’. Many people might attend the odd cricket match or a few netball games, and these fans may move between teams when one team is performing better.
Unique Millennial fans
Next generation fans, now representing one third of sports consumers, are unique in how they consume sports. Their generational characteristics as the largest consumer cohort in history manifest in their ability to influence other consumers’ decision making through their trademark interactivity, sharing and highly networked behaviour and this cohort are critical to the future sustainability of sport.
Fans influence game experience through behaviour exhibited within their tribes and between tribes. The result can be very positive or very negative, particularly when the identity of fan groups collides around intense rivalry. There are examples of the humour and enjoyment for all from the likes of the Barmy Army and the Fanatics, but there are also examples of hooliganism, racial vilification, abuse and violence associated with tightly bound, highly emotive fan groups. In short, fan-to-fan interaction is as important as that for fan-to-team at sporting events. Fans can unite to influence game outcomes, buoy teams and each other.
Scandal and Fandom
The tight unity of ingroups or fan tribes in sport can be challenged in the face of scandal. Response to crisis in sport can vary based upon the gravity, frequency, and perpetrators of the transgression. If you’re a sponsor of a team in crisis due to scandal on or off field, your response needs to be very well considered, as you will risk losing tribal fans of high avidity towards the team, but equally face brand damage through association.
When loyalty of fans is tested through a scandal or crisis in the sport, fan response can be predicted via the allegiance they hold. Research we undertook suggests that fans will differentially judge their team and rivals’ teams for the same scandal, so that they will support their own team, despite increasing scandal severity and frequency, but judge an opposing team’s transgressions more harshly. Sponsors are also perceived more favourably by team fans when they elect to continue rather than terminate the sponsorship in the face of scandal.
However, rival team fans may judge terminating sponsors more positively, so a tempered approach is the best option for sponsors, with action informed by the severity of the scandal, such as a repeated transgression that affects the integrity of the sport (for example, doping or match fixing). In the case of a single perpetrator who has engaged in particularly egregious behaviour, fans can exhibit the phenomenon known as the ‘Black Sheep Effect’, whereby they may judge a perpetrator from their team or ingroup more harshly than they would a transgressor from a rival team. They will also simultaneously accept sanctioning of the perpetrator whilst continuing to identify strongly and positively with the rest of the team and its sponsors.
Fans and Sponsors
Fandom is important for sponsorship outcomes, with both the strength of fandom and team performance predicting fan preference, purchasing behaviour, trust and loyalty toward sponsoring brands. Many sponsors use sports as a vehicle to reach highly engaged, passionate fans, with the aim of benefiting from positive spillover images from the sport or team to the brand and preference from fans who may view the sponsor as part of their tribe.
Fandom measurement is complex
Measuring fandom is critical for sports sustainability, assessment sponsorship valuation and evaluating whether you are providing an engaging and exciting experience. But fandom is multidimensional and textured, and there is no consensus in sports research on how to accurately measure it. Existing reported measures typically reflect composite items comprising of close-ended questions. For example, some studies adopt a single item simply asking whether you consider yourself a fan of the sport or not. Others have identified fans by asking a series of questions, such as time spent following the sport, level of identification with the team or sport, engagement with the team through social media and sports knowledge. What is clear is that fandom includes cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions.
On top of all of this, there is evidence that fans can hold multiple identities across multiple teams within the same sport, or across sports and fantasy sports, driven by Fear of Missing Out and access to second and third screens during sports consumption.
I get this. The other day, I realised when walking the dogs that I was wearing four different team brands from four different sporting codes at once. The good news is I was mostly in maroon J
About the Author
Professor Sarah Kelly, renowned for her global academic, leadership and governance expertise across education and sports management, drives forward-thinking initiatives to the world stage. A distinguished ‘prac-academic’, commercial lawyer and champion for inclusivity, Sarah leads with innovation and insight. For exclusive updates on the latest in sport, management, leadership, education, innovation, and research, subscribe at DrSarahKelly.com.au