Localism And Masculinity In Football

Compared to the economical advancement, the development of football in China is much slower. In spite of this, Chinese football fans are still fascinated with this sport. The excitement of Chinese men’s football team qualifying for the World Cup finals in 2002, can equate to the pride people has in Beijing for hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics eight years after the World Cup. The decline in native Chinese football teams has allowed foreign football games to be popular among the Chinese fans. Therefore, the identities of Chinese football fans are more complicated than anywhere else in the world.The method I adopted to investigate was fieldwork. By choosing fans of Luneng Taishan team as the informants, I collected data from my observation and personal interviews to describe the behaviors of fans inside and outside the stadium. I also used the theory of nationalism and masculinity to analyze the phenomena surrounding the fans of Luneng Taishan and other places in China.Based on this research, I found out that Chinese people were hoping for the level of their native football performance to match the advancing economical status of China in the world. The potential conflicts between the national team and various regional teams, also between different regional teams are reflected by diverse attitudes towards the performance of the national football team. At the same time, football plays an important role in reducing stress for people. By watching football games, Chinese people found a new way to entertain themselves and relax after a taxing day at work. Traditional masculinity is present in football. Players’ muscular bodies and the aggressiveness played out on the pitch are the expression of masculinity. The function of football is becoming more diverse due to different types of people going to the games. The attendance of female football fans not only enriches the elements of man-dominated sports, but it also shows that the status of women in China is rising.This research contributes to how Chinese football fans express their expectation for the nation and regions, also the way of masculinity manifested in this sport. The anthropologic participant observation methods I used in this research may inspire other ideas for related topics.