Football Communities

by Tim Crabbe, Adam Brown, Gavin Mellor

The term ‘community’ is a focus of interest within popular discourse and amongst academics, politicians and policy-makers. Descriptions of community are wheeled out both as a lament to a more certain past and as an appeal to a better future. It is an idea imbued with all the richness associated with human contact, but it is a complex reality. Football, the ‘people’s game’, has also come to embody many of the collective symbols, identifications and processes of connectivity which have long been associated with the notion of ‘community’. Football and Community Theory takes a three year study of football and its communities as the basis of a thorough exploration of modern football’s relationships with a whole range of notions of community. The authors look at ways in which the game has responded to the social inclusion agenda, and at how clubs have responded to their communities with particular focus on three major professional football clubs – Leeds United, Manchester City and Sheffield United. Complimenting existing titles from Routledge, this book fills a gap in the market linking sports studies and community theory. It is relevant to everyone on Sports Studies, Sport Development, and Community Studies courses. It will also be of interest to social policy professionals.

196 pages, Hardcover

Published July 30, 2007