Peter Millward

This is the first book to examine the growing movement of organised networks of LGBT+ football supporters, exploring activists’ biographies and the meanings they ascribe to participation in identity politics-centred social movements. The book draws upon in-depth original research into the Pride in Football LGBT+ football supporters’ network in the UK, alongside comparative material from other countries. It is also the first book to apply a cultural relational sociological framework to the study of football fans and supporters’ groups, marking an important theoretical step forward that opens up new perspectives in the sociology of sport, the sociology of collective action and social movements, and the sociologies of genders and sexualities in the twenty-first-century world. As the struggle for cultural rights and recognition of LGBT+ communities continues, with football fandom providing an important site for understanding these issues given its historically embedded hegemonic masculine culture, and in the aftermath of gay male football player Jake Daniels’ ‘coming out’ in May 2022, the book offers timely insights into new social movements, the consumption of sport, and the experiences of people from a diversity of sexualities. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology of sport, football, fandom, gender, sexualities, social theory, or social movements.

This is the first book to examine the growing movement of organised networks of LGBT+ football supporters, exploring activists’ biographies and the meanings they ascribe to participation in identity politics-centred social movements. The book draws upon in-depth original research into the Pride in Football LGBT+ football supporters’ network in the UK, alongside comparative material from other countries. It is also the first book to apply a cultural relational sociological framework to the study of football fans and supporters’ groups, marking an important theoretical step forward that opens up new perspectives in the sociology of sport, the sociology of collective action and social movements, and the sociologies of genders and sexualities in the twenty-first-century world. As the struggle for cultural rights and recognition of LGBT+ communities continues, with football fandom providing an important site for understanding these issues given its historically embedded hegemonic masculine culture, and in the aftermath of gay male football player Jake Daniels’ ‘coming out’ in May 2022, the book offers timely insights into new social movements, the consumption of sport, and the experiences of people from a diversity of sexualities. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology of sport, football, fandom, gender, sexualities, social theory, or social movements.

This is the first book to explore fully the connections between sport studies and criminology, opening up critical new frontiers in the study of sport and crime. Rooted firmly in established critical criminological traditions, the book also employs insights from emerging theoretical frameworks such as cultural criminology, governmentality theory and critical security studies to make better sense of a range of transnational and contemporary cases, events and trends that reveal, in different ways, the crimes and harms that are present in sport. Empirically grounded, including case studies of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, it explores emerging themes in contemporary sport, including but not limited to corruption, doping, youth crime, terrorism, violence and transgression, and human rights abuses. Sport and Crime consciously pushes the boundaries of what might be considered the critical criminology of sport. This is an essential text for any course on sport and crime, and invaluable reading for any student or researcher with an interest in the sociology of sport, sport development, sport policy, the politics of sport, critical criminology, or socio-legal studies.

This is the first book to explore fully the connections between sport studies and criminology, opening up critical new frontiers in the study of sport and crime. Rooted firmly in established critical criminological traditions, the book also employs insights from emerging theoretical frameworks such as cultural criminology, governmentality theory and critical security studies to make better sense of a range of transnational and contemporary cases, events and trends that reveal, in different ways, the crimes and harms that are present in sport. Empirically grounded, including case studies of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, it explores emerging themes in contemporary sport, including but not limited to corruption, doping, youth crime, terrorism, violence and transgression, and human rights abuses. Sport and Crime consciously pushes the boundaries of what might be considered the critical criminology of sport. This is an essential text for any course on sport and crime, and invaluable reading for any student or researcher with an interest in the sociology of sport, sport development, sport policy, the politics of sport, critical criminology, or socio-legal studies.

This book draws upon a relational sociological paradigm to explore the processes of collective action in football fandom across Europe and the UK. Through a range of case studies, the authors address pertinent themes in football fandom, including anti-discrimination, ‘home,’ ticketing, name changes, ‘ownership,’ and broader leftist politics. Each of these case studies engages with the theoretical framework of cultural relational sociology, highlighting the different social and cultural changes English and European football has undergone, often over a very short period of time.

This book draws upon a relational sociological paradigm to explore the processes of collective action in football fandom across Europe and the UK. Through a range of case studies, the authors address pertinent themes in football fandom, including anti-discrimination, ‘home,’ ticketing, name changes, ‘ownership,’ and broader leftist politics. Each of these case studies engages with the theoretical framework of cultural relational sociology, highlighting the different social and cultural changes English and European football has undergone, often over a very short period of time.