About

Football's vast cultural impact is also reflected in a symbolically representative element for local and national communities. Examples can be seen in the social wearing of football shirts, schools cancelling lessons to show matches, and different elements of popular culture, perhaps most famously the song Three Lions by Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. Language is also woven into this cultural positioning through cultural outputs surrounding football matches, encompassing football journalism, supporter chanting, banners and flags displayed, and live commentary – all of which can be seen worldwide.

As football itself is globally played and watched, it can be seen as a universal cultural product, a contact zone where people from different communities and cultural backgrounds can routinely take part in the same activity. However, due to the representative nature, and because of its long history and embeddedness in different locales around the world, it also has distinctly local variations and languages. The study investigates how clubs present their identities textually to both local and global visitors.