Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Female Football Players and Fans pp 259–278Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Challenging or Accommodating the Football System? A Case Study of Female Football Supporter Communities in Spain

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Football Research in an Enlarged Europe ((FREE))

Abstract

The chapter is dedicated to the study of a specific type of football community that emerged during the 1980s in Spain: women’s peñas. Llopis-Goig and Flores discuss how women’s link to these peñas provides them with networks of support and sociability, bonds of friendship and integration in a community as well as a door to the public space that helps them avoid the isolation of a nuclear family for some women. Thus, the female fans generate empowerment strategies that allow them to gradually combat the discrimination experienced in football and in society. However, Llopis-Goig and Flores argue that women’s peñas cannot be regarded as initiatives that question the patriarchal structure of football; instead, the study shows female fans’ desire to belong to this male-dominated system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Adriaanse, J. A. (2013). The role of men in advancing gender equality in sport governance. In G. Pfister & M. K. Sisjord (Eds.), Gender and sport: Changes and challenges. Munster: Waxman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Badinter, E. (1993). XY La identidad masculina. Madrid: Alianza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Porat, A. (2009). Not just for men: Israeli women who fancy football. Soccer and Society, 10(6), 883–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berná, D. (2012). Cartografías desde los márgenes: Gitanos gays en el estado español. In R. Platero (Ed.), Intersecciones: Cuerpos y sexualidades en la encrucijada. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryman, A. (2004). Social research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (2007). Género en disputa: El feminismo y la subversión de la identidad. Barcelona: Paidós.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campo, A. (2003). Cuestión de Pelotas. Hacerse Hombre, Hacerse el Hombre en el Fútbol. In J. M. Valcuende & J. Blanco (Eds.), Hombres. La Construcción Cultural de las Masculinidades. Madrid: Talasa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campo, A., & Jordi, A. M. (2013). Ya no somos tan niños. Una etnografía de la construcción de la masculinidad en el fútbol base. XXI Congreso Español de Sociología. Federación Española de Sociología, Madrid.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cere, R. (2003). Witches of our age: Women ultras, Italian football and the media. In A. Bernstein & N. Blain (Eds.), Sport, media, culture: Global and local dimensions. London: Frank Cass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coddington, A. (1997). One of the lads: Women who follow football. London: Harper Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (1997). La Organización Social de la Masculinidad. In T. Valdés & J. Olavarría (Eds.), Masculinidad/es: Poder y Crisis. Santiago: Isis y Flacso-Chile.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, G. (2004). Consuming sport: Fans, sport and culture. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crolley, L. (1999). Lads will be lads. In M. Perryman (Ed.), The Ingerland Factor. Home truths from football. Edinburgh: Mainstream.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crolley, L. E., & Long, K. (2001). Sitting pretty? Women and football. In J. Williams, S. Hopkins, & K. Long (Eds.), Passing rhythms: Liverpool FC and the transformation of football. Oxford: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díez-Mintegui, C. (2003). Deporte, socialización y género. In F. X. Medina & R. Sánchez (Eds.), Culturas en juego: Ensayos de antropología del deporte en España. Barcelona: Icaria.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunning, E. (1994). Sport as a male preserve: Notes on the social sources of masculine identity and its transformations. In S. Birrell & C. Cole (Eds.), Women, sport and culture. Leeds: Human Kinetics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durán, M. A. (2002). Economía, ideología y ocio. In M. L. Setién & A. López (Eds.), Mujeres y ocio. Nuevas redes de espacios y tiempos. Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1987). Historia de la sexualidad: La voluntad de saber. Madrid: Siglo XXI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuente-Sánchez, M. (2007). Usos del tiempo, estereotipos, actitudes y valores. Madrid: Instituto de la Mujer, Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales.

    Google Scholar 

  • García-Bonafé, M. (2001). El siglo XX. La revolución deportiva de las mujeres. Apunts. Educación Física y Deportes, 64, 63–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • García-Ferrando, M., & Llopis-Goig, R. (2011). Ideal democrático y bienestar personal. Los hábitos deportivos en España. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosling, V. (2007). Girls allowed? The marginalization of female sport fans. In J. Gray (Ed.), Fandom: Identities and communities in a mediated world. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. J. (1995). Conocimientos situados: La cuestión científica en el feminismo y el privilegio de la perspectiva parcial. In D. J. Haraway (Ed.), Ciencia, cyborgs y mujeres. La reinvención de la naturaleza. Madrid: Cátedra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hovden, J. (2013). Women as agents of change in male dominated sports cultures. In G. Pfister & M. K. Sisjord (Eds.), Gender and sport. Changes and challenges. Münster: Waxman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, K. (2008). Female fandom: Identity, sexism, and men’s professional football in England. Sociology of Sport Journal, 25, 516–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liston, K. (2006). Women’s soccer in the Republic of Ireland: Some preliminary sociological comments. Soccer and Society, 7(2–3), 364–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Llopis-Goig, R. (2007). Female football supporters’ communities in Spain: A focus on women’s peñas. In J. Magee, J. Candwell, K. Liston, & S. Scraton (Eds.), Women, football and Europe: Histories, equity and experiences. Oxford: Meyer and Meyer Sport.

    Google Scholar 

  • Llopis-Goig, R. (2008). Learning and representation: The construction of masculinity in football. An analysis of the situation in Spain. Sport in Society, 11(6), 685–695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Llopis-Goig, R. (2010). Masculinidades inductoras: La construcción de la masculinidad en el fútbol español. Sistema. Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 217, 61–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Llopis-Goig, R. (2011). Práctica, consumo e identificación: La primacía del fútbol en las pautas de ocio de la sociedad española. Panorama Social, 14, 136–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Llopis-Goig, R. (2014). Ownership and management of football clubs. The fans’ perspective. Revista Internacional de Ciencias del Deporte, 10(35), 16–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Llopis-Goig, R. (2015). Spanish football and social change – Sociological investigations. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lorber, J. (1991). Dismantling Noah’s ark. In J. Lorber & S. A. Farrell (Eds.), The social construction of gender. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorber, J. (2005). Breaking the bowls: Degendering and feminist change. New York: W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messner, M. A. (1992). Power at play: Sports and the problem of masculinity. Boston: Beacon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messner, M. A., & Sabo, D. F. (1990). Sport, men and the gender order. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mosquera, M., & Puig, N. (2009). Género y edad en el deporte. In M. García-Ferrando, N. Puig, & F. Lagardera (Eds.), Sociología del deporte. Madrid: Alianza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfister, G. (2010). Women in sport: Gender relations and future perspectives. Sport in Society, 13(2), 234–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfister, G. (2013). Outsiders: Female coaches intruding upon a male domain. In G. Pfister & M. K. Sisjord (Eds.), Gender and sport. Changes and challenges. Münster: Waxman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfister, G., Lenneis, V., & Mintert, S. (2013). Female fans of men’s football – A case study in Denmark. Soccer and Society, 14(6), 850–871.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pope, S. (2010). Female Fandom in an English ‘Sports City’: A sociological study of female spectating and consumption around sports. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Leicester, Leicester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope, S. (2011). Like pulling down Durham Cathedral and building a brothel: Women as new consumer fans. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 46(4), 471–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pope, S. (2014). There are some daft people out there! Exploring sport and media fandoms. Sport in Society, 17(2), 254–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pope, S. (2017). “Who could name an England women’s footballer?”: Female fans of men’s football and their views of women’s football in England. In G. Pfister & S. Pope (Eds.), Female football players and fans: Intruding into a man’s world. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Puig, N. (2001). La situación de la mujer en el deporte al iniciarse el siglo XXI. In M. Latiesa (Ed.), Deporte y Cambio Social en el Umbral del Siglo XXI. Madrid: Esteban Sanz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, G. (1989). Reflexionando sobre el sexo: Notas para una teoría radical de la sexualidad. In C. Vance (Ed.), Placer y Peligro: Explorando la sexualidad femenina. Madrid: Revolución.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sage, G. H. (1990). Power and ideology in American sports. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sülzle, A. (2011). Fußball, Frauen, Männlichkeiten: Eine ethnographische Studie im Fanblock. Frankfurt/Main: Campus.

    Google Scholar 

  • UEFA. (2011). First division clubs in Europe. Retrieved January 25, 2017 from http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/FirstDiv/uefaorg/Publications/01/51/90/63/1519063_DOWNLOAD.pdf

  • del Valle, T. (1991). Género y sexualidad. Madrid: Fundación Universidad Empresa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whelehan, I. (1994). Over loaded: Popular culture and the future of feminism. London: The Women’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodhouse, J. (1991). A national survey of female football fans. Leicester: University of Leicester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodhouse, D., & Williams, J. (1999). Offside? The position of women in football. Reading: South Street.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Ramón Llopis-Goig & Helena Flores

Authors
  1. Ramón Llopis-Goig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Helena Flores
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Gertrud Pfister

  2. School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom

    Stacey Pope

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Llopis-Goig, R., Flores, H. (2018). Challenging or Accommodating the Football System? A Case Study of Female Football Supporter Communities in Spain. In: Pfister, G., Pope, S. (eds) Female Football Players and Fans. Football Research in an Enlarged Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59025-1_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59025-1_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59024-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59025-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation